Trevor Amick, Crest Foodservice Equipment

Trevor Amick is entering his third year with Norfolk, Va.-based Crest Foodservice Equipment. Prior to joining Crest, where he serves as an outside sales and training manager, he spent 15 years working as a chef in restaurants. His specialty is selling heavy equipment. Amick operates from a diverse client base that includes independent restaurants, restaurant groups, country clubs and more.

Q: You worked as a chef for a long time. What was your favorite dish to make?

A: My go-to was anything with a recipe and a fire. I worked in a barbecue restaurant for about five years, and I was in charge of the pits. I cooked ribs, bacon, brisket, wings and pork, and I was able to learn that craft. I used to do whole pigs for football Sundays. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun and very rewarding. The food is only as good as the people you surround yourself with.

Q: How have you seen equipment evolve?

A: Factories are listening more to end users and gearing things toward the lack of skilled labor in the kitchen. These items are more user-friendly for an operator. Restaurants need to provide more food at consistent quality at a high volume.

Q: Foodservice projects rarely come to the table with enough time or money. How do you mitigate these circumstances?

A: When that happens, I try to be as up-front as possible in the beginning. You’re starting to see lead times come down, which is great. You try to help customers understand what it takes to open a restaurant today because it’s different from three or four years ago. We’re grateful to be on that journey with them.

Q: How do you ensure you specify the right piece of equipment for the application?

A: It’s about finding the right tool for the right customer for the right applications and what will work best for them. I just try to find the best tool for the job. I want to make sure that what the customers end up with is exactly what they need for their menu and their flow in the kitchen.

Q: What types of equipment solutions are piquing your customers’ interest?

A: I think it depends on the customer. I’ve noticed that a lot of newer restaurants are going toward ventless equipment and electric equipment. That’s become more important. Electric equipment has come a long way. You have to swap out equipment easily, and that’s important to the customers because of food trends and menu changes. You have to keep up with that ever-changing landscape. People know more about food than they did 5, 10 or 20 years ago. Before, the chefs told the guests how to eat. Now, it seems like the
customers are telling the chefs how to cook.

Q: What culinary trends excite you?

A: What excites me is seeing an opportunity to open a restaurant for a lot more people who didn’t have that opportunity before. You can now see a lot of different cultures getting the opportunity to open a restaurant. It’s definitely a trend in smaller cities like Norfolk and not just major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles or New York or Washington, D.C. People want these opportunities like those in the larger cities, and they’re making it happen.

DSR 3-2-1

Trevor Amick, Crest Foodservice Equipment, sits down with Jason Wange, Foodservice Powerplant Network, to talk about being named an FE&S DSR of the Month.

Find more episodes of DSR 3-2-1 here.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Presents DSR 3-2-1 is sponsored by Salvajor.