For the past 15 years, Lex Poulos has managed to do something many have tried but few have been able to accomplish. Somehow despite being based on the West Coast, Poulos who serves as Jade Range’s Director of Marketing and Sales has become a well know figure in the Metro New York restaurant and food service community.
Many of the Tri-State’s leading kitchen consultants, dealers and chefs have the affable executive’s cell phone on their speed dial. Because, he has always been available to listen to and respond to their kitchen design needs. Among the top restaurants that use Jade and have relied on Poulos through the years include Le Bernadin, Cafe Boulud, Morimoto, Eataly, and Momofuku among others.
“Our goal is to stick to a very simple analogy,” Poulos explained. “We look at our equipment in much the same way that a consumer looks at a car. You want to be able to go to the garage, grab the keys and hear that car start and then perform consistently. We want the chef to be able to do the same thing every time they walk into that kitchen and turn on their Jade. We describe it simply as reliability and durability.”
Over the past couple of years, Jade’s parent company Middleby Corp, has been committed to bring the firm’s comprehensive portfolio under a single rep umbrella in each of the nation’s major marketplaces. So, with that has come news that the Jade cooking line will now be represented in Metro New York by highly respected Pecinka Ferri.
Founded in 1972, Pecinka Ferri Associates is a leading manufacturers’ agent to the foodservice industry in Metro New York. The Fairfield, NJ based company is guided by industry veterans Ed Pecinka and Joe Ferri.
“We represent internationally recognized brands by providing knowledge and solutions to our end users, support for our dealers and consultants, and innovative marketing services for our factories,” noted Ferri. “The Pecinka Ferri team is proud to accept the opportunity to now represent Jade Range and Beech Ovens in Metro NY. We have a long tradition of marketing premier brands and welcome Jade and Beech to our family of best-in-class cooking appliances.”
“Our rep firm is grateful to the Middleby Corporation for trusting us with their full portfolio of foodservice equipment and are excited to have added both Jade Range and Beech Ovens to our offering,” added Ed Pecinka.
As the industry prepares to reopen and welcome back guests, there will be new protocols for the cleaning of commercial ranges. Often chefs will shut off their range at the end of a night’s service only to come back the next day and find that it doesn’t work properly. In many cases a commercial range simply can’t stand up to cleaning that combines aggressive water and caustic cleaning chemicals. “We have always built our burner boxes so that an open burner can be protected against water and chemicals getting into the body of the range,” Poulos said
New disinfectants being introduced to secure Post-Pandemic safety, are fully compatible with the Jade line. The #304 stainless steel ranges contain a higher nickel content than most others. The more nickel, the stronger the stainless steel, and the more able to withstand extreme pressure and harsh cleaning agents.
The key to Jade’s success has been its ability to combine durability and a knack for listening and responding to the needs of its consultant, dealer and chef/end-user customer base. “It’s simply amazing to me how goal of reliability and durability has stood the test of time,” Poulos continued. “We have ovens that were installed in the Bellagio in Las Vegas that are still in use 20 years later.”
The addition of the Jade cooking line fits perfectly with Pecinka Ferri’s approach to the reopening of the foodservice marketplace. “Operators are looking for ideas and solutions that will allow them to be on the forefront of the wave of providing diners a safe and comfortable experience and Jade fits that profile perfectly,” Pecinka added.
“It has become very evident that product availability is trumping price as the ‘time is now’ with many of our regions opening in phases as we speak. Most of our manufacturers including Jade and Beech have taken this time to increase inventory levels on popular products to free up build slots for new and existing solutions that are going to be asked for, and some have put together special pricing along with financing programs,” Pecinka concluded.
Jade’s DNA has always been distinguished by innovation it has brought to the marketplace. Every NAFEM and trade show has been a flock of industry professionals anxious to test drive Jade’s latest. From step-up ranges to planchas, Jade has consistently been an innovator.
This new affiliation clearly has all the ingredients to create a recipe for success. Jade brings a commitment to setting the industry engineering standard for cooking equipment. That combined with Pecinka Ferri’s team of creative culinary professionals and a state of the industry test kitchen has created a unique resource for the Tri-State foodservice community.
