Burkett Wins Business Award

Burkett Restaurant Equipment recently received a top honor at the University of Toledo.

At the school’s annual Entrepreneurial and Business Excellence Hall of Fame ceremony on Nov. 8, Burkett received the Business Excellence Award for its substantial growth and contributions to the local economy.

Company Pres. Jameel Burkett accepted the award, and summed up the firm’s success in growing from four employees in 2002 to 60 today. He noted that its early investment in e-commerce helped the dealership through the tough economic environment that hit in ‘08.

“When 2008 came about,” he said, “we had to make a decision and that decision had to be either scale back and go back to being a small company that could offer the best service out there or continue to apply that great service and invest and continue to drive forward. The decision was the latter of the two. We invested in technology. We invested in infrastructure. We invested in our employees and we actively invested in seeking new revenue channels.”

Burkett was founded in 1977 as a used equipment dealer. In 2005, it added an e-commerce website and evolved into a national distributor of new and used equipment.