Having achieved notable sales growth in multiple market sectors last year, the pivotal question now facing Aga Foodservice Equipment's Stellar Steam and Eloma combi ovens brands is likely to be: How do you improve on success?

    "Our objectives in '07 are to be sure we don't take continuing market acceptance for granted and to keep on communicating our message that Stellar and Eloma products provide category-leading resource savings and cooking performance at extremely competitive prices," advised Mitch Cohen, VP of Cooking System Sales for Stellar and Eloma (as well as Infinity Fryers). "This is a proposition that we expect to carry Stellar and Eloma to further profitable market penetration is such multi-unit sectors as school foodservice and commercial chains."

    Other momentum-maintaining steps Cohen expects Stellar and Eloma to undertake this year include expanding AFE's hot-side rep force to grow awareness of their brands on a national basis, especially on the West Coast and in the Southwest. "One advantage Eloma is currently enjoying is a quickening upturn of interest in combi cooking equipment among specifiers and end-users, especially relating to high-efficiency boilerless designs such as ours," Cohen commented. "However, Eloma's sales are rising faster than those of combis overall, so our intent is to continue telling our story and taking market share away from our competitors."

    Additional models will also become available from Eloma this year, according to Cohen. These will include gas-powered Genius models, whose electric counterparts debuted with unexpected success last year, and Eloma's base-level Multi Max line.

    "End-users and specifiers with growing unanimity are telling us in cooking equipment sales that energy and water savings, as well as healthful food preparation, are the top influences on their equipment selection decisions," Cohen observed. "Given what's happening in the world, cost- and environmental-consciousness look to be long-term trends, ones that Stellar's and Eloma's boilerless equipment are designed to address more efficiently and reliably than other products in their categories."