CLAYTON, DE – Why did Eagle Group, America’s largest manufacturer of commercial foodservice equipment, decide to get involved with HX: The Hotel Experience Powered by AAHOA? After all, the company had been in business for seven decades, but only made the decision to partner with HX two years ago.
The News sat down with Chase H. McAllister, vice president of Sales, Eagle Group, Clayton, Delaware, to talk about the changing focus of Eagle, and how that change motivated company officials to spread the word.
HX: How has the relationship with Eagle and HX: The Hotel Experience evolved?
McAllister: Two years ago, we participated by showing some of our standard catalog equipment—multiple compartment sinks, some worktables, wall shelves, as well as some wire shelving.
HX: Why did you decide to get involved with Hotel Experience in a larger way?
McAllister: As our company has morphed from a standard commodity manufacturer into a true custom fabricator, one of our responsibilities is to really try to reach the consultant and end user market and educate those folks on all the capabilities that are available through Eagle Group. In our efforts to start those relationships and trying to be specified on more than just standard buyouts, we were actually brought to the table two years ago by a consultant who wanted us to participate as part of a showcase booth.
HX: What’s the nature of your sponsorship this year at HX?
McAllister: We were brought to the table by Joseph Schumaker [founder of FoodSpace], who is a consultant in Northern California. He approached us to build the custom fabrication for his Foodservice Pioneering Concept, which he calls Duality. We are technically a sponsor of Duality, which will be shown at HX this year.
HX: You are a co-sponsor, correct?
McAllister: Yes, there are other manufacturers involved. There’s actually equipment that other manufacturers fabricate that we are going to build into our fixtures.
HX: Is it unusual for you to work with other manufacturers?
McAllister: Generally, no. It is not so unusual. As we build custom chefs’ counters, there’s always provisions for other manufacturers’ food warmers and heat lamps and cold wells. Especially what we’re doing this year with Duality, there’s under counter equipment and drop in refrigerated cold well that are part of the overall serving counters. We actually work hand in hand, often times as part of our custom manufacturing process, with a lot of these manufacturers to make sure that we’re building our commercial appliances per their specs. We make sure the cut out is the right size, the clearances are the right size, and the compressor is going to have enough airflow to breathe and function properly.
HX: Please describe the company for the uninitiated.
McAllister: We have 14 acres under one roof [see aerial photo on right]. It’s our little hobby shop in Delaware. We have right around 450 full time employees at our manufacturing plant.
HX: Eagle Group is well known to most HX attendees, but what might attendees not know about this company that has been around for more than seven decades?
McAllister: Eagle Group really got its start as a standard sinks, tables, and wire shelving company, and that started in the mid 1970s. And it’s only been within the last 15 years or so that we really have morphed our process and our manufacturing plant to compete in this custom fabrication segment of the food service industry.
HX: Even after 10 to 15 years, some prospective customers still do not know about your significant role in the custom market?
McAllister: In the grand scheme of things, 15 years is not that long, so we are still trying to educate the market that we can do custom equipment. We do have the certifications, the custom NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) certification to build custom equipment and build it properly, as well as certifications such as Custom UL, which allows us to pre-wire and pre-plumb certain commercial fixtures, like chefs’ counters. We also do custom built-in refrigeration for chefs’ counters and it’s all in the last 10 to 15 years that we’ve gotten those certifications and have really tried to attack the market to be more than just a standard commodity manufacturer. We do have 20,000 standard SKUs in our catalog, so we have a very large breadth of product offerings. Even with those 20,000 standard SKUs, our largest product category has been custom fabrication.
HX: You are a made-in-the-USA manufacturer, correct?
McAllister: Being a domestic manufacturer, a lot of our raw materials come from the United States. We’re not importing that much from China. It has not been our focus. In fact, we’re probably the last manufacturer of wire shelving in the United States. There are some companies that still produce limited SKUs and finishes in the U.S., but for the most part that product comes from the Pacific Rim or from Mexico. If you came to our facility at any given time, it might be the only place in the United States that you can see a product like wire shelving still being manufactured.
HX: How have tariffs affected Eagle Group?
McAllister: We do bring in some component parts and pieces from manufacturers that produce in China. We have felt the tariffs in that regard. Those are small pieces and components. What we really felt, and this was last year when the tariffs went into place; a lot of the domestic steel mills used that [tariffs] as an avenue for price increases. If you’re bringing it in from China right now, you’re paying a 25% tariff. The domestic steel mills, where there are no tariffs, they use that as an opportunity to increase their surcharges and raw material costs.
HX: So it’s an indirect affect, correct?
McAllister: Although the tariffs have not directly affected us, because we’re not bringing in much from China, it has indirectly affected us because of pricing fluctuations in that domestic commodity market.
HX: Why are face-to-face conferences valuable in 2019?
McAllister: Any time you go to a show, whether it’s as an exhibitor or an attendee, you see things that you did not even know existed. If you’re a restauranteur or an operator of a hotel chain, and you have a commercial kitchen, a lot of times you only know about what’s in your facility. It’s very hard to stay on the cutting edge unless it’s something you live and breathe every day. Being able to go to HX where there’s a large group of manufacturers, you get exposed to a lot of technology and advancements. Even if you do know it exists, you may not know how it’s implemented. Going to these shows is critical for our industry to continue to move forward. It’s a great learning experience, and it opens your eyes to everything that’s happening in the background.