Founded in 1897 as an electric motor company in Troy, Ohio, with the vision of improving the efficiency and consistency of hand-powered kitchen equipment like coffee mills and meat grinders, Hobart soon moved into manufacturing commercial food mixers.
In the same year as the landmark signing of the treaty of Versailles, 1919, The Hobart Manufacturing Company Limited registered in England, launching its very first dishwasher in 1928.
In 1950, still growing fast, The Hobart Mfg Co. – changed in 2002 to ‘Hobart’ – purchased a factory at Barnstaple, North Devon, which is still in operation today, manufacturing the company’s famous planetary mixers. In the mid-seventies, a range of cooking equipment was also introduced, some of which is still made in Devon.
The boom of the 1980’s saw Hobart create a purpose built distribution and training centre capable of holding more than £8m of spare parts built in Peterborough. Some 13 years later, the company moved its entire UK operation to Cambridgeshire, adding offices and meeting rooms; alongside a state-of-the-art innovation centre and demo theatre. Today the multi award-winning manufacturer trades on the same remit as it did when it was founded; to create innovative catering equipment that makes kitchen operations more productive and efficient.
“We couldn’t be prouder to have reached 120 years in business – an incredible legacy of innovation that defies tumultuous market uncertainty, boom and bust and two world wars,” says Tim Bender, UK sales director – Warewashing at Hobart UK. “Today, our brand stands for exactly the same as it did in 1897 – pushing the boundaries of what is possible to produce class-leading catering equipment machines that always work for the benefit of kitchens. It’s an ethos that we will carry into the next 120 years of operation.”
To learn more, visit: www.hobartuk.com
