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Rodney Wasserstrom, if he would extend credit, as he wanted to open a burger joint. That’ s how we became a national distributor- we helped open the first Wendy’ s, in Columbus, Ohio. My boss is the fourth generation in Wasserstrom, which is amazing. And Wendy’ s is now a gigantic chain, so we basically grew with them. We still work very closely with them today.”
With its 125th anniversary on the horizon, Cathy credits the company’ s impressive ability to adapt as a catalyst to its longevity.“ I think Wasserstrom has a very entrepreneurial culture because it was previously a wine distributor, but when prohibition hit, they had to pivot and move into foodservice,” she relays.“ During the Covid pandemic, we pivoted in a similar way and began selling sanitizer and PPE products. As events have occurred throughout the company’ s history, that entrepreneurial spirit has really taken us through.
“ Additionally, our employees have a great deal of experience, and we have some wonderful leaders, so it’ s the people who are really at the core of our success. I attended a conference a couple of weeks ago and about 15 different customers stopped to share some fantastic feedback about various members of my team, so I’ m just incredibly proud of the wonderful people that we employ.”
Entering 2026, Cathy says Wasserstrom has the same primary focus as always:
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