Introducing the Spiral Fry

Soon thereafter, in 1981, Nemco officially introduced to the foodservice market, its first food-prep equipment product, the Spiral Fry. Other foodservice-market needs inspired many more innovations and, by 1988, when Nemco saw its first major facility expansion, the company had truly evolved from a machine shop to a “manufacturer of food equipment.”

A Food Prep Game Changer

In 2001, Nemco diversified its food-prep equipment offering with the acquisition of Blue Point, the original manufacturer of two innovative seafood-prep units, the ProShucker® Power Shell Separator™ and ShrimpPro 2000® Power Shrimp Cutter and Deveiner™.

A year later, in 2002, Nemco completed a very impactful acquisition, purchasing the extremely well-known, original Roll-A-Grill line of hot-dog cooking equipment and accessories from Connolly.

That same year, Nemco leadership changed hands in the family when Kenny Moffatt, the founder’s son-in-law, became Chief Executive Officer.

Up through 2007, the company went on to introduce a food-prep equipment game changer with the development of its pretensioned blade cartridge concept. Integrated into several of its already popular cutting tools, the cartridge redefined Nemco’s Easy Chopper, Easy Tomato Slicer and Easy Onion Slicer by dramatically improving cutting precision, blade life and user safety.

In 2008, with another acquisition, Nemco augmented its food-merchandising equipment capabilities, particularly with respect to graphics customization.

An Industrial Design Focus

The growth that followed allowed Nemco to, then, move this West Coast operation into a new 23,000 square-foot facility in the fall of 2013.

In the next few years, Nemco shifted its product development into overdrive, unveiling a number of new merchandisers, roller grills and strip heaters, among other innovations, while also expanding its engineering department into its own dedicated R&D facility.

Still more groundbreaking equipment innovations hit the market from 2014, including the thermoelectric, refrigerant-free Cold Condiment Chiller, the chaotic-kitchen-taming TaskMaster timer and the game-changing PaniniPro™ sandwich press.

At the same time, Nemco began turning inward with an industrial-design mentality to improve upon existing products, which yielded, for example, an even smarter and more labor-efficient Easy Chopper 3 in 2015.

That same year Nemco leadership promoted Michelle Wibel to president, after she had served various sales and marketing roles in her 18 years at Nemco.

When the World Stood Still, Nemco Kept Going

Like every one of its customers and peers, Nemco had to act in dramatic fashion to survive the infamous 2020 pandemic that paralyzed the entire industry.

With E&S sales virtually coming to a sudden halt, as restaurants tried to navigate health-and-safety protocols just to remain open, Nemco made a complete manufacturing pivot and launched an entirely new product line.

Within a matter of weeks, Nemco began marketing its Pro-Hygiene Solutions that included everything from its Easy Shield™ clear partitions and Clean Getaway™ hands-free door openers, to its HyGenie™ hands-free dispensers, Stop ‘n Scrub™ portable sinks and more.

By 2022, as the industry was back in full swing, Nemco picked up right where it left off and resumed the development of its food equipment arsenal by acquiring Meister Cook LLC, creators of the Hot Hold® line of Dry/Moist Food Warmers.

The acquisition instantly placed Nemco into a new kitchen application. Designed to hold both juicy and crispy foods simultaneously, at their perfect temperature and moisture levels for hours, the Hot Hold presents a unique meal-order assembly solution for high-volume, quick-serve operations.

Not to mention, the Hot Hold has also proven more energy efficient and user-friendly than any other comparable unit.