The Value of Service

David Hahn, CFSP, President, Food Equipment Services Co., Knoxville, Tenn. -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 6/16/2008 10:04:00 AM

It’s never a happy day when a foodservice operator has to call a service agent to repair a piece of equipment. There’s a feeling of helplessness and frustration that the operator experiences when a piece of equipment is not working properly. But given the challenging economic times, the nature of the relationship between the operator and service agent has never been more important.

The obvious reason for saying this is the simple fact that in an uncertain economy, when something goes wrong operators are more likely to fix or patch up a piece of foodservice equipment in an effort to get more mileage out of that item than they are to invest in something new. So, foodservice operators will rely more heavily on their service agents to get the equipment running again in a timely and efficient manner and present them with a bill they can read and understand. It’s a piece of the puzzle that helps the operator keep what he has running.

In a sense, service agents responding to calls become not only the face of the companies they represent, but also the face of the equipment supply chain to the operator customer. That’s why it’s important for the service agent to arrive in a clean van, wearing a clean uniform and do the job correctly, which includes cleaning up after themselves.

Still, because most foodservice operators only call their service provider during times of duress, members of the foodservice industry often overlook the importance of these two parties establishing a good working relationship.

At the simplest level, having an ongoing relationship with an operator customer allows the service agent to track the service history of specific pieces of equipment. Having this knowledge allows the service agent to better identify when the product has come to the end of its life and to know when the costs to repair or operate the unit exceed its actual worth. In addition, ongoing knowledge of the operation allows the service agent to stock the appropriate parts based on historical use. This improves first-time fix rates.

More importantly, though, in these challenging economic times the service agent’s having a familiarity of a foodservice operation can help that facility maintain certain levels of productivity. While this may seem counter-intuitive at first, allow me to explain.

It can be more costly and time-consuming for both parties if a foodservice operator calls a new service provider each time. The agent spends valuable time getting to know an operation, the people that work there and seeing the layout of the facility before they can repair the item. This keeps the manager or other member of the operator’s team from doing other, more productive tasks and limits the number of customer calls the agent can make in the day. Nobody wins.

The benefits of having a solid working relationship with service agents run deep through both parties. We try to send the same technicians to the same company all the time. That way our techs know the kitchen layout and the equipment. More importantly, this allows them to develop a sense of when the right time would be to show up to repair the equipment. For example, if an operator uses an oven in the morning to bake the day’s bread, then the tech knows not to show up there to service the item until the afternoon. That way we show up at a time when it works for all of us.

Knowing the techs and what goes into working on a piece of equipment, allows the operator’s staff to understand how the service call will affect the flow of their business.

A service agent that has a working knowledge of a piece of equipment’s service history can better track warranty information and offer practical solutions to help avoid some of the nuisance calls. In addition, the service agent can train the operator’s staff about steps they can take to maintain the equipment to ensure it works properly. This cuts down on service calls and gives the operator some control over the performance of their equipment. A good resource that supports this area is the CFESA web site, which provides a list of what operators should look for before phoning in a service call and many other helpful resources.

The kitchen has to be designed to be serviceable. We see so many times where on paper the clearances and tolerances look great but when it comes to execution, there’s not enough space to properly service the equipment. Many times the equipment is laid out in such a way that adjacent pieces adversely affect one another with excess heat, moisture or grease-laden air. Designers and dealers tend to think their name is in the clear when that first pan of biscuits comes out of the oven, but they are still part of the mix when problems arise due to poorly thought-out installations.

As the economic realities of the day continue to impact the foodservice industry, it will be the relationships across all segments that allow each of us to withstand the tests of this time.