Food Equipment Field Services as a Career Choice
By The Editor
Choosing a career is always charged with uncertainty. Although some of us know what we want to do from a young age, most of us reach this fork in the road with hesitancy. If you know for sure a traditional 4-year college is not for you, you might be interested in opportunities that allow you to use your hands and problem-solving skills. An excellent choice is foodservice field services.
Foodservice field service technicians are highly trained specialists providing installation, maintenance, and repair services for foodservice equipment. You’re out on the road all day so you’re never tied to a desk and often work independently assisting your customers. Here we look at the role of field services technicians to help you decide if it is the right career choice for you.
What are Food Equipment Field Services?
As a commercial appliance service technician, there are generally three areas in food equipment services:
1. Installation: When a customer purchases foodservice equipment such as freezers, refrigerators, or ovens, they are installed by a trained technician. Your job is to ensure that the equipment is installed safely and is fully operational.
2. Repair & Maintenance: Most foodservice equipment brands recommend regular maintenance for their products. As a maintenance provider, your job is to keep equipment operating at peak performance. There are three maintenance services including corrective to perform repairs, planned providing routine inspections and repairs based on a recommended schedule, and proactive based on predicted common faults expected to occur with the equipment.
3. Customer Services: Field Service technicians are trusted resources who provide advice to customers regarding equipment maintenance. Your job involves acting as a consultant for business owners whether it is helping them make smarter purchases, investing in services to prolong equipment lifespan based on predictive planning, or helping them optimize performance to see a better ROI in their equipment investments.
As you can see, field technicians can be strictly hands-on or develop skills to help provide advice and consulting services. Of course, there are also opportunities to shift to positions in scheduling, management, and customer service.
How Does the Foodservice Industry Train Field Service Technicians?
Each company has training of some sort, we at General Parts Group provide many training opportunities. Complementing our on-the-job training through new-hire partnering with a tenured service technician, our team members attend manufacturer-specific training, and as a CFESA certified company, we support our technicians to become CFESA Certified, and reward them when they do. We also have a tuition program if you wanted to further your education at a technical or trade school. To learn more about our established training program, click here.
Why Choose Field Services for a Successful Career?
Regardless of what technology throws at the foodservice industry, where there’s equipment there’s a need for field service technicians. Your training provides the base for your career, allowing you to adapt to changing technologies through on-the-job training. Most service companies must provide training to keep up with changing technology to remain competitive. Field service technicians are always in demand, with rising numbers in service companies. Preventative maintenance contracts are more popular than ever as more companies seek ways to make the most of their revenue through cost savings. This includes prolonged life from equipment. The “internet of things” has improved the way equipment is monitored, increasing maintenance and service calls as companies are more aware when something is not functioning properly.
How Does the Foodservice Industry Utilize Field Service Technicians?
If you are considering a career in the foodservice industry, your job as a service technician requires frequent interaction with customers when out in the field. You will be expected to work independently performing intermediate-level service, repair, and installation of foodservice equipment at the customer’s location.
At General Parts Group we strive to lead with our values and to support the success and sustainability of our customers. Our job is to empower our customers to focus on their culinary pursuits. We become trusted partners with our customers, helping them succeed with our “Whatever it Takes” mentality. Our technicians are the essential connection between our company and partners.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to ensure your customers’ commercial kitchen equipment is working correctly and safely, becoming a Field Service Technician can be a fulfilling career. Click here to join our team.