Fred Philips, a restaurant industry veteran, landed his first job at a hamburger franchise when he was in his teens. Now, twenty years later, he is president of RestQuip, a supplier of environment-friendly restaurant equipment.

Rather than blend into the woodwork of look-alike restaurant supply houses, Philips focused on helping restaurants reduce waste. Drawing on his knowledge of industry issues, Philips observed what he foresaw would be a major industry problem: "a ten-fold decrease in the amount of landfill space available for dumping refuse."

Within this situation he saw the busines opportunity. "As a greater emphasis was placed on waste reduction by government agencies, my clientele neded options to deal with this potentialy costly problem."

RestQuip developed a number of programs that addresed these isues, and at the same time made sure that their environmental products and services got plenty of attention in the trade press. They have consistently stayed abreast of environmental issues and solutions, and take advantage of this knowledge to market themselves as the experts within their industry.