Since its inception in 1988, Danver Stainless Outdoor Kitchens has worked to set itself apart from its competitors, and the formation of the company culture was no exception. Due to its employee mentality and the physical distribution and makeup of the company itself, the culture differs dramatically from other organizations in the same industry. Danver President Mitchell Slater elaborated on how exactly that company culture was both created and maintained.
Experience and Professionalism
The first—and perhaps most important—aspect of Danver’s culture is the high premium they place on industry experience. Whatever facet of Danver an employee specializes in, that person is meant to be an authority in that arena.
“The company culture at Danver is quite unique,” said Slater. “We’re a laid-back group, but we’re also seasoned professionals. We ensure that our employees have many years of experience—in sales, marketing, production, or whatever departments they work in.”
Enthusiasm for the Product
While many companies value experience in an industry, Danver takes it a step further to put an equal emphasis on sheer enthusiasm for the product made. Danver understands that if employees are excited about what they’re putting their efforts into, it’s naturally going to lead to more innovation, creativity, thought, and care—all of which translates to a better product.
“We’ve all become pretty excited by the fact that we’re in a fast-growing segment of the market,” said Slater. “And we’re really proud of and excited by our fairly unique product.”
Company Size
Another factor that plays into company culture is the actual size of Danver. Rather than expanding into a massive corporation, Danver has kept a balance between being small enough to maintain the desired culture and large enough to facilitate the production and innovation that go into their stainless steel kitchen cabinets.
“We’ve purposely kept Danver small enough so that we don’t have layers of management. This helps us all work collaboratively as a team, and it allows everyone to bring expertise to the creation and further development of our cabinets.”
Slater was quick to point out, however, that being small doesn’t work against the capabilities of Danver.
"We have a national sales organization that’s out there. They’re in most of North America and the Caribbean, and we even have a couple of dealers over in Europe. We work really hard to walk that line between being large enough to accommodate the demand for our product and staying small enough to still function optimally as a tight team.”
Read More: "Can You Fit Danver Cabinets to an Existing Patio or Deck?"
Being Different Is the Difference
There aren’t many people within the outdoor kitchen cabinetry industry that are doing what Danver does. Through its expertise with stainless steel, Danver has been able to transform outdoor cabinetry into something eminently durable but also stylish, sleek, and design oriented. Slater noted that it is this fundamental difference that truly defines Danver’s culture.
“We’re just different than everybody else. And that allows our team to work together in the best way possible.”
For more information about Danver’s corporate culture, their product lines, or how those stainless steel cabinets might work within your outdoor living space, please feel free to contact a representative of Design Builders, Inc.