Letter from the President

As I look back at our 40th anniversary year of 2011, it still amazes me how much Clark Associates, Inc. has grown and changed over the years. We've come a long way from the small electrical service company with two partners that we started out as. Now, we employ over 550 people, operating out of 15 buildings in 4 states!

We're pleased to be honored with the inclusion in the Central Penn Business Journal's Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies for the third year in a row, and have moved up again in the rankings, from 9th place to 6th place.

Much of our success comes from the innovations and hard work of our employees in each and every dvision. In 2011, 7 of our employees representing a cross-section of Clark Associates' divisions earned their CFSP credential from the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM).

Including this group of 7, we now employ 22 Certified Food Service Professionals company-wide, which is nearly half of the total number of CFSPs in Pennsylvania! Similarly, Jim Stephens, President of our 11400 Inc. division earned his LEED AP ID+C Certification, a standard for professionals who design and build environmentally responsible commercial spaces. Our hardworking, dedicated employees' commitment to training opportunities and personal growth helps us continue to meet our customers' needs even better.

Many of our employees enjoy monthly volunteering events at various local businesses and charity organizations, with activities ranging from clean-up days at the Water Street Rescue Mission, to time spent at the Central PA Food Bank, participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and helping out with Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center's Rubber Duckie Race, to name a few.

Our employees also participate in indoor soccer leagues, and our Purchasing Department has even started holding Ultimate Frisbee matches!

Adapting to meet our customers' needs was one of the driving factors behind opening The WEBstaurant Store's second distribution center in Madisonville, Kentucky this past summer. This 150,000 square foot warehouse employs nearly 50 people, and enables our industry-leading e-commerce website to ship to 75% of the US population in 2 days or less--that's the best in our industry. We're even beginning to explore our options for a third distribution location to improve transit times to our west coast customers.With over 50,000 products (more added daily), the site continues to grow and improve.

Our Cash-N-Carry Restaurant Stores also had another strong year, and have recently partnered with St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia to create a new co-op internship program. The five interns who worked for us this year gained valuable real-world experience and have made great contributions to our store's success. We hope to expand and build upon this program this year.

Clark Food Service Equipment and 11400 Inc. saw another strong year too. CFSE saw a revenue growth of over 40%, and has had projects and design work as far away as the University of the Nations in Hawaii. They've also added video conferencing technology for design meetings, and enhanced contracting abilities to do turnkey food service related work such as concrete and flooring replacement. 11400, Inc. won projects for a number of correctional facilities, as well as their first federal project requiring security clearances. Clark Florida continued to expand, despite a tough economic climate for construction, completing its fourth million-dollar-plus project in three years in addition to numerous schools and other institutions.

A redesigned website for Noble Chemical, our division that provides institutional and industrial chemical sales and service, allows our customers to learn about its products and services more easily than ever, and even download MSDS sheets and other important information directly from the site.

In our service and parts divisions, since introducing laptops to all of our techs, we have converted our service management system to be completely paperless, from entering a customer's initial call to printing them an online receipt. This has helped us improve our already excellent service, and saves a lot of paper, too!

Clark EcoEnergy continues to expand its operations. We've installed over 1.6 megawatts worth of solar panels on our distribution facilities alone--in fact, thanks to the 7,000 total solar panels in our Industrial Circle distribution centers, they are 100% solar-powered and any excess power will be bought back by PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light). The division is looking to expand its operations into Maryland and Delaware in the future.

Our success in the past, as well as the potential for continued success goes to show the power of great people and great minds working toward a common goal, and I'd like to thank all of our employees for their hard work.