Elias Rached, regional director sales, Middle East and Africa elaborates on the company’s latest kitchen innovations, dual functionality cookers and projected growth for the next 12 months.
Can you share some details about the company history?
The history of MKN dates back to its inception in 1946 when engineer, Kurt Neubauer founded his company with only three employees. They started as a bureau of engineering for agriculture technology. In the 1960s MKN introduced its first product line of high performance catering technology, and in 1979 we had our first line of standalone appliances. Today MKN is still owned by the family of its founder and a global player in the business of high class professional cooking technology. With about 500 employees and an area of 80.000 m2 MKN is located in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. From there, we sell our products in 100 countries around the world.
What products and services do you provide to the hospitality industry?
MKN is based on four product lines: The modern combi steamer technology, FlexiCombi and SpaceCombi, the modular series appliances; the customised KüchenMeister cooking blocks and the latest innovation FlexiChef.
What factors differentiate the company from other suppliers in the same field?
Due to our history and large product range we are skilled with a high level of process competence. We can cover all thermal requirements for a professional kitchen. Our products stand for high quality and reliability for example the FlexiCombi combi steamer with its triple glazed cooking chamber door.
Can you name your top-seller and some of its key features?
Our most popular products include the MKN Combi Steamer as well as the MKN innovation FlexiChef.
Main features of the combi steamer FlexiCombi include the MagicPilot operation concept: The Touch and Slide operating concept of the FlexiCombi MagicPilot is simple to use. With brilliant image representation and a full viewing angle from all sides the MagicPilot also offers user comfort. MagicPilot facilitates professional cooking with only a few touches: individually adapted to the particular requirements of professional chefs and providing considerable assistance for untrained personnel.
Which regions across the Middle East do you supply to, and where are your key source markets for business?
We supply to the whole region from our office in the UAE. Dubai is our main hub as all the operators and consultants that have offices here cover the Middle East and Africa, but we also don’t ignore other areas such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, and Lebanon.
What new products and announcements should we know about?
Our latest product is the new combi steamer FlexiCombi Team. This is a single appliance equipped with two cooking chambers. The user can work in an extremely flexible way with two cooking modes simultaneously. Bread rolls can bake in the lower cooking chamber and at the same time vegetables steam in the upper one.
What growth do you anticipate to see over the course of the next 12 months?
Over the last ten years MKN has broken growth records with each subsequent year, 2015 being the best on record and 2016 predicted to trump that again. We follow the medium and long-term success for the company and we believe the best is still to come.
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