SilverChef Rentals has a healthy recipe for success
Anewcomer to Vancouver in 2018, Sheena Duddy hadn’t heard of SilverChef Rentals Inc. when she learned it was looking to hire a sales representative. Still, Duddy thought her background in banking and wealth management would be a good fit for an organization that offers flexible finance solutions to entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector.
Her conjecture was spot on. Duddy joined SilverChef as a dealer relationship manager – a job title that is a clue to why she continually finds her work so satisfying. After rental or lease documents are signed for food-and-beverage service equipment, she still stays connected with her clients, checking that the deal continues to serve their needs.
That emphasis on customer engagement stems from SilverChef’s purpose – to help people achieve their dreams. That, and other core values rooted in the purpose, have also made a big impression on Duddy. She cites the example of how SilverChef, founded in Australia in 1986, has a global partnership with Opportunity International that’s enabled 1.5 million people in developing countries to work their way out of poverty.
“SilverChef is committed to giving back and that’s something I can fully get behind,” says Duddy. “For the first time in my life, I can truly say I love my job.”
President Robert Phelps points out that as a progressive Certified B Corporation, the company cares about more than the bottom line. “SilverChef is both a commercial and a social enterprise with a clear purpose,” he says. “We believe in balancing profit and purpose, in using business as a force for good. We believe in helping people achieve their dreams.”
So with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the Canadian hospitality industry particularly hard, SilverChef has a special role to play, Phelps says. It quickly introduced hardship relief programs for its customers, including consolidated and extended repayment terms.
SilverChef also helped customers get up-to-date information on relevant federal and provincial government resources instead of sifting through reams of constantly evolving program particulars.
For her part, Duddy says she’s proud of how SilverChef has performed during the pandemic. Like her colleagues in Vancouver and employees throughout Canada, she could access help with the resources she needed to work from home as well as a range of innovative initiatives to stay engaged and connected.
But it was the groundwork already laid that made a difference, Duddy says. “Our belief in ‘we’re all in this together’ has made us able to respond in a really positive way.”