Where Do Food Equipment Technicians Come From?

By – The Editor
If you follow our blogs or social media, you will know that we talk about Service Technicians, like a LOT. Makes sense right, service is our business, and behind that service are 200 Service Technicians who 365 days a year, repair and maintain commercial food-related equipment that helps to keep our customers, serving their customers.

But where do these technicians come from? This is something we are asked often and considering that there is no official food equipment Technician school or curriculum at technical colleges, it’s a very good question.

Food equipment technicians are quite a rare breed in that they have a wide array of skills. Firstly, and most importantly they are mechanically minded, technicians absolutely must have the mindset that is fascinated by how things work. From here things get more focused. The next key skill a technician needs is the understanding of electrical componentry and schematics as 95% of all equipment is powered. After this ‘hot-side’ technicians will acquire skills in gas and steam while a ‘cold side’ technicians will study refrigeration, and a ‘combi-tech’ will study it all! See what we mean by a wide array of skills!

Back to the question, where do new Service Technicians come from? Well, lots and lots of places but it does break down into two broad groups. The first group are those who already have one of the required key skills. This group comes from store/building maintenance, domestic HVAC repair, military veterans, and many more. The second group train their way in, either through apprenticeship style on-the-job training or through technical colleges who offer training in one of our key skills, for instance, HVAC school.

For these new entrants to the industry, ongoing training is critical. At General Parts Group we use a variety of resources to facilitate this training. We are extremely fortunate to have many long-tenured career technicians who mentor and train new team members to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. This on-the-job training is supplemented with manufacturer training schools and internal training events. All General Parts Group Technicians are encouraged, supported, and rewarded to also get trade certifications through the Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA), which is our trade association. Phew!

Being or becoming a food equipment technician requires dedication but that dedication is rewarded with a field service career unlike all others, and career is the key word here. Our industry offers the ability to acquire valuable lifelong skills and from an earnings perspective, we are a credible alternative to the more generic education of the college system.

Interesting in a field service career in the food equipment industry?

Please visit our careers page here: https://generalparts.com/careers/

Call or stop by a General Parts locations, find them here: https://generalparts.com/locations/

Email or recruitment department at careers@generalparts.com