Turn-key Foodservice Equipment Replacement

By Michael Brown – Key Account Manager

In today’s environment, many are having to make hard choices between repairing commercial kitchen equipment or investing in foodservice equipment replacement.  Money is tight as sales are down and profits are squeezed even thinner.  That is why each decision surrounding your commercial kitchen equipment is so critical.

Previously I worked for 14 years in restaurant operations, I surely made some uneducated decisions about my equipment.  I kept repairing equipment when the numbers pointed to a replacement, however, sometimes equipment replacements must happen.  When the equipment does need to be replaced you want a partner that can make things easy, efficient, and cost-effective.

When looking at should you repair or replace there are a few factors.  First, is this unit a critical asset to the operation of your facility?  Second, look at the age and compare it to the typical life of that type of unit.  The third would be, is the repair of more than 50% of the current value of the unit.  If you have good data to answer these questions the answer will be very clear.

We at General Parts Group work very hard to repair your commercial kitchen equipment.  Did you also know we can offer turn-key replacement of your equipment?  We can source the most up to date version of what you have currently or give you more efficient options.  We have access to any commercial kitchen equipment brands through our local dealer partners in the 29 markets we serve.

This is what happened with KinderCare Learning Centers in Madison WI.  Having a cooler go out in a childcare learning center is certainly a critical thing.  We received a call just before Thanksgiving stating their one cooler was not keeping temp.  After sending our tech out we determined that this residential refrigerator was not worth repairing and needed to be replaced.  Quickly talking with our customer, they understood it would be best to replace this residential unit with a long-lasting commercial unit.

I quickly went to work contacting dealers to source this unit. We settled on a True Manufacturing single door cooler.  Knowing this unit was ready to ship the next day I quickly compiled the quote and submitted it to the customer.  They approved it that day and our team then ordered the unit to ship out the next day.  Once the unit arrived, we quickly went to the site, removed the old unit, and loaded it on the truck to take it away for proper EPA disposal. Our team then installed the shiny new cooler and monitored it until it went down to the proper temperature. To be able to quickly react and get this unit sourced and replaced for our customer is how we provide Service Excellence.

The turn-key foodservice equipment replacement of any commercial kitchen equipment can happen in any of our 29 offices across the country.  From coolers, fryers, ovens, and even garbage disposals we can handle it from sourcing, purchasing, and installing.  Give your local General Parts Group branch a call, 1-888-498-1238, to discuss how we can help.