About Us

 
Welcome to Holiday House!

 

What began as a humble OCS venture over 40 years ago has evolved into a company that today offers thousands of products, sophisticated shipping and billing systems, exciting new technology and the finest customer service in the coffee service and water industries.

 

We Know What OCS Operators Want & Need, Because That’s How We Got Our Start

Holiday House Coffee opened its doors in 1981, providing OCS products to a wide range of customers in the Greater New York area. In the beginning, Butch and Lynn Winkler sold the very same products as most of our competitors. But that’s where the similarities ended. We observed the industry, Lynn listened closely to our customers, and very quickly realized that a need existed among large corporations that maintained multiple locations and wanted to maximize their purchasing power.
 
After listening closely to purchasing agents, location managers and other key sources of information, Lynn created a computer-based reporting program that provided detailed breakdowns of purchases, uniform pricing across all locations, budgeting models and usage detail. The end result was a streamlined system that made our customers’ lives easier and, perhaps more importantly, made them look good in the eyes of their management.

Because Holiday House clearly understood the notion of providing quality OCS products at affordable prices, the company ventured into the development of private label products. Selecting products that met existing and emerging customer needs was a skill that further differentiated Holiday House from other OCS operators. The result was repeat business, a growing number of annual contracts and a reputation for innovation based on a simple premise – listen closely to the customers and let them determine the most important features and benefits, and product development priorities. It was a habit we developed early and practiced often.

Within eight short years, Butch and Lynn grew the company to 10 times its original size, and Holiday House became the go-to supplier for many of the area’s largest institutions.

From Operator to Supplier:A Logical Step with Remarkable Results

As the popularity of coffee, coffee products and equipment continued to explode in the 1990s, the demands upon OCS operators were making it difficult for them to run down individual parts and fittings at local hardware, electrical and supply outlets. Such practices were time consuming and expensive, and very often the consistent availability of parts and products was unreliable.

Again, Butch and Lynn watched, listened and responded to the industry…and Holiday House Distributing was born! HHD began operating from the Winklers’ attic. Orders were filled in the basement and pushed through the basement window to the UPS truck. From this humble beginning, HHD grew into a one-stop shop for OCS operators, offering many standard and hard-to-find plumbing parts needed to install and maintain the newest models of coffee brewing equipment and water dispensers. The company began by purchasing coffee brewer parts from many major manufacturers, water cooler parts, water filtration products, plumbing supplies and electrical products, as well as tools for the trade.

Given our legacy of listening and acting on our customers’ needs, in 2005 HHD again took the bold step toward designing and producing our own line of products. While Butch met with the customers to keep up with their needs, Lynn designed the warehouse layout, created inventory control systems, order processing, accounting and finance programs. Lynn worked with UPS to help develop the link that is still used today in  World Ship. Today, we have a full line of the most popular OCS items such as brewer parts, airpots, thermal gravity dispensers, coffee decanters, condiment caddies, racks, and cup dispensers just to name a few. All priced to provide unbeatable savings and maximize our customers’ margins.