About Us

Before we talk about our products, our business, and who are some of our customers, if you are going to trust us with your hard-earned money, we think you deserve to know who we are first.

 The owners of Handy Catering Equipment are family members who started from the most humble of beginnings. A lot is personal so we will skip past the cultural background and the extreme difficulties faced in setting up in our newly found home in Australia. The year was 2000 and the odds were stacked right against us. The parents went off trying to get their “foreign” qualifications to bear any fruits while the two sons went off getting their own education in place. However, the parents were soon realizing it would be almost impossible to get a job with their own qualifications & lifetime careers. Eager to contribute to society & help rebuild a future for the family they started getting short courses done and wore low skill work like a badge of honour.

 The sons were also working hard, finishing up school, getting into university while working the nights. Once the minute savings amounted to a small capital, basic business ideas were explored. Few failed and they did hurt, but they weren’t big enough in the first place so couldn’t cripple. Some succeeded like the detergent manufacturing company the engineer parents established from the granny flat, it was a lot of hard work but was paying the bills, at least most of the times!!

  The success was a massive boost in terms of confidence and some dollars but wasn’t big enough to make the transition, it just helped like all the other efforts in setting the stage for it.

Then one day, one of the sons purchased a Dell laptop from Grays online in the hope to sell it at a higher price on eBay. It was a loss in dollar terms but the potential for a profitable experience with few tweaks was noticed. One of those tweaks was to cut out the postage charge from Grays online’s side by attending their then traditional auction in Smithfield.

The two sons went out there doing everything super right. Studied the product catalogs the nights before the auctions, researched the products, and set a strict target to only pay for a great item that could be resold and delivered to the customer at least 30% below market price.

 Back onto that low-stakes detergent manufacturing adventure, the parents are leading, it requires an electric filling machine as manually it is taking way too many nights and sweats to fill the bottles. So, to save on money, the mother Ibtisam searched for a bargain. After much hard work, she has landed on an electric filling machine that was reasonably priced and good in every way except being physically overseas. To help bring it in for a low price, Ibtisam actually studies the process of importing and took out a license for the purposes of clearing the shipment to save on fees.

The success in importing the machine coupled with the experience in marketing items previously sourced from unpredictable auctions helped nurture the environment of a solid import and retail business. 

   Now its 2007 and the first shipment (with the purpose of reselling) of a carefully selected product arrives after much anguish and anticipation. The shipment fills up the garage to the rim. But it’s worth the hassle, the customers loved it. By the time the fifth shipment arrived a storage spot from Kennard’s Seven Hills had to be hired.

  We soon found ourselves renting a 200 m square warehouse in Seven Hills. The neighbors didn’t mind lending us a pallet jack when we had a shipment arriving and our newly assigned NAB manager did not mind sitting on pallets for a talk. She saw we were driven by purpose, good ethics and she saw how happy our customers were and that’s all what seemed to matter for her.

  By 2010 and by word of mouth alone, our customers became many and the ones we had dealt with kept on coming back, so with their continued support, we expanded the operation and moved to yet a bigger warehouse in Wetherill Park. This time, this “monster” warehouse was 800 meters square and 9 meters high. Although more than 6 times the space of the previous, it was full and required the rental of an additional warehouse nearby within 1 year.

   In 2012, the product range topped the 1500 products and we were scrambling for space to grow further and offer much more to our clients. So we moved to Smithfield where we currently are. A 5000 square meter warehouse that holds more than 9000 products & covering many categories extensively, including Commercial Kitchen Equipment. When it is busy, the yard will have 5 x 40 HC Containers parked and more than 16 staff members unloading using 6 forklifts, 12 pallet jacks, and boasting a great attitude.

 The attitude of determination, positiveness, and a sense of belonging.

  In 2014 a 7-acre industrial land was acquired by Handy Catering Equipment with the purpose of building a warehouse that is more than 20 000square meters inbuilt space, 30meters high, and with a yard that can accommodate more than 50 containers at once.

  At every step along the way, we have put you, the customer in the centre, and success has just been the result….

  A sincere thank you

 For being part of the journey

 For sharing your experience with others

 For rewarding hard work in bringing you great products and great value with acceptance and appreciation.

Sincerely Yours

The Handy Catering Equipment Team 

 ABN: 99 126 717 468