Celebrating Dave's 20th Anniversary

David Groff , Chief Operating Officer & President of WebstaurantStore, celebrated his 20th anniversary with the company in May. He has been with the company since the very beginning, as 2024 is the company’s 20th anniversary as well, so he has seen WebstaurantStore evolve from its inception to what it is today.?

Learn more about him and his thoughts on leadership below. ?

What are you passionate about outside of work???

• My family! I've been married to my wife Melissa for 13 years, and we have two amazing daughters - Avelina (9) and Estelle (7) - and an elderly Boston terrier, Otto, who is 13.?
• Solvit Academy, a small private school that my wife and I started: www.solvitacademy.com . ?
• Running and biking - doing both outside as well as on my Peloton bike/tread. I'm big on staying active and healthy, and this is also my "zen" time.??

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What are your personal goals???

I try to keep it simple. Every day I'm shooting for three things: to stay curious, to work hard, and to be a good person.?

What is your proudest career achievement?? ?

Having been with WEB since our launch, I have the unique perspective of seeing where we are today and being able to compare that to what things looked like back in 2004. There's so much I'm proud of - from how the site has evolved, to our locations that we have opened over the years, to the ways in which we've served so many great business owners in the industry. However, the thing I'm most proud of is the team that we have today and the culture that we've developed over the years.??

What long-term goals do you hope to achieve during your tenure as COO/President?? ?

Right now, we are obsessed with improving the customer experience through even faster shipping. We have a multiyear plan in place that will significantly increase the amount of inventory we have closer to customers so we can get everyday essential products, as well as some of the more unique items, to all of the businesses that order from us faster than anyone else out there. Another way that we will do this is through automation - we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance the network. We are doing this not to replace jobs (we have no plans to lay anyone off) but to streamline operations, increase our ability to get more orders out the door the same day, and improve accuracy. We have some other exciting plans/goals - but they are top secret!??

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What is your definition of “leadership” and how was it formed/has it transformed???

?I think I confused management and leadership early on in my career. Anyone can be called a manager - in fact, all it takes is getting the title. Leadership, on the other hand, is in the eye of the beholder and develops over time. In other words, you don't become a leader until you've earned the trust and respect of people to the point that they are willing to follow you. This can take a long time. It can include difficult periods when holding high standards, providing tough feedback, and making unpopular decisions can make people (including the leader) feel uncomfortable. But as they say, "there's no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth.” ?

If people understand and believe in your intentions, eventually the outcome will be a loyal, committed team. They may not always like you in the moment - but they will respect and follow you in the long run. Why? Because they know you'll do the right thing when it's tough, and they know that you care more about their growth and the success of the organization than you do about being comfortable and pumping up your own ego.??

What are the greatest challenges you've faced as a COO/President? How did they change the way you lead???

Recently, I would say COVID and the supply chain disruptions in the following years definitely rank among the toughest periods that we've had to navigate. How did it change the way I lead? I tried to become more intentional about communicating what's going on, especially in the early days of the pandemic. I think it's important to be as transparent as possible about the state of things and to be real about the challenges we all were facing. You can't just put a bunch of fluff out there and expect people to not see through the b.s. However, it's also important to emphasize the mindset of "nearly every problem can also be an opportunity." As awful as the situation was, it turned out to be an incredible chance to support customers when they needed us the most. We were able to use our vast network and scale to ensure customers got access to products when they couldn't source it anywhere else. ?

As a result, the COVID era, much like the Great Recession of 08-09, proved to be among our fastest periods of growth due to our ability to provide reliable access to supplies at great prices when customers really needed ways to save money. The only reason we pulled this off was because we had a resilient, creative team that jumped through all kinds of hoops to make it happen. As we think about the future and the challenges and opportunities ahead, I want people to remember that if they could navigate 2020-2022, they might be capable of far more than they imagined!?

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