The Autotap Corporation — a fourth-generation Brooklyn-based service provider of fountain beverage services — turns 100 years old this year, but its roots extend back even further.
The company was established in 1900 by Joseph Starman, who started the business after travelling to the United States from Romania, where he had worked making heads for seltzer bottles. He came to America in search of greater opportunities for him and his budding family after his employer in Romania denied a request for an 11-cent raise in weekly pay. Starting with only a stove, a table and a sink in a building in Brooklyn he purchased upon his arrival to the U.S., Joseph applied his skills and talent to manufacture tin seltzer heads.
But it wasn’t until Jack Starman, Joseph’s son who incorporated Autotap in 1925, entered the family business that it really took off. Jack noticed the growing number of bars being built in his neighborhood in Brooklyn and had an idea to create a way to enable built-in bar beer taps that could also dispense seltzer. This idea spread like wildfire, and soon Jack’s innovation was highly sought after — the business of making seltzer bottle heads had transformed into making taps and was now booming. “The company, or the precursor for it, started in 1900. My great grandfather, Joseph Starman, started by schlepping seltzer bottles around the Lower East Side. Eventually his son, my grandfather Jack Starman, the one who incorporated us in 1925, really took the reins and created the company,” says G4 leader Dave Starman, director of business operations at Autotap. “[Since then,] we’ve evolved into sales, service, installations of fountain beverage equipment, soda systems, beer systems, wine systems. We have 10 trucks that handle Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens regarding delivery routes, service and repairs, beer line cleaning and system installment.”
The spirit of innovation on which the company was founded would eventually propel Autotap to the top of its industry. In the early 1990s, the company undertook an effort to become fully digital. Going from “handwritten everything” to “computerized everything” might seem like a no-brainer today, but Autotap was among the first in its industry to create a digitized system for handling receipts, statements and shipping needs. G3 wanted a way to utilize technology to focus on the small tasks, enabling the owners to focus on growing the company. Realizing the value computerization provided, Autotap invested further in tech, digitizing aspects of billing, operations and using it to improve fleet logistics.
The Old Way Isn’t Always the Right Way
As was the case with so many small businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic shook Autotap to its core. With clients consisting mainly of bars and restaurants, quarantining and shutdowns took a heavy toll on the business. A number of Autotap’s clients could no longer afford to continue renting the company’s equipment. Facing a reduced workforce and a warehouse overflowing with equipment that needed to be cleaned, refurbished and, eventually, reinstalled, the Starman family had to think quickly to avoid compounding costs.
Capitalizing on the slowed pace of business brought on by the pandemic, the family put their heads together to assess and improve Autotap’s business processes. Following a comprehensive retooling of the company’s office procedures, billing procedures, route execution, customer communication methods and accounts receivable and payable systems, Autotap was ready for the moment society would come back together post-pandemic, Dave says. After all, when else would they have gotten six months of mandatory downtime?
“COVID was a tragedy, but the silver lining was six months for us to be in the office, be in the warehouse, and take stock of all aspects of the operation. Shireen and I worked the phones, reorganized our systems, created new ones, and when we got back to normal again, we as a company had a new vision, new operations methodology and a real grasp on a lot of issues we needed to address,” Dave explains.
By 2021, as spring weather started to coax New Yorkers out of seclusion in search of creative ways to enjoy food and drinks while remaining safe, restaurants began offering contactless takeout and Autotap was back in steady business.
Dave credits his parents — Ronnie and Roni Starman — for being willing to listen to his and his wife’s suggestions on ways to improve the business throughout that trying period. “Our feeling [concerning tech utilization] is: pay for the technology, learn how to use it to its maximum benefit for us as a staff and our customers as the end users, and use the time we used to spend doing it by hand to working ‘on the business’ as opposed to working ‘in the business,’” Dave says. “My feeling is that just because this is the way we have always done it doesn’t mean it is always the right way. Evolvement is a daily process, and the day you stop trying to do something better is the day you start doing it worse.”
Staying Fizzy Looking Forward
When asked how Autotap plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary, Dave and his wife, Shireen, chuckle, noting that a few ideas, including a possible company-wide cruise, are still in the works.
On the topic of succession, however, the plan is all but on paper. Dave and Shireen have worked alongside Dave’s parents for decades and are in line to inherit the business upon their retirement. They acknowledge, however, that the bulk of the paperwork remains ahead of them.
The most important aspect of taking over is the preservation of the Starman family legacy. “My grandfather was one of a few people in the industry that helped create the NBDEA, now the IBDEA, which is the International Beverage Dispensing Equipment Association,” Dave says. “Last year, at the annual convention, we received the lifetime achievement award for our contributions to the industry. I know my grandfather helped put so many people into this business and we’re so proud to be thought of as royalty in the industry. However, reputation is earned every day, and despite our seeing how to do things differently, no matter what we do as a group, the reputation of my grandparents and my parents is always at stake — and we protect that with the utmost integrity and respect,” Dave says.
For now, the Starman family remains focused on the future, while expecting more turbulent waters ahead, this time in the form of tariffs. However, they’re ready to meet these challenges head-on by staying true to what’s gotten them this far.
“I guess if you last 100 years in NYC, you must be doing something right,” Dave says. “We’re not perfect, but I think our legacy is that we have always tried to do what is right for the end user, our employees, our neighbors and still keep our doors open and company afloat.”