In 1938, brothers, Sidney and David Ringelheim moved from Manhattan”™s Lower East Side to Connecticut and began a small business shuttling restaurant equipment from the Bowery to Bridgeport. That was the modest beginning of Globe Equipment Co., now an international and online supplier of commercial equipment for the food service industry from food trucks to resort restaurants.
Seventy-eight years later the second and third generations of Ringelheims have kept the business growing by expanding into new markets and increasing their presence in Bridgeport.
“We have not had a down year in a long time,” said Brian Ringelheim, vice president of Globe and the third generation to lead the business.
“We have had some flat years, but not any down years, and I think it is because we keep reinventing ourselves, investing and keeping up with the different demands in the industry,” he said.
The company recently added more than 4,000 square feet to its Bridgeport showroom to connect the building with an adjacent warehouse. The combined 50,000-square-foot facility houses and displays restaurant equipment and supplies in the thousands from flatware to industrial pizza ovens.
Ringelheim joined the company in 2005 after a career as an information and technology consultant and many years helping around the company in his childhood. He brought his tech background to bear by branching the company out of a purely brick and mortar model and into the digital realm, first through eBay and later opening the company”™s own online storefront.
Additionally, he gained an entirely new stream of business by securing General Services Administration contracts with the U.S. government, particularly for the Army, Air Force and National Park Service.
“We ship to bases all over the world,” he said.
The online and government sides of the business were vital in sustaining the company through the Great Recession when new restaurant openings stalled and established businesses postponed purchases in favor of repairs, he said.
“Had we not created those parts of the business I definitely do not know what the business would look like today.”
Now on the post-recession upswing, Ringelheim said business is good as pent-up demand and a changing dining culture are fueling the company”™s growth.
“We are definitely seeing more new restaurant openings and with that we are seeing whole kitchen projects,” he said.
One of company”™s specialties is full-service restaurant design and setup. A restaurant owner can simply present the space to fill and the type of cuisine to serve and Globe takes it from there right up until plumbers and electricians are needed for final installation of appliances.
Ringelheim said Globe is also benefiting from cultural shifts in eating habits brought on by the millennial generation and the explosion of quick delivery smartphone apps.
“I never cooked when I was in New York and I know a lot my friends and generation don”™t cook,” said the 38-year-old. “Today there are a lot more restaurants than 20 or 30 years ago when women stayed home and cooked dinner. Today people go out, they work until 7 (p.m.) and grab something at a quick-serve restaurant or do takeout.”
In Connecticut, the number of restaurants has been growing for at least a decade.
Statewide the number of dining establishments has increased consistently since 2005, from 6,651 businesses to 7,796 in 2014, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by the National Restaurant Association.
Fairfield County has also seen growth, from 1,767 establishments in 2005 to 2,154 in 2014, according to the association.
Ringelheim has noticed upscale dining seems to be on the rise in the county compared with casual, lower price point establishments.
Additionally, the presence of restaurant groups is leading to better-run and longer-lasting restaurants in an industry well known for its short lifespans and low success rates, he said.
Ringelheim anticipates increased investment in the digital side of the business with consumers increasingly shopping online and searching for better deals as they price-check items via their smartphones while shopping in-person.
“Customers are far more educated today than they were 10 years ago; it really levels the playing field,” he said. “What got my grandfather to the point where he handed it over to my father and uncle was not the same type of knowledge that was going to grow the business to where it is today. And the knowledge and techniques my father used to grow the business to where it is today is not what I am doing to grow the business to where it needs to be tomorrow.”
