Selecting and Specifying Equipment?
Service history is a critical factor.
There are many manufacturers that offer similar equipment. Choosing the brand, model and features is more than an exercise in pricing. Sure, availability is important, and certain features may only be offered by a handful of vendors. Your supplier may also have preferred sources and will promote those to benefit from price breaks, freight deals or other up front perks.
However, what you might overlook is the long-term performance and maintenance of the equipment. You may not even know how to evaluate this important consideration. Let me introduce you to your local Authorized Service Agency (ASA). These professionals spend their days dealing with equipment issues. Many of the problems they encounter are the result of improper or negligent operator care and maintenance. But quite a few are also caused by poor equipment design, cheap components, hard to find parts or lack of factory support.
Research your local service agencies and find one or two that have excellent reputations among your restaurateur friends. Meet them personally and ask their opinion of the manufacturers and models you are considering. You will learn quickly which appliances are maintenance headaches, have unresponsive warranty departments or fail to perform as advertised.
Consider installation issues, as well. Pre-installation site inspections are often required by manufacturers to maintain warranties and to schedule factory installation and start-up. Authorized service agencies need to be scheduled for these events either through your equipment dealer or their installation company. On-site assembly of equipment can pose problems before it is even fired up. How well do the components fit together, are parts often missing or broken, are dimensions and assembly instructions accurate? These are issues that are very familiar to service and installation companies and are worth investigating as part of your equipment evaluation.
It is not uncommon to hear installers criticize products that are difficult and time consuming to assemble and install. Shelving systems, walk in coolers and even knocked down worktables fall into this category. These issues add to installation costs and often outweigh any cost saving realized from choosing less expensive equipment.
These ASA’s (authorized service agencies) are valuable partners to your success. Treat them as the professionals they are. They will save your ass on many occasions.
