|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
It’s so easy to forget what goes into creating the products we interact with constantly. For fried chicken or French fries, oil is a constant, and it’s always top of mind for Steve Dvorak. The global product manager at The Dallas Group of America, Inc. ensures that oil is clean, consistent, and reliable for foodservice operators around the world. To ensure that kind of service, Dvorak says you can’t do it from afar. You have to be willing to get in there and go to work.
“To me, hands-on service means being actively engaged in our customers’ processes and environment,” Dvorak explains. “It’s not simply a transaction of supplying material and stepping away.” That idea has become the backbone of how he leads and how The Dallas Group shows up for its customers.
Service that Shows Up
When Dvorak talks about hands-on service, he means literally being there. His teams walk kitchens and plants, sit in on operations, and learn how each customer really works. “We constantly engage with our customers, educate them on our product benefits, and train them in their own environment for sustained success,” he explains.
That approach is most visible when things go wrong. If a restaurant flags an issue, The Dallas Group gets involved. “If a customer experiences a problem, we will quickly send one of our employees to their location to help troubleshoot the potential issue,” Dvorak explains. The market may have cheaper competitors, but Dvorak says their transactional nature is the antithesis of what makes The Dallas Group special.
“Our customers are never treated as numbers; it doesn’t matter their size,” the product manager explains.
Hands-on service and strong relationships, in Dvorak’s mind, are inseparable. “Selling a brand name is not always sufficient to secure a sale,” Dvorak says. “Hands-on service and strong relationships are closely connected because trust is built through consistent action, not just communication.”
Leading Across Markets
Scaling that model across thousands of customers and more than a hundred countries is, Dvorak says, fundamentally a leadership challenge more than an operational one.
“From a leadership perspective, it requires shaping behavior across different industries, markets, and customer expectations to adapt to our customers’ environment,” Dvorak explains. The goal is to use the company’s experience and expertise to lead the conversation and build strong relationships.
Dvorak sees his effectiveness as a leader in his ability to connect strategy, technical understanding, and execution.
“Being in a specialty chemical business, success depends on more than product performance alone,” he says. It requires alignment across functions from innovation and production to supply chain, marketing, finance, and sales.
Throughout his career, Dvorak has worked in nearly every function of sales and supply chain, which gives him a deeper understanding of how things really work. “I cannot only relate,” he says, “but also notice and improve processes to become more efficient while also supporting company growth.”
Internally, the product manager is known as a leader who listens, keeps the focus on the mission instead of his ego, and sets a high bar by example.
Innovation That Removes Barriers
Dvorak’s role also extends into product innovation. Recently, The Dallas Group marketed its Magnesol® manual filtration procedures tosupport customers who may not have access to automatic filtration systems due to cost or space constraints.
These filtration solutions are designed for a wide range of fryer sizes, from compact tabletop fryers to larger 30- and 50-liter units.
“Recognizing that automated filtration is not always an option, we developed specific manual filtration procedures that allow operators to effectively treat their oil and still realize the full benefits of using Magnesol,” Dvorak says. “This is opening up an entirely new market segment for us that has previously not been explored.”
Cultural Intelligence as a Leadership Advantage
Dvorak’s leadership philosophy has also been shaped by extensive international travel and personal experiences that deepened his understanding of cultural dynamics.
Over the years, he has worked throughout Asia, Europe, Canada, and Latin America, experiences that reinforced the importance of understanding how culture influences trust, communication, and decision-making.
That awareness became even more personal through his marriage into a Latino family.
“My wife has been a tremendous blessing in my life, and through our marriage, I’ve gained a much more personal appreciation for Latino culture and the strong value placed on family, relationships, and trust.”
He believes long-term success in Latin American markets depends on more than just market research. It requires cultural intelligence and the ability to understand how relationships are formed and maintained. The contrast between his own loud and energetic Italian family gatherings and the calmer, more collaborative dynamic of his in-laws helped reinforce the value of adaptability and observation.
“I feel really lucky that meeting my wife meant getting introduced to a different way of approaching life,” Dvorak says. “I think it’s made me better at what I do and, I’d like to think, a better man.”
