Restaurant Distributors pretend to be Manufacturers

Restaurant Distributors pretend to be Manufacturers

Richardson Seating assembling a bar stool frameRestaurant furniture has become a very confusing market.  How does a restaurant know who to trust and where to buy from.  There are manufacturers, distributors, importers, and retailers all selling the same products to each other and competing for the same business.  Many companies that claim to be a manufacturer actually import from China and call the factory in China "their factory."  They don't own the factory.  I know only a handful of companies in the food service furniture world sophisticated enough to setup affiliate corporations in China.  It is not that easy to setup your own factory overseas.  Most companies are simply importing frames and seats from China.  When a distributor or a restaurant places an order for green ladder back chairs, the "manufacturer" opens the box with the ladder back frame, tosses in an imported green seat and calls it a day.  

Some companies sell furniture that they don't even have in stock.  They take your order, place an order with a Chinese supplier and tell you 6 weeks.  Sometimes the container takes longer than expected and the "manufacturer" will ask you to wait and wait until the container arrives.  If it comes in damaged, you will need to wait another 6 weeks.

One should always do extensive research before buying furniture online for your restaurant.  There are so many companies you should try and avoid.  All of the information is online.  Just search for the name of the company and see if they have Google reviews or Yelp Reviews or Facebook Reviews.  See if they are registered with the BBB and whether they have an A+ like we do.  You can Google the name of the company and see if they show up with any negative reviews on the first two pages of Google.  There are website devoted to bad reviews.  If a company is bad, you can find out.

We do it a little differently than others.  We can make everything that you see on our website.  We don't have a single supplier located out of the United States.  We offer custom upholstery.  We offer rush jobs.  We do all of the woodwork, sewing, and upholstery in house in Chicago, Illinois.  All of our frames are welded in Chicago.  Our swivels are made in Chicago and our glides are made in Chicago (and Connecticut.)  We make our furniture with as many US made parts as possible.  American made parts are consistently better quality. 

Our goal is always to provide the highest quality product at reasonable pricing.  We are not willing to compromise quality to save a few cents here and there.  We use the same domestic suppliers that our grandfather used 40 years ago.  The quality was great then and its even better now.

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