Commercial Food Equipment Service

Commercial kitchen equipment repair in Metro Detroit keeps a cooking line producing through service. When a fryer will not hold setpoint or a walk-in drifts warm during prep, the cost is not the part. It is the covers you cannot turn and the product you have to throw out. Samco Facilities Maintenance has serviced commercial kitchens across Southeast Michigan since 1997, from single restaurants to multi-site operators, hospital kitchens, school cafeterias, and food processing floors.

Equipment we repair and service

Cooking line. Fryers, ranges, griddles, charbroilers, salamanders, convection and combi ovens, steamers, tilt skillets, and braising pans. Charbroiler service is one of the more common calls we take, because grease loading and burner wear change how a unit holds heat long before it stops lighting.

Countertop and catering equipment. Countertop fryers, induction units, panini and contact grills, holding cabinets, soup wells, and transport carts. Catering equipment repair carries its own problem, because the equipment moves between sites and takes handling damage a fixed line never sees.

Holding and warming. Proofers, heated cabinets, steam tables, and drawer warmers. These fail quietly. A holding cabinet running ten degrees low does not trip an alarm, it just moves product into the temperature danger zone.

Warewashing. Door type, conveyor, and undercounter dish machines, plus booster heaters. Final rinse temperature is an inspection item, so a booster problem is a compliance problem.

Refrigeration. Walk-ins, reach-ins, prep tables, undercounter units, and ice machines. Covered in more depth on our commercial refrigeration service page.

Ventilation. Hood systems, makeup air, and exhaust fans. A hood that cannot pull correctly makes every piece of equipment under it work harder, which is where kitchen work and our commercial HVAC service overlap.

Brands we service

We work on most major commercial kitchen equipment brands. The ones we see most often in Metro Detroit kitchens: Vulcan ranges, fryers, griddles, ovens and steamers; Garland ranges, broilers and griddles; Henny Penny pressure fryers and holding equipment; Pitco open-pot and tube-fired fryers; True reach-ins and prep table refrigeration; Hobart dish machines, mixers and slicers; Manitowoc and Hoshizaki ice machines; Hatco and Alto-Shaam holding and warming equipment.

Common kitchen equipment problems

Temperature problems. An oven running 50 degrees hot, or a fryer that cannot hold setpoint, ruins product and creates food safety exposure. The cause is usually a faulty thermostat, a failed heating element, or a gas valve drifting out of adjustment. We calibrate and repair rather than replace when the part is serviceable.

Ignition and burner failures. One of the most common calls we get. Dirty or failed igniters, worn burner orifices, and gas valve problems all produce the same symptom: equipment that will not light, or will not stay lit. These are typically same-day repairs.

Fryer filtration. High-volume fry operations need working filtration to keep oil usable and hold down cost. Clogged filters, failed pumps, and worn seals are routine. Filtration is worth servicing on a schedule, because the failure shows up as oil spend rather than as a breakdown.

Dish machine temperature. A machine that washes but does not reach final rinse temperature will pass a visual check and fail an inspection. Booster heaters, thermostats, and scale buildup are the usual causes.

Who we serve

Commercial kitchens of every type across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties.

Restaurants and food service. Independent restaurants, fast food franchises, fast casual chains, and full-service dining. We hold agreements with national chains and single-location owners alike. Volume does not determine how fast we respond.

Healthcare and institutional. Hospital kitchens, assisted living, and nursing home food service carry strict compliance requirements and no tolerance for downtime. We work within the access and documentation rules those facilities require.

Schools and universities. K-12 cafeterias and university dining run high volume on a tight calendar. We schedule around the academic calendar where the equipment allows it.

Corporate cafeterias and caterers. Contract dining and catering operations, including equipment that moves between venues.

Where we work

We are based in Livonia and dispatch across Southeast Michigan, including Detroit, Livonia, Dearborn, Southfield, Troy, Warren, Sterling Heights, Novi, Canton, Westland, Taylor, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, and Ann Arbor. Being local is the point. A technician forty minutes away can be on site before dinner service instead of the next morning.

We service commercial equipment only. We do not work on residential appliances, which means our parts inventory, technician certifications, and dispatch priorities are all built around commercial kitchens.

Emergency response and planned maintenance

Emergency service runs 24 hours a day for existing customers; new customers reach us 7 AM to 4 PM, Monday through Friday. Kitchen equipment does not fail at nine in the morning, it fails during a Friday dinner rush, and a repair line that only answers during business hours is not much use to a restaurant manager.

The larger saving is on the planned side. Most emergency calls we run on cooking equipment trace back to something visible weeks earlier: a gas valve drifting, a thermostat reading off, grease restricting airflow, a door gasket letting heat in. A recurring schedule catches those during a planned visit instead of during service. Our preventive maintenance programs can cover cooking equipment, refrigeration, and HVAC on one plan and one point of contact.

Compliance and documentation

Inspections turn on things a kitchen cannot eyeball: dish machine final rinse temperature, hot holding at or above 135 degrees, cold holding at or below 41 degrees, and hood systems moving the air they were designed to move. We document what we serviced and what we measured, so when an inspector asks, the answer is a record rather than a recollection.

Technicians are factory trained on the major commercial brands and carry EPA 608 certification for refrigerant work. Samco Facilities Maintenance holds a 4.9 star rating across 255 reviews.

Common questions

How fast can you get to a commercial kitchen in Metro Detroit?

Emergency dispatch runs 24 hours a day for existing customers, and we prioritize equipment that has stopped production or put product at risk. New customers reach us 7 AM to 4 PM, Monday through Friday. Response depends on your location and what failed, so call (734) 838-6300 and we will give you a real window rather than a guess.

Do you repair catering equipment as well as fixed kitchen lines?

Yes. We service portable and transport equipment including holding cabinets, countertop cooking units, and catering carts, along with the fixed cooking line. Equipment that travels between sites takes more abuse, so it is worth putting on a maintenance schedule.

Can you service a multi-site operation on one agreement?

Yes. Multi-site restaurant groups, healthcare systems, and facility managers are a large share of our work. One agreement can cover every location in Southeast Michigan with consolidated reporting, which is usually why operators stop calling a different local shop for each site.

What does a commercial kitchen maintenance visit cover?

Cleaning and inspection of burners and heat exchangers, calibration of thermostats and controls, gas pressure and combustion checks, testing of safety devices, dish machine temperature verification, gasket and seal inspection, and refrigeration performance checks. You get a written record of readings and anything trending toward failure.

Do you stock parts, or does everything get ordered?

Trucks carry common wear parts for the brands we see most, which covers a good share of first visit repairs. Less common components are ordered against your equipment model, and we give you the timeline up front rather than after the fact.

Schedule service

Call (734) 838-6300 for emergency service or to schedule a visit, or email service@samcofm.com. If you are weighing a maintenance agreement across one site or twenty, request a maintenance assessment and we will walk the equipment before quoting anything.