Winner, Winner, Great Chicken Dinner

By Michael Angelo – Parts Sales Manager
Everyone who works in or for the foodservice industry know that it’s a tough gig, you can go from hero to zero so fast it’s frightening. We understand this at General Parts Group, and we see it at our customers; that is why we focus so much on preventing issues through maintenance programs; Equipment will always break, but if the unnecessary failures can be filtered out then everyone is a winner.

I was inspired to write this blog because of a recent dining experience that demonstrates this point well. My wife and I finally took the plunge and decided we would see what the Chicken and Waffles craze was all about. Unfortunately, it was not a good experience. I could tell that something was off with the restaurant’s fryers. Rather than put our server in a spot I asked to speak with the manager who promptly came to talk to me and admitted that yes, they were suffering from equipment failures, and they were having to improvise with the preparation of many of their dishes. The manager was polite and agreed the food was not where it should be and removed the items from the bill, so all well and good, well no not really, in fact not at all.

As a commercial food equipment service and parts company, the restaurant industry is a large part of our customer base, so if our customers do not make money, neither do we! Removing an item from a bill is a great customer service quick fix but it’s a disaster for profitability. This is where a good service company can support your business and help you maximize the ROI on your equipment.

At General Parts we offer numerous ways to help keep your kitchen equipment running and help keep costs down. We offer proactive maintenance to help keep the condensers for your refrigerated equipment clean, reducing energy costs and compressor strain. We clean ice machines; this will keep scale from building up and insulating the ice plates which reduces the quality and production of ice and increase energy consumption. General Parts can proactively inspect and replace common wear parts on your combi ovens to prevent expensive repairs due to water leaks. I have seen a $4 O-ring failure cause $2,000 in damages. We can clean, inspect, and change filters for your HVAC units, again saving you time and money. Proactively maintaining your equipment can save you in cost of repairs, energy savings, and equipment down time. Simply put, maintenance is a great investment.

General Parts can tailor a proactive maintenance plan to fit everyone’s needs from a high-volume sit-down establishment, hotel, casino, or even a sporting arena. We can add the equipment that is critical to your business, we can adjust the frequency to your liking. If you do not know, just ask and a General Parts rep can let you know what the manufacturer suggests. We are also local in your area; we can make recommendations based on water quality or what we have seen work best for other food service kitchens. No matter the kitchen we can make a plan that works for you, and that right there is a winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Did you know? – the saying winner, winner, chicken dinner comes from Las Vegas. At the time the average win was about the price of a chicken dinner.