Olympic Restaurant Equipment Opens Its Doors in Sequim

Do you love to cook? Do you love preparing that gourmet dish for a special occasion? Is your kitchen your adult playground? If your answer is yes to any or all of these questions, you’ll be delighted to learn that there’s a new and incredibly delicious kitchen equipment and supply store in Sequim. Olympic Restaurant Equipment opened its business in a brand new building at 51 Dryke Road in Sequim, which is just off Highway 101 across the street from Lumberman’s.

kitchen_appliances_in_sequimThe owner is former professional Chef Eric Schwartz with 35 years in the business. Eric spent a career traveling the United States as a Chef and has worked in nearly every aspect of the food service industry, including  privately owned and high volume chain restaurants and dinner houses, high end corporate dinning, event planning, catering and event logistics, and entertainment catering where he provided meals backstage to dignitaries and  celebrities and their crews, including President Ford, Reba McIntyre, Neil Young, David Copperfield, Ozzy Osborne and many others. He spent six years traveling as a resort chef having worked in such areas as West Hampton Beach, New York, West Palm Beach, Florida, Vail, Colorado, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and San Francisco, California.

After retiring as a Chef, Eric moved to Sequim 12 years ago, but his love for the kitchen and the art of cooking beckoned to him, but this time in a different role. He became a consultant and a dealer of commercial kitchen equipment. He’s also an appraiser of commercial equipment and his work includes asset recovery, which involves dismantling and marketing entire commercial kitchens for restaurants, hospitals, schools, and military bases that must close or move their operations. His business has continued to grow, and his clients reach across Washington as well as Alaska and around the country.

Olympic Restaurant Equipment is Eric’s vision of a retail and wholesale kitchen equipment and supply business that caters to residential and commercial customers. He offers the top lines of commercial  kitchen equipment including ovens, ranges, refrigerators, freezers, fryers, commercial quality mixers, juicers, blenders, espresso machines, commercial grade toasters, and pots and pans, knives, kitchen apparel, and a lot more.

sequim_commercial_ovensDo you enjoy browsing to gawk at shiny new kitchen equipment and supplies that would make you look like Emeril Lagasse in your own kitchen? You’ve got to browse Olympic Restaurant Equipment just for the fun of it if you love cooking.  Sequim has other chefs who have retired here from California, and we have our share of extraordinary cooks with a passion for the art of cooking the ultimate meal.

Most people supply their home kitchen with residential appliances, and many higher end homes these days offer commercial/residential appliances which are residential appliances that are made to look like commercial appliances. These units offer many of the same features as commercial ranges but there are some very distinct differences.
Many commercial/residential ranges offer stainless steel exteriors as well as back splashes, over shelves, and commercial style controls but most of these are not true commercial ranges.  Commercial/residential ranges are  designed for zero clearance between cabinetry and the BTU’s are typically much lower than a true commercial range. In addition, many commercial/residential ranges offer features like automatic igniters on burners as opposed to standing pilots as offered  on most commercial ranges. Another feature you typically wont find on a commercial range is a self-cleaning oven.
True commercial ranges provide much higher BTU’s for a hotter flame, much heavier overall construction, larger burners that allow for and help heat larger pots and pans more evenly, larger oven compartments, all features that take cooking on a commercial range to entirely new levels. “There is a huge trend now of people installing commercial equipment like this in their homes, which we think is great, but we always caution our customers to check with your local authorities to ensure the installation of commercial equipment in a residence complies with local building and fire codes. We also recommend checking with their insurance company to ensure  they have coverage for this type of equipment in the event of a problem.

“Once you cook on a commercial range, get used to it and master it, you’ll never go back to an electric range or even a residential propane range,” says Eric.  “If you want to sear something you simply use a higher flame. The heat is there. No need for a fancy searing burner which I understand is a popular feature on the newer residential ranges and barbeques.  You have much more control over how you cook on a commercial gas range.”

sequim_wholesale_kitchen_equipmentOlympic Restaurant Equipment has a great inventory of new and used kitchen equipment. They also handle a variety of other kitchen supplies as you’ll see when you drop in and browse. Can anyone come by and just walk around? Absolutely. Whether you’re planning to build your next home, or thinking about how to spruce up your kitchen now, this is a great place for ideas.

Thinking about what kind of appliance might best suit your needs? One of the advantages you’ll find at Olympic Restaurant Equipment is the professional advice a professional chef can offer. Where else could you find a chef who has prepared thousands of dishes on a variety of appliances to personally answer your questions and be your guide to the kitchen of your dreams? You won’t find that personal touch on the Internet, and you won’t find it in just any residential appliance store. Eric is not a salesman. He’s a professional, and his enthusiasm shows when he compares equipment and cooking methods.

sequim_commercial_mixerOlympic Restaurant Equipment is committed to matching or beating the prices of its Seattle competitors and is able to do so because of their affiliation with The Excell Marketing and Procurement Group, a national buying cooperative of over 250 dealers nationwide that get wholesale discounts for group volume purchases. With three sales people on the floor and two full time technicians, customer service is our top priority, and follow-up and advice at this level is something Sequim and Port Angeles residents will really appreciate.

While the store has a great inventory, Eric is also a consultant for restaurants, hotels, and corporations, and as part of his service to local residents, he provides free consultations for people who may be considering opening their own restaurant. He’s a design consultant and also repairs commercial appliances and equipment.

Another division of Olympic Restaurant Equipment is purchasing, rehabing, and selling used commercial equipment. This is a diversified business, and Eric points out that you have to be diversified in this business.

I asked Eric if he ever has customers get quotes and then shop to get lower prices on the Internet or at some commercial dealer outside the area. “Oh, yes. It happens, and I get stories from people who bought a commercial refrigerator or range for a few hundred dollars less than my price, but I see them again when they have problems with the installation or they can’t get warranty support. Then they end up spending a lot more money than if they had just bought it from us to begin with. We give people incredible customer service, and we don’t charge for installations and all the additional support we give our customers.”

The news is full of stories lately about businesses struggling and closing, but Olympic Restaurant Equipment is a shining example of a new business that is investing heavily in Sequim. This author thoroughly enjoyed browsing the store, and you will too. You can’t miss it on Highway 101 just west of Sequim a few miles and almost direclty across from Lumberman’s.

Would you like to take a look at some of the products available right now?  They have a great website.port_angeles_kitchen_supplies

 

If you would like to visit the store or contact Eric or one of his technicians, here is their address and phone number and main website.

Olympic Restaurant Equipment
51 Dryke Road
Sequim, Washington 98382
(360) 582-1050
Website:  OlympicRestaurantEquipment.com

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