As part of its mission to celebrate organizations that strengthen the foodservice equipment and supplies industry, FEDA publishes Q&As with member companies. This week's newsletter features Flexeserve, a manufacturer of hot-holding equipment.
Flexeserve will be exhibiting at The NAFEM Show 2023 from Feb. 1-3 at Booth 403 of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
Who is your customer base?
Dave Hinton, president: Our hot-holding units for hot grab-and-go, together with our unique technology, are transformational for any operator serving hot food — improving food quality and diversity, efficiency, profitability and more. Flexeserve’s award-winning hot-holding units are changing the game for c-stores, quick service restaurants, stadiums, grocery stores, as well as food delivery, takeout and grab-and-go operators.
What equipment products do you sell?
Flexeserve manufactures the world’s best hot-holding units. Equipped with our patented hot air recirculation technology, Flexeserve Zone, Flexeserve Hub, and Flexeserve Zone Rear Feed deliver results that far exceed traditional hot-holding options. Our units create a stable environment for a wide range of hot food, maintaining quality for unrivalled hold times that you can measure in hours, not minutes.
What distinguishes Flexeserve in the foodservice equipment and supplies industry?
Flexeserve is more than a manufacturer, we are a hot-holding partner. Our team is the world’s experts in hot-holding. They deliver Flexeserve Solution, the industry’s only answer to creating an optimized hot food operation. We support customers with our expertise in the areas of food, culinary, packaging, technical and operations — so they can achieve results they thought impossible.
Versatility is becoming more important to many operators. How are you addressing that trend in your equipment?
We’ve designed our equipment and expertise to help operators realize their aspirations, improving hot food in the kitchen, at the counter and on the doorstep. Our Queen’s Award-winning Flexeserve Zone provides incredible versatility, as the only heated display on the market that can accurately hot-hold products with a range of temperature requirements in the same unit. When you combine that with the right food packaging, you can offer something for everyone from a single unit.
How is your company making the best use of new technology?
We’ve been pioneering hot-holding technology for decades with our unique hot air recirculation. We help operators utilize hot air to their advantage through Flexeserve Solution. The process we wrap around our equipment maximizes what can be achieved within our units. Also, as technologies evolve across the kitchen, we’re developing new opportunities for hot-holding and continuing to advance hot food operations.
Can you tell us about your testing environment and how that is helping your research and development team make advancements in hot-hold technology?
Flexeserve has the world’s only environmental test chamber for stress-testing hot-holding units. This has allowed us to perfect our hot air recirculation technology, so that our units can deliver the same results wherever they are placed, even at the end of the chilled aisle. Our testing facilities also allow us to validate a hot food program by measuring the performance of each product in our unit, so customers can test a concept before store trial or rollout.
How is the company growing?
Our growth, particularly in North America, has been rapid thanks to both our technology and Flexeserve Solution becoming the answer for some of the nation’s largest retailers. In the changing world of foodservice — where food quality, consistency and reduced waste are high priority — we have been able to demonstrate the significant benefits of our products and services. The opening of our new headquarters for the Americas, including a state-of-the-art culinary support center, will allow us to go to an entirely new level. As we build our team of dedicated hot food experts to support our dealer network and their customers, we will be able to put our products into the hands of so many more operators.
What excites you about the future of our industry?
Operators are facing new challenges, such as labor shortages, increasing food costs and environmental considerations. There are new problems to be solved and opportunities for our patented technology. We are very excited, as the leader in hot-holding, to help operators introduce new models of service and a broader grab-and-go cuisine, to meet guest expectations. We’re also proud to drive sustainability in our sector through next-level energy efficiency and waste reduction.
Is there anything else FEDA members should know about your company?
There’s hot-holding and then there’s our true hot-holding. Flexeserve’s proposition cannot be compared with other manufacturers. Our equipment and expertise deliver a unique range of benefits that change the game for the operator, delivering incredible return on investment. Flexeserve is your customers’ hot-holding partner, helping them to sell more and waste less. They’ll thank you for introducing Flexeserve Solution to them and never look back.