Our History

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 30 employees.

Let’s take you way back to the 1950s when the Gertler family entrepreneurial spirit all started!

1950

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.

1970

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.

1975

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.

1985

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.

1985

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.

1986

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.

1992

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

1996

Top in the Foodservice Industry

Richard hires leading industry sales team, which established Supreme as a major player in the foodservice industry.

2000

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.

2005

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.

2012

More Employees and Leasing Space

Twenty employees joined the Supreme team and a third leasing space was added- 50,000 sq. ft. total.

2015

Business Growth

Company continued seeing exponential growth – leasing more space at 86,000 sq. ft. total with three locations.

2016

Welcome Joshua

Joshua Gertler joined and further helped to modernize the company with technological expertise to adapt to modern business models.

2019

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.

2023

New Warehouse

We added another 30,000 square feet of warehouse space.

2023

Expanded Office

We also added 2,500 square feet of office space.

2024

New Showroom

We will be opening a 16,000 square foot modern showroom in the summer of 2024