One of the best investments we have made in our future is the test kitchen. We feel at Allied that a portion of our responsibility as manufacturers representatives is to educate the customer about commercial kitchen equipment…what piece of equipment works for different applications, how a
piece of equipment will be serviced over it’s lifetime and what is a fair price to pay for that piece of equipment. Our full-scale 1000 square foot seminar complex includes a state of the art tempered ventilation system and utility distribution systems complete with gas, electric and hot/cold water quick disconnect hookups. The elevated presentation area makes for easy viewing and we have seminar capacity for 50.
The test kitchen facility is used in various ways:
1) End user demonstrations with concentration on schools and hospitals - Our “hands on” seminars have helped us achieve a phenomenal closing rate in this area.
2) Dealer and Consultant sales seminars – Allied holds sales meetings with both dealers and consultants to educate them about our equipment. Having the test kitchen with operational equipment makes a tremendous impact.
3) Educational seminars – Food service directors and personnel from schools, colleges and universities are brought in as part of their exposure to commercial kitchen equipment. As well, we have done seminars for the Indiana Chef’s Association; with the fine relationship we have developed with them they are holding some of their monthly meetings at the Allied test kitchen. Allied also hosts training seminars for service agencies on equipment, installation and service.
4) Gas and Electric Companies – These folks have become our allies and co-sponsor many of our seminars. They are a good source for leads and support Allied because they can bring their potential customers to our test kitchen facility and actually let them “kick the tires”.
5) Allied uses – We use our test kitchen to experiment with new equipment or to test new equipment for various manufacturers. Time spent in the test kitchen translates to us knowing our equipment better and ultimately being more effective with our field demonstrations.