Careers in the foodservice equipment industry
Are you looking for an exciting occupation in a dynamic, challenging and friendly industry?
Across Europe, the Commercial Catering Equipment Industry’s equipment prepares and serves over 200 million meals every day, in venues like hotels, restaurants, bars, hospitals, schools and colleges.
The industry offers a huge range of exciting career opportunities in marketing, design, engineering, service, consultancy, sales and management.
It’ll be a challenging career, too. The catering equipment suppliers you will be working for are developing new concepts to help caterers cut energy use and minimise their carbon footprint. Then there are issues such as food safety, new cooking technologies, replicating authentic ethnic cooking methods, and a host of others. You can be part of a team offering solutions that enhance menus and make the chef’s life easier.
Foodservice Industry Sectors
A career in foodservice offers a broad and exciting range of possiblities, with potential in any of the areas below:
Kitchen Design
Designing a commercial kitchen is a complex business combining the creative and the practical. You’ll work with architects, consultants, planners, and operators and – of course – chefs, to create the perfect solution for the site. What food do they cook? How many staff do they have? Are there better cooking options than the ones they are used to?
Your input will help optimise the output of the kitchen – not only in terms of how much they produce, but how good it is. You could be helping them win a Michelin star!
Management
There are as many career opportunities in catering equipment as in any other sphere of management. However, you’ll be working in the hospitality sector – and that’s a great place to be. Whatever your interest, from accountancy to the environment to research analysis, you’ll and paths opening for you.
So if you’re looking for a career in management and want to be part of a dynamic, fast changing and friendly industry, catering equipment is an excellent choice.
Manufacturing
Working in manufacturing offers the option to develop your career path in new ways, as you and what suits you best. You might start out in the shop or, working in a team to build the appliances ultimately destined for commercial kitchens in hotels, restaurants, schools, universities.
If you want to move on from the shop or, there are plenty of ways to go, such as management, R&D, administration and quality control.
Marketing
Now that your company has developed the Next Big Thing in the commercial kitchen, how do you persuade caterers to buy it? A career in marketing in the catering equipment industry can be rewarding, challenging, interesting and fun.
You’ll be researching the market, helping develop new concepts and then deciding upon how best to bring your new technology to the chefs, managers and influencers of the catering industry.
Product Development
Are you the next James Dyson? Manufacturers are working on new fridges, new cookers, new dishwashers – new appliances and gadgets of all types. Many of the latest developments are focussed on saving energy, without compromising performance or food safety - which isn’t easy.
Induction cooking, blast chillers, combi steamers, low temperature warewashers, multi function cooking appliances – commercial cooking technology is changing at a rapid pace and you could be working on tomorrow’s kitchen, today.
Sales and Support
Being part of a sales team working in catering equipment has the potential to be a truly enjoyable career. You’ll be working directly with the customer, helping them select the right choice of equipment for their needs. You’ll be working closely with your colleagues, developing a strategy to generate new business.
You’ll be networking with friends and captains of the industry, to ensure your company has the profile it needs. In short, you’ll be dealing with people.
Service
If you like ‘hands on’ work, then a career in service is a great choice. As an engineer or technician, you’ll travel to customers to maintain and repair their equipment. Every day you’ll be meeting different people, at different venues, and you’ll face different challenges.
You’ll be highly trained with the know-how to deliver the best possible ‘first time fix’ rate, to ensure that your customers’ equipment is working well so they can get on with their business.
Not sure where to start?
Our Meet Our Members directory will show you all of our members and the regions and sectors that they operate within. Our Product Group page will also give you an idea of the equipment sectors that our members operate across.
Alternatively you can contact the FEA directly.
