Salvajor Celebrates 75 Years

During the early 1940’s, George C. Hohl wanted to start a company that would make waste handling systems for the food service industry. But the world was at war, and steel was nearly unobtainable. After months of knocking on doors, Hohl finally went to Washington, D.C., where he met with the War Production Board to see if they would approve a steel allotment.

Hohl’s presentation was a roaring success. The young entrepreneur was able to prove that his machine, the Salvajor Senior, could save thousands of dollars worth of flatware that was being destroyed in inferior waste disposal systems throughout the nation’s military camps. The board not only allocated the necessary steel for Hohl to make his machine, but also recommended the product to the Department of the Army.

In turn, the Army gave Hohl his first order in 1944, requisitioning 600 units of the newly developed stainless steel waste-collecting system, which firmly launched his business. More than a half century later, The Salvajor Company remains a privately held, Kansas City-based manufacturer of commercial waste disposers and waste handling systems for the food service industry.

Salvajor’s next step was to introduce its product in 1946 at what is now the National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago. One of the first pre-flushing, scrapping, and food-waste-collecting systems in the industry, the Salvajor Senior was quickly accepted and soon found its way into the nation’s restaurant, hotel, hospital, factory, and university kitchens.

The company continued to attract recognition. In 1964, Salvajor was honored with an invitation to attend the International Trade Exhibition in London. This opportunity gave the company the chance to establish its earliest overseas marketing representation.

It was also in the 1960s that Salvajor engineers began designing new products in earnest–products that would help make Salvajor the leader in its field. Then headed by the late George O. Sherman as director of engineering, the firm developed five new products over the next 10 years.

When the founder’s son, the late George C. Hohl Jr., took the reins of the company as president and CEO in 1970, research and development remained a top priority. In 1971, Salvajor introduced a new waste disposer that incorporated the first real improvements to disposer design in 50 years. As the company grew, it expanded its product line by attaching its waste disposer to other newly developed Salvajor systems. The ScrapMaster and TroughVeyor, for example, were two products designed to increase the speed and efficiency of scrapping.