Lake Effect is a team of exceptional sales management professionals with a history of establishing outstanding relationships with end users, dealers and manufacturers.

At Lake Effect Sales and Marketing we strive to seek new end users where a relationship does not end after the sale but begins a strategic partnership to develop their business and grow our distribution partners’ business. We offer product demonstrations at our test kitchen and showroom in Western New York, a mobile trailer for remote training and demonstrations, as well as product installations and product training.

As an independent factory representative we develop new opportunities in our marketplace for the manufacturers we represent and our distribution partners. Our team continues to stay on top of industry trends while serving on Buffalo State College’s Hospitality program advisory board, as well as close relationships with culinary and hospitality schools in the territories represented. 

Lake Effect’s combination of reputation, experience, quality products and growth of market share, has proven to be a successful approach for our partners. We have every confidence that these elements will allow us to nurture and grow your business in the years to come.

David Anastasi - Partner - Buffalo, NY

David began his career with a degree in Foodservice Management launching him into the operations side of the business with Red Lobster. While at Red Lobster he was a corporate trainer and later became a manager overseeing all restaurant operations. After Red Lobster, he began a successful career at a foodservice dealer moving from inside sales to outside sales and then as an assistant project manager selling and managing special projects. He then was presented an opportunity to move to the manufacturing side of the business for 11 years with a successful career at Libbey Inc. as a District Manager in the Upstate New York and Atlanta regions, then as Director of Chain Accounts calling on the East Coast chains and casinos and finally managing two of Libbey’s national distributors. His next opportunity took him to San Jamar as Director of Business Development, with development responsibilities for national distributors, and later as Director of Sales, managing the North region for their Foodservice and JanSan business which included the Mid-Atlantic, Philadelphia, New York, New England and all of Canada.

Kevin Woodruff - Partner - Rochester, NY

Kevin brings a vast amount of industry knowledge with a large part of his career dedicated to managing and overseeing multiple health-care facilities in Rochester NY. He then made a career change after 20+ years to be a corporate account manager for US Foods with focus on the health-care and corporate accounts. After eight years of quota busting at US Foods Kevin took a great opportunity to be a territory manager for Cambro Manufacturing in Upstate NY. While at Cambro Kevin had multiple back to back quota buster years and was awarded the President’s Award in 2016 for the greatest territory growth.

Dave Bonfield - Equipment Specialist - Rochester, NY

Dave is a veteran equipment specialist in the Upstate NY market for the last 25 years. He has been a part of many signature projects from k-12 schools, college & universities, brewery’s, stadiums, chains, healthcare, hotels to casinos. Dave continues to work with the consultants in our region, our dealer partners as well as end users for product knowledge, demos, startups and training.

Chef Shawn Ebling - Corporate Chef- Rochester, NY

Shawn earned his Executive Chef/Certified Executive Pastry Chef degree from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). After graduation, he stayed in the Rochester NY region working as an Executive Pastry Chef at Creme de la Creme, Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, Riverside Convention Center and Wegmans Food Markets. At Wegmans, he was responsible for R&D of new patisserie products that would be introduced at the store level, culinary training with new employees, product training that offered a deeper knowledge and history of the products as well as sales techniques to engage with customers to help guide and select the right product for their needs. Shawn is the culinary support for demos in our kitchens in Buffalo NY and Rochester NY, site training and demos for new equipment as well as product and equipment training for our dealer partners.

Judy Eckert - Territory Manager- Central & Eastern NY

Judy earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management from SUNY Delhi that launched her into a career working in hotels with Marriott, chain restaurants and independent restaurants, to working at the dealer end of the industry with Edward Don, Maines Paper and Gerharz as well as a manufacturer position with Steelite International as a territory position. Judy has a true passion for the industry and especially for tabletop, furniture, smallwares and equipment. Her industry experience along with her passion offers great insight and solutions for her projects that begins an ongoing relationship.