Meet the Owner: Beltram Food Service Group

The plain white letters on the bright red awning couldn’t be more unassuming. But the building marked “” at Florida Avenue and Hiawatha Street actually represents a family business with humble roots in 19th century Austria, and that did about $40 million in the food service supply business in 2010.

In 1973, Dan Beltram had just graduated from the University of South Florida, and was considering medical school before deciding to take a break to help his ailing father with his business. “I thought I’d help him get his knife sharpening business sold, and gosh, I’m still here,” said Beltram.

Dan’s father, Quirino Beltrami, learned the knife sharpening trade from his father, Giuseppi Beltrami. In 1914, at age 16, Quirino left his village of Pinzolo, Austria (now Italy) to ply his trade in Newark, N.J., for 35 years. Dan was born in Plant City, Fl., shortly after his parents moved to Florida to retire. But Quirino never stopped working, and continued sharpening knives from his Zephyrhills garage. When Dan was 3, his family moved to Seminole Heights since most of his father’s clients were in Tampa.

Soon after, in the mid 1950s, Beltram Edge Tool Supply opened a block from the Beltram house at 6800 N. Florida Ave. after neighbors complained about the noise Quirino made in his garage sharpening knives. Not long after Dan joined his father’s business in 1973, he saw opportunities to expand it. “(Clients) would ask me for some things,” recalled Dan, “and before you knew it I expanded into the kitchen equipment and tool and design business. Everything from the teaspoon to the kitchen exhaust hood.”

Quirino stayed on as the resident knife sharpener for several more years, and died in 1990.

Beltram Food Service Group
6800 N. Florida Ave.
1-800-940-1136
beltram.com

Full buffet: Besides offering a complete array of food service supplies and equipment, Beltram also does full service restaurant design, construction and décor, and refurbishes and sells used restaurant equipment.

Clientele: You’ve probably seen the construction work, craftsmanship, or supplies of Beltram if you’ve visited the Columbia Restaurant, J. Alexander’s, Bonefish Grill, Malio’s Prime, Iavarone’s Steakhouse, Tijuana Flats, Ker’s WingHouse, Melting Pot, and Outback Steakhouse. The company has also installed or refurbished food facilities for a state prison in Wyoming, the Army’s Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, and Colorado State University.

The Beltram fleet: Now includes five showrooms, located in Sarasota, Fort Myers, Tarpon Springs, Brandon at 6900 E. Adamo Drive, and Seminole Heights. The Tarpon Springs location also has the company’s stainless steel and wood working facilities. Warehouses are at the Brandon and Seminole Heights locations. Beltram also has a distribution center and food service textiles factory in Spartanburg, S.C.

Recession’s effect on the restaurant biz: “For the new restaurants,” said Beltram, “new construction is down. Some concepts are doing well during these times, because of the price point of the product they sell. Some of the food items, like Mexican food, they’re actually doing better in an economy like this, because people can’t afford the higher end. They might go to Tijuana Flats instead of Malio’s. But when some of these restaurants close, like a Bennigan’s, then you have another concept go in.”

Neighborhood roots: Dan attended Cleveland Elementary, Sligh Junior High, and graduated from Hillsborough High in 1969. He still owns his family’s house on Wellington Avenue, a block away from the Beltram offices. But he now lives in Avila in north Tampa with his wife Andrea, daughters Angelina , 5, Jackie, 11, and son D.Q., 15.