Florida Firm AIC Creates New Level of Efficiency for Nation’s Hardest Working Kitchens
Success in sports are often built by creating a winning solution. So, it comes as no surprise that a former professional athlete has changed arenas and is accomplishing exactly that. Amin Hassanien built a career as a professional volleyballer in his native Eqypt before coming to the US. He has bought that same driving and competitive spirit to the kitchen equipment manufacturing industry.
Hassanien teamed with Connie Baugher to launch and lead One Fat Frog to a position of prominence in the food truck manufacturing industry. His focus included the specification and design of equipment in the company’s State of the Art mobile food trucks. That has more recently led to the creation of a new operating unit: AIC Technologies. With a mission of designing, building, and maintaining not just food trucks but the country’s hardest-working kitchens, Hassanien has now set his sights on an expanded marketplace. Armed with years of experience working in management and constructing food trucks, Hassanien’s new kitchen manufacturing company promises high-quality equipment that is efficient, innovative, and easy to use.
Prior to his success at One Fat Frog and now AIC Technologies, Hassanien worked as a retail manager for Hard Rock. Baughner then recruited him for the management team at One Fat Frog, where he oversaw the repairing and reselling of used commercial equipment to newly established restaurants. He helped expand the company in the midst of the Great Recession of ‘08, and used the dwindling economy as a catalyst to sell used equipment to restaurants at cheaper prices. . What began as a 30-40 truck per year operation seven years ago has grown into a massive 900 truck a year operation today.
Interestingly, Hassanien credits his strong work ethic and drive for success to his time as a professional volleyball player in his home country of Egypt: “I played volleyball professionally for 14 years – working with the team and being under stress taught me how to handle tough situations and develop my work ethic,” he added.
Hassanien’s strong work ethic and track record of success positions him perfectly as the Founder and CEO of AIC Technologies., which was founded shortly after the outset of the COVD-19 pandemic in 2020. Working with used equipment, he explained, taught him a lot about the equipment industry as a whole – repairing and cleaning so many different brands of equipment helped him to learn their ins and outs and, more importantly, how he may be able to build on their flaws. Having always envisioned himself manufacturing the very equipment he resold, he used the pandemic as the catalyst to follow his dream, and thus AIC Technologies was born.
His foray into the world of mobile kitchens began seven years ago during the surge in popularity of the food truck concept, when, at the behest of a friend, he constructed his first truck. Drawing upon the skills he had developed outfitting commercial kitchens, Hassanien ensured that his friend’s truck – which he finished in a mere six months – was constructed to the highest level of craftsmanship: “I’m not a food truck builder,” the exec explained, ‘I’m a mobile kitchen builder.” Therein lies an important distinction: by only using commercial-grade equipment as in a brick-and-mortar location, Hassanien avoids the many issues that arise from the use of home-grade equipment, such as wood studs and romex wiring, in high-intensity kitchens. His skill and integrity have, since the construction of his first food truck, served him well; what began as a 30-40 truck operation in the first year has grown into a 900 truck a year operation.
Hassanien experience with outfitting an extensive fleet of foods trucks that operate across the globe gives him unique insight into what makes a kitchen tick. With that AIC Technologies launched with steam tables which were in high demand and difficult to source on the new and used market. “80% of our food truck clients, asked specifically for a two to three well steam table in their venues, Hassanien, noted. Following their steam table success, Hassanien, supported by his incredible team of engineering and manufacturing experts at AIC, developed a walk-in cooler.
Next, the team, in partnership with celebrated pizza connoisseur Chef Santo Bruno created their best-known item: the Chef Bruno Oven by AIC Technologies, which is a revolutionary pizza oven designed for installation in both food trucks and brick and mortar restaurants. Using gas technology, the partnership dreamt up and manufactured a pizza oven that is far more efficient than any other available product: we now have an oven that can cook a pizza in five minutes and thirty-six seconds and can do what the other ovens on the market do in eight minutes,” Hassanien stated.
Looking in the future, innovation, efficiency, and easy use remain Hassanien and AIC’s top priorities. Sticking with his success constructing hot and cold solutions for mobile kitchens, Hassanien has suggested that he would like to, soon, be able to manufacture all of the products used in his trucks: “We’re going for the entire hot line,” he explained, “and we’ll be building that very soon.” He cited the gyro machine and fryer that he’s prototyped as evidence of his commitment to helping food truck owners innovate. As for these new appliances in the works, Hassanien maintained his vow to efficiency, and stated that come completion, his products will be able to cook the same products using fewer BTUs and in faster time. Even more importantly, his appliances are also designed to be easy to use, as he’s kept future generations of food truck owners and technicians in mind: “the younger generation is very different – as we lose older technicians who’ve been working for years with this equipment, we need to think of how we can make new equipment easy to service and use.”
It’s clear that Hassanien, with his years of stellar experience, and AIC Technologies are committed to producing quality food trucks outfitted with quality appliances. With a fleet of efficient and innovative cooking solutions manufactured in-house, the exec ensures that restaurateurs – whether mobile or brick and mortar – can reliably serve their patrons the highest quality food.
For more information about AIC Technologies and its product lines, visit their website.
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