H+K International is a leading supplier of stainless-steel kitchen equipment to the food service industry. We provide total restaurant solutions incorporating manufacturing, logistics, after sales service, and project management. We have over 2,000 employees worldwide with operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, continental Europe, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The H+K story started in Canada in 1971 initially as a small company called Modular Architectural Components. In 1975 Bill Griffiths, a contractor of McDonald’s, bought the company and renamed it to “H+K Equipment”, standing for “Hospital & Kitchen Equipment”. Three years later, McDonald's wanted to expand into Europe in 1978, at a time when a McDonald's restaurant was something of a rarity in Europe. Importing kitchen equipment from North America wasn't an attractive prospect, so McDonald’s offered Bill an opportunity.
A couple of Bill’s people went to London and scouted the surrounding area. Then the IDA (Industrial Development Agency) in Ireland heard about their search and went into overdrive, bringing them across to Dublin and offering support if they set up in Ireland. Thus, a small factory was established in Ballyfermot (Dublin region) employing around 50 people and fabricating complete stainless steel kitchen packages for McDonald's in Europe.
Initially the US market was supplied from Canada and in 1981 a production facility was set up in Dallas, Texas to support the growing demand in North America.
With the European increase in activity, especially in the United Kingdom, H+K set up a plant in Rugby in June 1986 in central UK, which quickly became H+K's main European production facility.
In 1991, McDonald’s once again was moving into a new market in Latin America and H+K decided to set up a plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico the same year. This location had multiple advantages, proximity to the US, low cost, well-situated to support Latin America...and many more.
H+K has always been very proactive in looking at ways to better serve our customers and in 1997 the company purchased Norwood Motor Electric & Supply Company, Inc. outside of Detroit, Michigan, which specialized in resupply smallwares activity. It was later renamed H+K Norwood and is now H+K Resupply which moved from the Detroit area in 2013 to Aurora outside of Chicago, Illinois. The facility has more than 40 employees.
In 1999, nearly 24 years after supplying the first kitchen in Canada, H+K was asked by McDonald's to look at setting up an operation base in Australia to support its expansion. It has been a great success and today the Australian company in Sydney employs more than 80 people and has been utilized as our centralized headquarters for the Asia Pacific market.
In 2002, Brian Ranalow, CEO, led a management buyout which resulted in an exit from the Griffiths family. This buyout allowed the distribution of ownership to the senior management group which was mainly Dublin-based. David Bobbett succeeded Brian Ranalow as CEO and following further restructuring of the ownership over the next few years, David became the majority shareholder.
The Mexican production facility has proven to be a great success and in 2007, in line with the forecasted expansion plans of our customers, H+K decided to increase the manufacturing capacity, and the plant was expanded. San Luis Potosi continues to offer a great level of flexibility for global operations.
HKI Online, the online smallwares, spare parts & equipment ecommerce platform, was launched in 2009 and allows customers to browse and order 24/7. Also, H+K's online project management tool followed shortly, originally known as IPM, Integrated Project Management, and it is now widely used for rollouts and allows fast and seamless execution of projects.
Over the years H+K has always looked at ways to innovate, not only in fabrication of the equipment but also in the overall support and business management fields. eTech, a custom-built software package, was developed to manage all aspects of reactive and planned service repairs events in restaurants.
In 2010, at the request of and in partnership with McDonald’s due to significant expansion plans in Asia, H+K set up distribution facilities in Beijing, China and shortly thereafter a distribution facility in Osaka, Japan.
In 2014, the European team migrated to the Rugby logistic and distribution center to a new 12,000 square meter location in anticipation of business growth in Europe.
In 2016, following significant growth in the Asia Pacific region, H+K purchased a manufacturing facility in Jakarta, Indonesia. After significant investment and training, this facility now proudly services the Asia Pacific region with quality fabrication and minimal freight times. This same year H+K also purchased LAUK, a leading UK lighting design and supply company that specializes in creating lighting solutions for the UK Restaurant and Retail sectors.
In 2019, Guy Wade became CEO of H+K, marking a key transition in the company’s leadership. Under his direction, the organization has continued to grow with a focus on innovation. That same year, McDonald’s selected H+K as the sole Kitchen Equipment Supplier for all restaurants in Japan.
In 2022, we expanded our distribution network by opening a new distribution center in Wroclaw, Poland and a second additional center in Dallas, Texas, US. Additionally, we started to partner with a 3rd party distribution network in Dubai, UAE to enhance global logistics.
In 2023, we acquired a manufacturer in Poland, TKMet International, increasing our global manufacturing footprint to five fully owned and operated facilities. This acquisition supports our growth strategy in Europe, reducing lead times and offering more competitive pricing.
We also constructed a new production facility to house TKMet International, which opened in August 2024. This facility enables us to better serve our expanding customer base. As we grow our manufacturing capacity and invest in global distribution, H+K remains committed to long-term growth across all areas of our business, ensuring a sustainable and successful future.
Starting from humble beginnings in Canada in 1971, H+K has grown to:
H+K takes pride in providing exceptional service to all our customers. We continue to support and expand our global customer base and, through our core strengths including focus, flexibility, and innovation, exceed our customers’ expectations and deliver to meet their ever-changing needs. We are very proud to have received numerous awards over the years for our global performance in recognition of the hard work, excellence, and dedication of the H+K employees.
We strive to be the global leader in providing distinctive value through Integrated Equipment and Service Solutions to the restaurant and retail industry that enables our customers, partners and employees to succeed.
Based on our customers’ increased needs we are utilizing the Integrated Project Management model to actively develop new competencies in areas of field data collection and in the creation of architectural engineering drawings. This in turn translates into site execution while monitoring suppliers manufacturing schedules and influencing their inventory management. This extended role is particularly valuable in more mature markets with significant numbers of rebuilds and relocations.