Tech-24 Acquires Service Solutions Group From Franke

Tech-24, the Greenville, S.C., commercial foodservice equipment repair firm, has acquired Service Solutions Group, the foodservice equipment repair company owned by Franke Foodservice Systems.

With this acquisition, Tech-24—formerly known as Commercial Foodservice Repair—becomes the industry’s largest independent service and repair company. Its nearly 500 service technicians and longstanding network of 600-plus service partners provide coast-to-coast coverage to QSRs, full-service restaurants, c-stores, hotels, concessions operations and corporate clients. Smyrna, Tenn.-based SSG is active in 23 markets, including Arizona, California, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio and New England.

Tech-24 and Franke say the companies will continue working closely together to meet SSG customer needs.

“We like the way Keith Burke and his team at SSG do business,” said Kurt Herwald, Tech-24 President and CEO. “They share our primary objective—to build a great service company whose only goal is to fix the customer’s problem.”

The combined companies will offer more than $16 million in parts available at multiple distribution centers and have offices in 18 of the country’s 20 largest markets.

“We’re excited about the fit between CFR and SSG and the opportunities for Keith and the SSG team to grow and prosper as part of a high-performing service business,” said Tom Campion, CEO of Franke Foodservice Systems. “Our strategy today is more focused on our core equipment and supplies design, manufacturing and distribution activities. As such, we’ve been seeking an exit from our direct service activities for some time.”

Tech-24 anticipates additional acquisitions. “We have the management and infrastructure in place to integrate more companies,” Herwald said. “We’ll grow organically and through acquisition to meet the changing needs of our customers and OEM partners.”