Nice to Meat Ya: Eric Mihaly
Though he majored in recreation studies, Eric Mihaly always had a passion for the culinary arts. Never could he have guessed where it would lead him.
While running the kitchen at a large restaurant on the East Coast, Eric built a good relationship with his Sysco representative.
He quickly noticed Sysco could offer something the restaurant industry couldn’t.
“I looked at his lifestyle and I looked at my lifestyle, and realized I was getting older,” he says. “So I applied for a job at Sysco Eastern Maryland as a sous chef.”
He landed the gig, and soon got into sales. But after nine short months, former Sysco Eastern Maryland President Fred Lankford pulled him aside and offered him an even better opportunity.
He said, “’I want you to be my center of the plate specialist. I’ll train you and get you up to speed.’”
That was about seven years ago and Eric has been in love with his job as CAB specialist ever since.
He says he learned a lot in the first four years, but that the last three have been the most impactful — educationally and otherwise — in his entire career. The difference? A stronger partnership with the brand.
At first, he was too busy learning about the animal, muscle identification and the grading system to get in too deep. But once he had the 101 down and became comfortable in his job and knowledge, he was ready for a more advanced education.
“Just teaming up with CAB and getting the opportunity to benefit from their vast resources has been incredible,” Eric says.
The biggest highlight? Participating in the brand’s Masters of Brand Advantages program roughly a year and a half ago.
He says the program impacted him from start to finish, from the tours of the cow-calf operations all the way to the final trainings at CAB headquarters in Wooster, Ohio.
“It got me to the point where I could wrap my head around the whole industry and then take that message back to our sales force,” he says.
Message received.
Since participating in the program (which Eric says he’d love to repeat someday), his team is now selling parts of the carcass he never expected to, and improving leaps and bounds in all areas.
“It’s been phenomenal. We’ve grown almost 1 million pounds in the last two years,” he says.
An impressive feat for any team, but especially one that’s been licensed for 15 years.
“You take a senior house and grow that much in such a short time,” Eric says, “a lot of it is just knowing what you are selling.”
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PS–Want to catch up on the whole series? Check out these links below:
- Introduction: Nice to Meat Ya
- Day 1: Ashley Pado
- Day 2: Scott Redden
- Day 3: Jesse Stucky
- Day 4: Bridget Wasser
- Day 5: Amanda Barstow
- Day 6: Josh Moore
- Day 7: Ruth Ammon
- Day 8: Bill Tackett
- Day 9: Dan Chase
- Day 10: Danielle Foster
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