Restaurant Supplier Opens 50,000-Square-Foot Store in Eagan

One aisle is lined with cooking pans of all shapes and sizes, including massive, 28-inch wok pans used to cook stir fry foods. Several aisles away, intricate martini glasses and traditional beer steins fill the shelves.

Such is the scene at Hockenbergs new, 50,000-square-foot store off Hwy. 13 in Eagan.

The restaurant supply business is the most recent addition to Eagan's business community; the company moved in to its new facility at 2015 Silver Bell Rd. on Dec. 30 after outgrowing its previous location in Minneapolis.

Hockenbergs' move to Eagan was a strategic one, according to Vice President and general manager Jeff Witt. For two years, Witt said, the company searched throughout the Twin Cities for a centrally-located site with adequate space. Eagan was an ideal location, Witt said, because of its proximity to the Mall of America and the lack of any nearby, established restaurant supply businesses.

The business is a "full-line supplier" that caters to established restaurant chains like Burger King and Applebees, and includes a design department, onsite sales staff, a showroom and a wholesale Internet business, Witt said.

“We can turnkey a restaurant; we can design it, build it and install all the equipment," Witt said. But homeowners and individual shoppers are also welcome to peruse Hockenbergs' wares, Witt added.

"At the end of the day, our goal is to sell to restaurants, but we do have a fair amount of homeowners and domestic customers that come in here."

Hockenbergs employs 40 staff members, Witt said, and is looking to add four to five sales and warehouse employees as a result of the move to Eagan and subsequent business expansion. At some point, the business is also planning on opening a second location somewhere in the region, Witt said.

"We’ve always sold in Eagan, but [the move] is going to bring us a new opportunities, because of the location and the visibility of the building," Witt said. "Overall, we think it’s a great spot."