ATLANTA – Georgia Power has created a new group that will be dedicated to increasing the use of electric cooking in the commercial cooking market. These foodservice marketing executives will focus on promoting electric cooking applications and the use of electric cooking equipment.

"The goal of the foodservice group is to help Georgia Power’s customers with commercial cooking facilities become as profitable and operationally efficient as possible,” said Jim Wixson, Georgia Power cooking product manager.

The foodservice team is charged with educating customers, dealers, and manufacturers about the benefits of electric cooking equipment such as electric fryers, ovens, griddles and steamers. The team can set up product demonstrations for customers to evaluate electric cooking equipment at Georgia Power’s demonstration kitchen.

The demonstration kitchen at Georgia Power’s Shallowford Road site in Atlanta is available for customers to visit. The kitchen is large enough to conduct demonstrations for 12 customers. Representatives from restaurants and dealers will have access to the kitchen to show equipment to clients.

“We want our customers to understand and recognize the benefits of electric cooking,” Wixson said. Some of these benefits include faster preheat and recovery times and more efficient use of energy. Electric cooking also provides a cooler working environment and lower maintenance cost.

The foodservice team consists of a diverse group of representatives from Georgia Power’s marketing organization. The foodservice team will include Rick Maurer, Buz Merritt, Tony Donald, Larry Stout, Bill Routh and Riesa Vierling.

Maurer and Merritt will cover Metro Atlanta; Donald will focus on the North Georgia area; and Stout will be responsible for South Georgia. Additionally, Routh and Vierling will cover business efforts with multi-unit operators. Wixson, with assistance from support analyst Dianne Burnsed, will maintain responsibility for overall program management.

The foodservice team will help customers find electric cooking resources such as dealers, manufacturers, food facility consultants, architects and other professionals in the industry. Additionally, they can help point Georgia Power customers in the right direction for solutions with outdoor lighting, water heating, and HVAC guidance.

To contact a Georgia Power Foodservices team member please call 1-888-655-5888.