In today’s rapidly evolving market, manufacturers face the daunting task of continuously listening to the requested changes of their customer base and responding with new and upgraded equipment solutions to meet those needs.
This can be particularly challenging in industries such as commercial foodservice and commercial kitchens, where the demands of customers are constantly shifting and evolving.
One of the key challenges for manufacturers in these industries is staying ahead of the curve and predicting the needs and preferences of the dining public.
With technology advancing at a rapid pace and consumer tastes changing constantly, manufacturers must be proactive in researching and understanding the latest trends and developments in order to stay competitive.
This requires a significant investment of time, resources, and expertise, as well as a deep understanding of the unique challenges and requirements of the commercial foodservice and kitchen industry.
Accomplishing this in the commercial foodservice and kitchen industry is particularly daunting due to the unique challenges and complexities of this market.
Commercial kitchens operate on tight budgets and tight deadlines, and any equipment downtime can have a significant impact on their bottom line.
The challenge for today’s restaurant and foodservice professionals and the dealers and consultants that serve them to find value in the equipment they specify and purchase.
Since 1949, many have found Delfield to provide dependable American-made quality to keep them ahead of their competition.
The Michigan based manufacturer has been providing refrigeration, fabrication, and serving systems to clients throughout the food service industry.
Now celebrating 75 years, Delfield has managed to do what many companies only dream of—scale up to the point of having national reach while still maintaining the sense of a local company.
Delfield has become one of the largest manufacturers of custom refrigeration equipment by providing custom, sustainable solutions tailored to their customers’ needs.
Initially founded in Detroit, Delfield moved to Mount Pleasant, Michigan in 1971. As a large manufacturer in the small city of Mount Pleasant, Delfield still has the sense of a local, customer-focused company.
“It’s not uncommon to find someone here who has been working at Delfield for 40+ years,” said Marcy Mathews, President of Delfield.
Delfield still manufactures their products in the United States, which Mathews noted has been a big commitment, but has allowed them to keep the focus on customization and client relations.
“It takes a high level of customer service and connection to our customers to understand their pain points and how we can best provide a solution. This would be much harder to do if we hadn’t committed to keeping our manufacturing within the U.S.,” she said.
Often, these solutions work for customers throughout the food service industry. One example is Delfield’s line of “flexi” products, which allow for one service station to hold multiple purposes.
“We’ve focused a lot on our flexi products recently,” Mathews said. “If you see “flexi” on one of our products, that means it serves multiple purposes, like the ability to serve hot, cold, and frozen products. We invest in a lot of time with consultants on these products, but it pays off—we’ve seen these products really change the market in the last few years.”
When designing new products like these, Mathews noted, it’s all about the solution that makes the most sense for the customer. The challenge is making a product intuitive and easy to use.
Mathews used the example of a product Delfield was designing with a “sleek, sophisticated touchscreen” digital control; initially designed to be used in the K-12 education space, customers consistently mentioned that an easy to use control was what they preferred.
After pivoting to a simple switch and dial control, although it was less modern, customers were happier across the board, and the product has been rolled out in industries outside of K-12 education as well. “We do a lot of customization, and we do it very well because that’s how our manufacturing process is set up,” Mathews said.
Delfield also emphasizes sustainability when designing solutions for clients, both in environmentally and for long-lasting solutions that ideally won’t require updating.
A recent sustainable initiative focused on removing the need for water from many products, such as hot food wells that typically require water, which not only cuts down on water usage but saves clients money in the long run—for example, if a customer wants to start serving hot food products but doesn’t have a floor drain, it would cost much more to install a floor drain than to pay a slightly higher price for a Delfield hot food well that they can use dry.
The focus on energy and sustainability is here to stay, noted Mathews, and she believes that the future of the food service fabrication industry is all about doing more with less, whether that means designing more intelligent ways to do things, or even just creating the infrastructure to minimize the number of footsteps it takes to walk around and make a sandwich.
“Many of our solutions are about responding to a lack of time and space,” she said. Even going out to eat has changed over the last few years because it has gotten more difficult to find workers, but that also means that the infrastructure is now there—think pickup shelves for delivery drivers who used to have to ask an employee for their order.
Delfield has reps and service providers around the country, and still strives to maintain the feel of a local company. “Our reps always know who their service provider is and can call them directly; you never have to call and hope you’re getting the right person,” Mathews said.
Visit Delfield’s website to find a local rep or get in touch with their service team.
