How Nemco Started: 50 Years of Problem-Solving

Fifty years is a long time in any industry. In commercial foodservice equipment, where trends shift as fast as fryer oil heats up, it's practically an era. This year marks Nemco's 50th anniversary, and the story of how it all began says more about who the company is than any anniversary banner ever could.

It started with a problem. A curly fry, to be exact.

A Machine Shop in Hicksville

In 1976, Ed Neidhardt didn't set out to build a foodservice empire. He set out to build things that could make a difference. With help from his brother, Gene, and his father, Earl, he established a small machine shop in Hicksville, Ohio, naming it NEMCO—an acronym for Neidhardt Engineering and Manufacturing Company.

There were no glossy marketing campaigns. No websites. Just a family of engineers with skills, a shop full of tools, and a willingness to solve whatever problem walked through the door.

That approach would define everything that came next.

The Request That Changed Everything

In those early years, a local eatery owner approached Ed with a challenge. He needed a faster, more consistent way to cut potatoes into his signature curly-shaped French fries. The existing methods were too slow, too inconsistent, or both. His customers loved the fries. He just couldn't make enough of them.

Ed listened. Then he built something.

The result was a prototype that would eventually become the Spiral Fry—a hand-operated cutter that turned a whole potato into a perfectly spiraled ribbon in seconds. In 1981, Nemco officially introduced the Spiral Fry to the broader foodservice market. It was the company's first food-prep product, and it embodied a philosophy that has guided Nemco ever since: operators have real problems, and those problems deserve real solutions.

Why One Curly Fry Mattered

That first customer request wasn't just a product opportunity. It was a blueprint.

The Spiral Fry succeeded because it addressed something operators actually struggled with—labor-intensive prep, inconsistent output, and wasted time. Ed Neidhardt didn't guess what the market wanted. He asked. Then he engineered a solution built around the operator's workflow, not around what looked good in a catalog.

This customer-first mentality is what separates manufacturers who endure from those who don't. Nemco didn't chase trends. It listened to what people needed in the kitchen. That same principle runs through every product category Nemco has expanded into since, each one tracing back to a simple question: What does the operator need?

Midwest Roots, Modern Reach

Nemco's headquarters remain in Hicksville, Ohio. The company is still family-owned, now in its third generation of leadership under Kenny Moffatt (Chairman) and Luke Moffatt (President). The machine shop has grown into a full-scale manufacturing and R&D operation, but the DNA hasn't changed.

There's something worth noting in that. In an industry where consolidation is constant and brands are known to change ownership, Nemco has stayed independent. That independence has allowed the company to stay close to its customers,  respond quickly, innovate without bureaucracy, and build equipment designed by engineers who understand that a kitchen is no place for theory.

Fifty Years and Counting

As Nemco celebrates 50 years of manufacturing commercial foodservice equipment, the founding story remains the clearest window into what the company stands for. A problem walked into a machine shop. A family of engineers took it seriously. And a product was born—not from market research, but from listening.

That approach has shaped five decades of innovation. From the Spiral Fry to the PaniniPro, from food merchandisers to induction ranges, Nemco has continued to evolve while holding firm to the same operator-first mindset that defined its first day in business.

For foodservice operators looking for equipment that's built to perform—not just to sell—that kind of consistency matters.

Ready for more Nemco success stories? Check out our case studies!