Commercial Equipment Wholesalers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 3,225 commercial equipment wholesalers in the US sell and distribute equipment and supplies used in restaurants, hotels, and retail stores, except for computers and office equipment and refrigeration units. In addition to selling equipment and supplies, firms may also provide installation and maintenance services.
Dependence on Health of Foodservice Sector
About two-thirds of the commercial equipment wholesaler industry’s revenue comes from food service equipment and supplies, so they are highly dependent on the health of the food service industry, particularly restaurants.
Smaller Equipment Footprints
Food service equipment manufacturers are developing new smaller models that combine multiple functions and take up less space.
Industry size & Structure
The average commercial equipment wholesaler has 14 employees and generates $8.1 million in annual revenue.
- The commercial equipment wholesalers industry in the US consists of over 3,200 firms with 46,000 employees and $26 billion in annual revenue.
- About 87% of firms operate a single location.
- The industry is fragmented, as the largest 50 firms represent about 48% of industry revenue.
- Large food service equipment wholesalers include TriMark USA, Edward Don & Co., Wasserstrom Co., Clark Associates, and Singer Equipment.
Industry Forecast
Commercial Equipment Wholesalers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 20, 2025 - Restaurants Prioritizing On-Premise Visits
- As restaurants look to optimize the front-of-house experience for customers, they’re purchasing kitchen equipment with smaller footprints to reduce back-of-house space requirements. Driving on-premise traffic will be a higher priority for restaurant operators than capturing off-premise visits this year, according to the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Report 2025. During the pandemic and recent aftermath, restaurants – by necessity – focused on their take-out and delivery services. Now, according to the report, 81% of consumers say they would eat at full-service restaurants more frequently if they had more money to spend. Across segments, restaurants are prioritizing on-premise service with 90% of fine dining operators saying on-premise visits would be more important in 2025 than off-premise. Major brands – notably Starbucks and Subway – are focusing their efforts on improving the dine-in experience and make their eateries more appealing places to linger.
- Trends in the food service industry impact purchasing decisions and demand for commercial equipment and supplies, according to Foodservice Equipment & Supplies (FE&S) magazine. Trends with equipment implications for 2025 include the restaurant industry’s ongoing focus on value to draw in cash-strapped customers. Value menus, like McDonald's $5 meal deal, come at a cost to operators who must reduce their own costs to keep prices low for consumers, leading to an increased emphasis on multiuse, programmable, automated, and robotic equipment to save on labor costs, according to FE&S. Innovation in beverages and the launch of beverage-focused concepts like McDonald’s spinoff CosMc’s require cold brewing equipment and supplies, higher-end soda and water taps and dispensers, blenders, and syrup dispensers, notes FE&S. Baked goods are also trending creating increasing demand for commercial baking proofers and ovens. Equipment wholesalers that track trends are better prepared to meet customers’ evolving requirements.
- Restaurant industry bankruptcies are on the rise amid an increase in operating costs and empty tables, The Wall Street Journal reports. In 2024, restaurant chains and operators are on track to declare the most bankruptcies in decades excluding 2020, when the pandemic upended the industry, according to an analysis of BankruptcyData.com records cited by WSJ. The firm tracked chapter 11 filings of restaurants that are publicly traded, along with companies holding more than $10 million in liabilities. Restaurant chains filing for bankruptcy in 2024 include TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, Buca di Beppo, and Rubio’s Coastal Grill. As consumers pull back from some types of discretionary spending, including dining out, same-store sales traffic at US restaurants dropped by 3.3% this year through Oct. 6 versus the same period in 2023, according to market-research firm Black Box Intelligence. Visits to casual-dining restaurants fell 4.5% over the same period.
- Producer prices for professional and commercial equipment and supplies wholesalers rose 0.6% in December compared to a year ago after rising 7.4% in the previous December-versus-December annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. While still historically high, producer prices have eased from their peak in January 2024. Sales for professional and commercial equipment distributors rose 1.2% year over year in November but fell 7% from October, according to Census Bureau data. Employment by commercial equipment wholesalers was relatively flat year over year in January, while average industry wages rose 2.9% over the same period to $37.63 per hour, BLS data show.
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