The Slippery Rock caught up with Rich Katzmann, owner of Stone Services Group (SSG) at the 2020 TISE show to see what is new with this innovative service company. 

With the addition of Hot Sauce, SSG now has four systems that help fabricators increase revenue: Stone App, Quote Countertops, Granite Gold and Hot Sauce. 

Stone Services Group and their product displays were busy at TISE. From left, in blue: Jacquie Cook, Anthony Anderson and Christina Scobey.
Stone Services Group and their product displays were busy at TISE. From left, in blue: Jacquie Cook, Anthony Anderson and Christina Scobey.

Stone App streamlines business from lead tracking and visual quoting, to orders, inventory, purchasing, scheduling and production management. Quote Countertops helps fabricators in two ways: by sending them leads and providing a showroom kiosk for low-pressure sales. Granite Gold is a consumer protection plan that relieves the fabricator of time-consuming call-backs and provides the customer with peace of mind that their investment is protected. Hot Sauce is a program that upgrades countertop jobs to include premium edges, child-safe corners, lazy susans, furniture tops and many more options to increase your profit. 

“Many resources in our industry focus on operations, but our programs primarily focus on increasing net profit,” said SSG founder Rich Katzmann. “In a recent study, 52 percent of fabricators said they make less than 10 percent profit. So you sell a $4,000 countertop, and by the time you template, fabricate, install, promote your company on social media and other services, you end up with $300 of that countertop. What we are offering are instant programs to make that $300 into $600, $800 or $1,000, as well as bringing fabricators more customers with our mining techniques.”

“Three of our partners come from the stone industry,” added Katzmann. “Inventor of Hot Sauce Geoffrey Gran is sharing a program he made for his business. Granite Gold founder Lenny Sciarrino sells granite polishing chemicals and cleaners. These guys are very busy with their primary businesses, so Stone Services Group is pooling marketing resources to share these tools with others.” 

From his experience at Laser Products, Katzmann saw a huge need to improve businesses from a software and process perspective. 

Katzmann explained, “You come to these shows and you see that we have equipment figured out. Robots, CNC routers, and all angles are covered. From an equipment standpoint, the stone industry is way farther along than in the software. You still see white boards being used for scheduling. There is a huge lag. My goal is to get the software side caught up with the equipment side. 

We have four great software partners, and plan to add a fifth “area” of operations in the second quarter. As far as our Services division, I am seeing a huge need for a national installation company (stone and solid surface) and am working diligently to build out that division. Many fabricators win large commercial jobs that are either outside their normal service territory or they don’t want to commit their everyday crews and disrupt their other business. At a 30,000 foot level, we want to have local salesmen/technicians in major cities across the country to help with local training and support.”

Where will you see Stone Services Group next? They are presenting at the Artisan Group Industry Showcase in Austin, and exhibiting at the Coverings show in New Orleans this month. They also have joined NSI & ISFA, so you may see Rich or his partners at one of those events.


For more information on SSG or its programs, visit stoneservicesgroup.com or call 815-210-1006.