Standex Opens Culinary Development Center

SALEM, N.H. -- Standex International Corp.'s Food Service Equipment Group has opened a new facility for training, product development and key customer visits.

The new Standex Culinary Development Center, a 21,000-square-foot facility in Allen, Texas, also serves as the corporate office for Standex’s Cooking Solutions Group of companies. Those companies include APW Wyott, Bakers Pride, BevLes, TriStar and BKI.

The Culinary Development Center features a demonstration center equipped with the most innovative equipment offered by the Standex family of cooking and refrigeration brands. The facility is centrally located north of Dallas in a region where many national chains are headquartered, the company noted.

"The new Standex Culinary Development Center enables us to strengthen relationships with our customers and sales representatives, while enhancing our ability to offer innovative solutions to the market," said John Abbott, group vice president for the Standex Food Service Equipment Group. "The Culinary Development Center provides our customers with an opportunity to create production systems by integrating Standex's cooking and refrigeration offerings in a prototype environment.”

Customer feedback from the evaluation of its products and workflow in a real-life environment now enables Standex to develop custom solutions specifically suited to each customer’s needs, according to Abbott. “Our sales representatives also will be using the Culinary Development Center to better understand the features and benefits of our comprehensive hot and cold offerings," he added.

Standex Food Service Equipment Group recently held a two-day training session for its sales representatives and highlighted new product lines that are being introduced at the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Show this week in Orlando, Fla.