Commercial Equipment Wholesalers NAICS 423440

Jan 20, 2026 - School Foodservice Equipment Budgets Stressed

• According to the School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) SY 2025-2026 Trends Report published in January 2026, 99% of participating school foodservice operators report needing more funding, with 79% expressing an “extreme need” for increased funds to achieve their goals. Specifically, 94% say they need more staff and 95% need equipment. Nearly all school nutrition director members surveyed last October said their programs are challenged by the cost of food (98%), labor (95%), and equipment (95%). Compared to last year’s survey, the percentage of respondents citing “significant” challenges with food, labor and equipment costs has increased. The percentage of respondents reporting that equipment costs present a serious/moderate challenge rose from 91.4% in the prior survey to 94.5% this year. Nearly 94% of school nutrition programs reported needing increased equipment and infrastructure to expand scratch preparation and reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods.
• Despite declines in customer traffic (more than half of restaurant operators report year-on-year drops), many restaurant owners remain committed to investing in equipment, the Foodservices Equipment Distributors Association reported in November. According to FEDA, more than half (52%) of operators made a capital expenditure (equipment, expansion, or remodeling) in the past three months, and 51% plan such spending in the next six months, representing the sixth consecutive month where a majority of operators planned for capital spending. Such resilience suggests that even with traffic challenges, operators are prioritizing long-term operational efficiency and capacity upgrades. For suppliers of commercial restaurant equipment, this steady demand for capital goods could sustain sales in a choppy operating environment for the restaurant industry. It signals that restaurants are not just cutting costs, but investing strategically, potentially favoring suppliers who offer value-oriented, efficient, and state-of-the-art equipment.

• A new survey of 300-plus multi-unit restaurant operators finds they plan to open, on average, 20% more new locations in the next two years than the last two, despite recent economic headwinds, the AP reported in September. The study titled The 2025 Restaurant Growth Insights Report was conducted by Crunchtime Information Systems and foodservice industry data provider Technomic. It found that growth will depend on strong vendor support: Although 83% of operators strive to partner with vendors who can support their growth, 79% said they faced challenges during periods of expansion, ranging from rising costs to poor integration, which all become amplified as brands scale. The report's findings demonstrate that the tools used by commercial equipment wholesalers fail to deliver the consistent real-time guidance or accuracy restaurants need when expanding.
• Producer prices for professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers rose 6.6% in September compared to a year ago, after rising 2% in the previous September-versus-September annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. While industry producer prices are at historically high levels, they’ve eased from their peak in July. Employment by commercial equipment wholesalers was flat in August compared to a year ago, while the average industry wage climbed 6.9% over the same period to a record high of $39.72 per hour, BLS data show. According to the Census Bureau’s October 2025 Monthly Wholesale Trade Report, wholesale sales of professional equipment declined by 0.3% in October versus September but were up 6.2% compared to a year ago.