The hunt for the perfect commercial oven.
Tupelo Honey has its roots in Asheville, North Carolina, as one of the first from scratch, farm-to-table restaurants in the city. In those 20+ years, it has grown into a successful chain, requiring the culinary team to find ways of scaling operations while maintaining the high quality that their customers have come to expect from their restaurants.
As Tupelo Honey continued to grow, Steve was in the process of exploring equipment solutions that would support the high standards he holds his restaurants to. He traveled across the country, meeting with major manufacturers, attending private demonstrations, and evaluating what would best support the company’s long-term growth.
He had met with an Unox Active Marketing Chef at an Unox test kitchen to see how our commercial ovens worked for himself. His time in the Unox test kitchen set us apart from other manufacturers in his mind because, according to Steve, "It was an experience that was absolutely head and shoulders above the rest."
But it was a stressful experience when opening a new location that cemented Steve’s decision to partner with Unox.
As the team prepared to open a new location in Farragut, Tennessee, they encountered a major challenge. One of their most important menu items—bone-in fried chicken—depends heavily on proper hot holding for service, and during training week for the new location, the holding equipment they had in place failed.
Even after troubleshooting, overnighted parts, service calls, and replacing thermostats, the issue remained unresolved. With over 100 employees training at the location, a friends-and-family event already impacted, and the public opening scheduled for Tuesday morning, the team needed a solution fast.
On Sunday morning, Steve reached out directly to Unox Active Marketing Chef Tom Tressler and told him about the situation. By Monday morning, Tom had delivered an EVEREO® hot holding cabinet, which preserves fully cooked food at serving temperature for up to 72 hours without requiring reheating or cooling, and helped unload and install it alongside Steve.
Tupelo Honey was able to open their new location on time and serve up a classic and beloved menu item at the high quality that their customers expect. “That’s a testament to the culture at UNOX, the level of support, and what you can expect when working with them," Steve said after the experience.
Tupelo honey is building smarter kitchens that support growth and quality.
Since that experience, the Tupelo Honey brand has continued to find new ways of streamlining operations at both new and existing locations by reducing the number of appliances in each professional kitchen while increasing the options they can offer customers.
To do this, Chris Gibson, Culinary Director at Tupelo Honey, says "You need more efficiency, more speed, fewer cooks on the line, less equipment on the line." By partnering with UNOX and incorporating the, they have opened up operational efficiencies that have enabled a more streamlined kitchen.
According to Steve, “This equipment has enabled us to redesign our kitchens, create efficiencies within our line and how a plate moves from the build to the expo window. That has been key to helping us reduce our total footprint which therefore reduces our cost to build the entire restaurant and increases our return on capital.”
For Chris, the best thing about their redesigned kitchen is that, even with fewer pieces of equipment, the culinary team has more options available to serve to customers—not fewer. "The UNOX CHEFTOP-X™ opens the doors for us to venture outside of proteins that we couldn’t do before because we just didn’t have the equipment we needed. We use it for grilling, baking, searing—it does it all for us."
Reliability and consistency are the keys to Tupelo Honey’s business. According to Steve, "We’re open seven days a week, nearly 80 hours a week—and we’ve had zero issues."
Unox: building the kitchen of the future.
For Tupelo Honey, the impact extends far beyond daily service. Choosing an oven wasn’t just about selecting an appliance. Their team works hard to provide comforting, enjoyable experiences to their customers, and their appliances—and the manufacturers that build them—should do the same.
If you want to experience for yourself what Steve and Chris from Tupalo honey have seen transform their business, you can request an Individual Cooking Experience today. We’ll come to your kitchen, cook your food, and show you exactly how UNOX works to optimize and streamline your kitchen’s processes.
Request an Individual Cooking Experience now
