Why You Should Shop Locally Instead of Online

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Shopping online may be convenient compared to searching for exactly what you need in a store, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best move for supplying your restaurant with industrial grade equipment. Choosing to shop locally whenever you can has meaningful benefits, and can build a longstanding professional relationship with someone who is truly passionate about the success of your restaurant.

Why Are More People Buying Foodservice Equipment Online?

Buying foodservice equipment–and just about everything else–online has been increasing in popularity for the last decade, but it has seen a drastic spike over the past year. In a recent survey, at least 80 percent of restaurant owners identified reasons such as a variety of checkout options and concerns surrounding potential future disruptions related to COVID-19 as reasons for switching from vendors to online shopping.

Alto-Hartley’s senior project manager, John Turcotte said, “The way to counter this is through exceptional service and product knowledge.” Trading top-notch service for the convenience of more checkout options or hypothetical future problems that may never happen at all isn’t going to help you grow your business at the same rate that working with an experienced industry professional will.

Amazon may get the product you order to your restaurant, but it can’t let you know if your choice isn’t a good fit for your needs before making an investment, make recommendations for additional products that work well with your purchase, help you setup your new equipment, or be there to help when your equipment needs to be repaired or replaced. Alto-Hartley has years of experience doing just that, and foodservice is our passion.

Alto-Hartley’s History in the Foodservice Industry

At Alto-Hartley, we have been selling restaurant equipment since the 1950s. Decades of experience learning everything we can about both essentials and modern trends within the foodservice industry have made us knowledgeable about everything there is to know within the industry, while online sellers that are too big and sell too many different things often have a hard time answering even relatively simple questions from customers. Our team is committed to providing high-quality service and getting the job done right the first time. Making our customers happy makes it easier for them to make their own customers happy, and that matters to us.

Shop Local Instead of Buying Online

Hitting the Buy Now button and waiting for your new kitchen equipment or parts to show up at your restaurant may be convenient and even a bit cheaper than finding time to go to a store, but going this route doesn’t benefit your community and may even negatively affect your restaurant.

Shopping locally directly helps someone in your community pay bills and put food on the table, possibly even someone you can build a professional relationship with after years as a repeat customer, while buying from Amazon doesn’t benefit anyone you know. Trust us: Jeff Bezos doesn’t care about your restaurant. Alto-Hartley’s knowledgeable team members, on the other hand, prioritize personally helping you find exactly what you need to keep your restaurant ready to make customers happy. We’re active in our community, and are passionate about the local restaurant scene.

Every sale counts for so much more for small businesses than it does for the massive corporations you purchase from online. Purchasing a single combi oven or freezer from a small local dealer has a significant effect on that business owner’s annual revenue and ability to feed their family and keep their business running. That same purchase amount is a drop in the bucket it is for big box stores or companies.

Although it isn’t 1990 and we’ll never see a world without online shopping again, it’s best to save it for when it’s the only option. It would be an excellent idea, for example, to purchase custom decor for your restaurant from an Etsy seller or another online small business. When it comes to your kitchen equipment, however, shopping locally whenever possible often has much better results for both the seller and your restaurant.

To sweeten the deal, we’d like to extend this 10% off coupon. Click the photo below to claim the discount.