Deal with a distributor
Catering equipment is very much an international business, with lots of global manufacturers offering a product range that includes most - if not all - of what a kitchen needs. That gives manufacturers a strong selling story when pitching for new-build or major refit of kitchens.
The case put forward is that it makes more sense with a large project to deal direct with a global manufacturer as there's one negotiation, one supply contract, and the chance to tweak a better price for the supply of a whole kitchen rather than just one or two items of equipment. And they will throw in the design and planning cheaply or for free.
The truth is that it doesn't make sense to go direct single-sourcing for all or most of the kitchen equipment, and manufacturers which claim to be a one-stop shop for everything from the combi-oven to the peppermill are airbrushing over the facts.
As chairman of CEDA, the Catering Equipment Distributors Association, anyone would expect me to say doing direct, single-source deals makes less sense than dealing through distributors. But there's clear evidence to show why.
The most compelling argument against single-source direct purchasing is that I don't know of a global manufacturer which has the best product available across its whole range. And the badging issue comes up. In order to offer a complete product range, manufacturers often buy in items of equipment from other manufacturers and put their own badge on it. This is covertly admitting that they can't be all things to all kitchens.
Going through a distributor rather than direct is not adding cost. It's adding installation expertise, warranty work, servicing, back-up, training, operational advice and in the competitive world of equipment supply, distributors will always talk about attractive deals for kitchen design on big projects.
Equipment distributors want to sell as much equipment as they can - that's no different from a restaurant wanting to sell as many meals as it can. But distributors are not single brand-focused, they're customer needs-focused. There may be special relationships between a manufacturer and a supplier, but it's extremely rare that a distributor promotes one brand for a particular job. To do so would be commercial nonsense.
There are at least 60 brand names in combi-ovens (though substantially fewer manufacturers), so no distributor is going to either stock or have the product knowledge of 60 combi-ovens, but it's a basic rule of selling that if you select the products you trust and learn about them from back to front, you'll have the product knowledge to recommend the best piece of equipment for the job.
In bald terms, there's instant profit in a distributor selling a combi-oven whatever the make. There's long-term profit in selling a combi-oven that meets the needs of the caterer, resulting in confidence-building and repeat business.
When there's huge choice in the equipment market, direct, single-source purchasing of equipment just doesn't make sense.
Nick Oryino is chairman of CEDA, the Catering Equipment Distributors Association
