About Supreme Hotel & Restaurant Supply
Supreme Hotel & Restaurant Supply is a family-owned, fourth-generational operating foodservice business. In 1986, we started the business off with three owners and two employees. Over the years, we have established relationships with influential business owners and others in the industry. Today, Supreme is operated by Richard Gertler and his two sons Matthew and Joshua Gertler, along with 40+ employees.
Let’s take you way back to the 1950s when the Gertler family entrepreneurial spirit all started!
The Gertler Entrepreneurial Spirit
Helen Gertler (Richards Aunt) worked in Bowery as a bookkeeper and sales person for Standard China. She always wanted to be an entrepreneur and operate her own business. The entrepreneurial spirit runs in the Gertler family.
New York China Corp.
Helen opened New York China Corp. Sam Gertler (Richard’s father and Helen’s brother) worked full time and Richard Gertler worked part time for Helen’s business.
Learning the Family Business
After graduating college, Richard joined the business full time. He did everything to learn the business patterns and products (SKU numbers), unloading trailers and being hands-on in every area of the business.
Networking, Friendships, and Business Growth
After 15 years, New York China became the leading Restaurant Supplier on the west side of Manhattan (from Columbia University to 2nd St.). Richard started ground up and took the knowledge to the streets where he then built relationships with influential business owners, cooks, chefs, which then became friendships – even until this day.
The Bowery
By 1985, Helen owned three buildings on the Bowery – very valuable real estate. She retire d and the Bowery Renaissance and China Town expansion was sold.
Supreme Hotel & Restaurant Supply Corp. Grand Opening
Sam, Larry (Helen and Sam’s brother), and Richard moved to Pembroke Park, FL. With the inventory brought in trailers from New York, Supreme Hotel & Restaurant Supply Corp. opened. Supreme had three operating owners and two employees. They started evolution with Club Med account and many local restaurants.
Major Contracts
Richard was asked to meet and consult with buyers at Royal Caribbean, which led to their first major contract and serious growth & establishment.
David Lenz joins the sales team and adds another major cruise line to the company
Top in the Foodservice Industry
Richard hires leading industry sales team, which established Supreme as a major player in the foodservice industry.
Supreme Expansion
Vince Soler was hired to expand Supremes export and redistribution sales
Customer base expanded exponentially and additional warehouse was acquired. Supreme added 2 locations – 30,000 sq. ft. total.
Welcome Matthew
Matthew Gertler graduated college and joined the team following his father’s footsteps and work ethic. Matt learned from ground up and applied his unique skill set to further the companies development. He then became the main contact for cruise lines and other large accounts. Overall, improving operations.
More Employees and Leasing Space
Twenty employees joined the Supreme team and a third leasing space was added- 50,000 sq. ft. total.
Business Growth
Company continued seeing exponential growth – leasing more space at 86,000 sq. ft. total with three locations.
Welcome Joshua
Joshua Gertler joined and further helped to modernize the company with technological expertise to adapt to modern business models.
Supreme Today
Since 2016, Supreme has grown with additional staff (30 employees), adding new roles/positions, cutting-edge equipment, development of branding, and overall growth.
New Warehouse
We added another 30,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Expanded Office
We also added 2,500 square feet of office space.
New Showroom
We will be opening a 16,000 square foot modern showroom in the summer of 2024