The copycat philosophy is quite simple: take a well known European or American brand, pull it apart and rebuild the same with cheaper parts and labour. In most cases, the copied equipment is in breach of the international copyright laws and that's an entirely different discussion topic.

To the unsuspecting eye, there are no cosmetic differences and sometimes big brand components are used to convey quality or workmanship that is not present. For instance, many Chinese refrigerators use a Danfoss compressor but this is no guarantee that that the refrigerator will work. The same goes for all other commercial appliances. The truth is that just because a refrigerator has a Danfoss compressor, it doesn't mean it will work properly. The copy never has the engineering expertise or the research and development behind it, so the consumer is taking a big risk by purchasing a cheaper copy. The savings are as cosmetic as the copy itself as the consumer will end up paying substantially more for the repairs. When you take into account downtime, revenue loss and replacement costs, the consumer not only didn't save any money but has spent hard earned profits to maintain a useless appliance.

The other issue concerning the copied equipment is finding spare parts as most of these copied equipment use inferior parts that are also copies with inferior materials used to make them. Thus the shortcut is twofold leaving the consumer bewildered as to why the problem occurred in the first place, where to source the part, and how to prevent it from happening again. Australian importers and consumers have found this the hard way and have used auction houses as a dumping ground to get rid of such useless equipment. One only needs to visit any auction house to see the evidence of the above.

Having said all this, there are certain equipment coming out of China that do work. These are usually manufactured by companies having a disciplined engineering or manufacturing regime or by western companies under strict supervision or under license. These equipment usually have a higher price tag and defeat the purpose of saving. That's why it really pays to deal with a company that has expertise in this area and understands the catering equipment inside out and the problems associated with it. Consumers should exercise caution when purchasing catering equipment and differentiate between equipment they need to do a certain job and the equipment they can afford. The difference between the two could save or destroy their business.