BSE Marketing Takes Foodservice Equipment On-the-Go

Alto-Shaam’s manufacturers’ representative, BSE Marketing, has taken their kitchen on the road.

With their new Mobile Equipment Lab (MEL), operators, dealers and consultants can now experience a full-system kitchen on wheels, wherever they are.

“When we were conceiving what MEL would look like, we wanted it to be a destination kitchen that comes to you,” said Chef Anthony Muzia of BSE Marketing in New Hyde Park, New York.

The truck’s complete system includes an Alto-Shaam Combitherm® Oven, Vector® H Series Multi-Cook Oven, Cook & Hold Oven, waterless hot food wells, heated holding cabinet and carving station.

To power MEL, BSE installed a 30 kW generator—allowing the equipment to operate simultaneously.

BSE Marketing and its sister company, BSE Keystone, use MEL as a hands-on demonstration and training space to engage operators, dealers and consultants.

“Ideally, we don’t want to be the ones cooking in the truck,” Chef Anthony said. “We want a customer to be fully engaged, they are the ones putting a roast in the Cook & Hold or pulling shrimp out of the combi.  We’ve even had end users bring product from their own walk-ins.  Getting it to become hands-on is a priority.”

BSE Marketing’s ultimate goal is to bring MEL on ride-alongs in partnership with dealer sales representatives.

“We are in a unique area, where operators might live 20-30 miles away, but traveling to us for a demo is not a convenient trip for them,” Chef Anthony said. “Our Culinary Center is a 30-minute train ride from Penn Station. Even with that, it is becoming difficult to get customers in for training or an equipment demonstration. With MEL, we can bring the system directly to the operator.”

MEL is used as a tool to demonstrate how Alto-Shaam’s equipment solutions can add value to food service operations. In one case, Chef Anthony brought MEL to a Chinese restaurant in order to showcase batch cooking and holding.

“It was impactful, because we were able to actually show her how the system could bring her ticket and delivery times down,” Chef Anthony said.

With the success seen with MEL, BSE Marketing is considering creating a second truck in order to demonstrate other systems, specifically for pizza restaurants.

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