Welbilt and Halton Group announce strategic alliance

Welbilt Inc, a leading worldwide supplier of commercial foodservice equipment and Halton, a technology leader in indoor air solutions for professional kitchens, have entered into a strategic alliance to facilitate the integration of Halton's ventilation systems into a wide range of Welbilt’s equipment to better meet the needs of their customers. Strong customer focus being the corner stone of Halton's innovation, the company has a long history of partnerships and co-development projects with various related technology suppliers.  With this first strategic alliance, Halton also strives to speed up the international sales and further development of its latest innovations, such as the mobile mini-kitchen solution, Halton MobiChef.

The alliance provides a framework to combine the best from both companies’ innovation teams to develop system solutions with specific focus on the following areas:

• Increase kitchen output while reducing kitchen footprint;
• Improve speed of service and overall kitchen ergonomics;
• Better manage kitchen temperatures to improve employee comfort and maximize productivity; and
• Reduce total building energy consumption.

Restaurant chain businesses play an important role in both companies' futures which supports the growth potential of the aforementioned areas in different parts of the world. 

“We are pleased to partner with Halton as we believe that peak kitchen performance requires the integration of the cooking equipment to the ventilation systems. This integration includes the acceleration of digital technology, kitchen control systems, remote monitoring including KitchenConnect® to provide better systems and service over the equipment life cycle. The alliance also complements our fitkitchenSM approach to develop high output kitchens in smaller footprints,” said Hubertus Muehlhaeuser, President and CEO of Manitowoc Foodservice / Welbilt.

"We are very happy to be able to combine our own top expertise with the solutions of a leading kitchen appliance supplier like Welbilt. Through the cooperation, we will be able in the future to create even better well-being for kitchen staff who work around the world and better possibilities for operators in the restaurant field too to offer the best customer experience for their own customers," says Mika Halttunen, Chairman of the Board at Halton Group.

"We also believe there is significant growth potential in mobile cooking globally. Partnering with Welbilt can help us expand our MobiChef solution by including an electric cooking suite, complete with refrigeration and have the combined products UL Listed for rapid customer adoption,” he comments.

About Manitowoc Foodservice, Inc. (which is changing its name to Welbilt, Inc. on March 6, 2017)

Welbilt Inc. provides the world’s top chefs and premier chain operators or growing independents with industry-leading equipment and solutions. The company offers fully-integrated kitchen systems and the products are backed by KitchenCare® – aftermarket, repair, and parts service. Headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, and operating 18 manufacturing facilities throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, the company sells through a global network of over 3,000 distributors and dealers in over 100 countries. The company has approximately 5,500 employees and generated sales of $1.57 billion in 2015. Its portfolio of award-winning brands includes Cleveland™, Convotherm®, Delfield®, fitkitchenSM, Frymaster®, Garland®, Kolpak®, Lincoln™, Manitowoc® Ice, Merco®, Merrychef® and Multiplex®. For more information, visit www.welbilt.com.

Further information:

Kai Konola, CEO, Halton Group

Tel. +358 40 502 4900

Email: firstname.lastname@halton.com

Mika Halttunen, Chairman of the Board, Halton Group

Tel. +1 270 535 377

Halton Group specializes in demanding indoor air and indoor environment systems, services and solutions for commercial and public premises, healthcare institutions and laboratories, professional kitchens and restaurants.Halton is also one of the best known providers of ventilation and air distribution products for sea vessels and oil platforms.

The company was founded in Finland in 1969. Today, Halton Group has production units in ten and R&D units in eight countries. Licensed production is carried out in four countries. Halton Group employs over 1400 people in over 30 countries. The company’s turnover in 2016 was more than 200 million euros. For more information, visit www.halton.com.

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