In this section

Marine Five Star Dealer Certification Recognizes Best Practices, Employee Satisfaction with Two New Awards

| Grow Boating

ORLANDO (November 14, 2012) – Marine Five Star Dealer Certification (MFSDC), one of the core elements of the Grow Boating Initiative, announced today recipients of two new awards to honor certified marine dealerships for best practices and best places to work. Honorees received their awards this afternoon at the Marine Dealer Conference and Expo (MDCE) in Orlando. These awards recognize outstanding Marine Five Star Certified Dealers based on results from a confidential employee satisfaction survey and from the MFSDC certification business audit review.

“Best practices and employee satisfaction are key elements in the MFSDC program—designed to enhance the consumer boat-buying and owning experience—which encourages sales and stronger, more profitable dealerships,” said Matt Gruhn, president of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA). “We honor these Marine Five Star Certified Dealers for their efforts to improve our industry and to lead the way for others."

MFSDC Best Practices Award
MFSDC “Best Practices” are a part of the certification process that recognizes thoughtful and cost-effective ways to do business while maintaining quality and eliminating variability. They are methods or techniques that have shown superior, consistent results often at a low cost of implementation. Those participating in MFSDC have exclusive access to hundreds of Best Practices and can use them as benchmarks in their business. They are a feature of accredited management standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14001, and many others programs, including MFSDC.

Based on Best Practices identified in certifications and continuations from November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2012, below are MFSDC’s top 10 Certified Dealers for Best Practices:

  • First Place: The Great Outdoors Marine (Lavalette, W.V.)

The following winners are listed in alphabetical order:

  • Bass Pro Shop/Tracker Boat Center (Atlanta, Ga.)
  • Candlewood East (Candlewood, Conn.)
  • Captain’s Marine (Kalispell, Mont.)
  • Clark’s Landing (Chester, Md.)
  • Clark Marine (Manchester, Maine)
  • Fay’s Marina (LaPorte, Ind.)
  • Hurst Marina (Manotick, Ontario, Canada)
  • Marine Max (Ft. Myers, Fla.)
  • Prince William Marine (Woodbridge, Va.)


“The Certified Dealers recognized with the MFSDC Best Practices Award strive to improve their operations in efficiency, profitability, customer satisfaction, growth and profitability,” said Terry Leitz, MFSDC director. “The leadership of these dealers creates a culture of innovation and continuous improvement that serves as role models for the marine retail industry."

MFSDC’s Best Dealerships to Work For Award
This new award has been established to honor Certified Dealers for their commitment to employee satisfaction, as evaluated by their employees through a confidential survey in the certification and continuation process. High employee satisfaction creates a positive, motivating and successful environment, all of which lead to increased sales, profits, employee retention and higher customer satisfaction

Based on results from a confidential MFSDC employee satisfaction survey completed by Certified Dealerships between November 1, 2011 and October 31, 2012, below are the top 10 Certified Dealerships to Work For:

  • First Place: Schock Boats (Newport Beach, Calif.)

The following winners are listed in alphabetical order:

  • Airport Marine (Alabaster, Ala.)
  • Chesapeake Whalertowne (Grasonville, Md.)
  • Hall Marine Group – Sea Ray Scout of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
  • MarineMax (Catawba Island, Ohio)
  • Tracker Boat Center (Austin, Texas)
  • Tracker Boat Center (Longview, Texas)
  • Tracker Boat Center (Brainerd, Minn.)
  • Trudeau's (Portland, Ore.)
  • Trudeau's Marina (Spokane, Wash.)


“The winning dealers promote a motivating, healthy and fun culture for their staff. By striving to do right by their employees, in turn, employee loyalty delivers for the overall business,” noted Leitz. “What these dealers have in common is respect for their employees and an understanding that when employees consider their company a good place to work, it changes the business model.”

For more information on Marine Five Star Dealer Certification, visit GrowBoating.org/programs/dealers/default.aspx or call 800-975-7894.

About Grow Boating: The Grow Boating Initiative is a cooperative effort by the recreational boating industry to promote the boating lifestyle and improve the boating experience to increase participation, and ultimately, sales of marine products and services. For more information and stakeholder resources, visit GrowBoating.org.