ASSOCIATE MEMBER PROFILE
Getting Personal with FSA Heather Nahatchewitz, OIMP Marketing and Communications Director
H
e’s 35. In case you were wondering, as was I. But don’t let the relatively young age fool you. Adam Brock, President and owner of Food Safety Alliance is no ‘millennial’ when it comes to business. What started in a home office three short years ago is now a chemical company competing with the biggest players in the industry. That’s not to say Adam didn’t have a head start. His father, Mike Brock, had years of experience in the business, eventually leading to the start-up of his own company, Adept Chemical, in 2001. About the same time, Adam was in school learning to become a mechanic. After graduation, and a bout of ‘is this as good as it gets?’, Adam realized he was unhappy with his choice. In 2004, he asked his dad to teach him the business. Adam was paid minimum wage, worked two days a week for Adept and spent the rest of the week working at an oil change shop to pay the bills. For two years, this was his life. In 2006, Adam finally came on fulltime as a sales rep.
“It was sink or swim,” said Adam. “I was handed some big customers and expected to handle them. I had no choice but to learn quickly, dealing with engineers and quality assurance people in federal plants. I had to be up to spec with regs, know what I was talking about.” Then disaster struck when Mike passed away unexpectedly in 2015. Adam had no ownership in the business, he was just an employee like any other. During a very emotional and turbulent time, Adam made a decision some may consider impulsive or even risky. He quit his job and started Food Safety Alliance. “I called Wayne and Dave [also employed at Adept] and said I’m going to start my own company. If you’d like to come, come.” Without hesitation, both hopped on board and they started knocking on doors. “The first year was crazy,” admits Adam. “I was surprised how much time it took for me to get the business up and running - how much time I had to spend ‘on’ the business, not ‘in’ the business. I thought I would just get on the road and start selling.” While Adam focused on checking off the many boxes of a chemical company start-up, Dave and Wayne were out talking to customers. “They’re not naturally salespeople,” said Adam. “But they did really well.” Wayne Sprung is the Technical Specialist at FSA. Large food and beverage manufacturers may have two ‘Wayne Sprungs’ on staff,
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BLOCKtalk - Summer 2018
www.oimp.ca
