Tomas Tassy, Sr., President and Founder.
Tomas’ father was a design engineer, inventor, and owner of his own Heating Technology business. After the 1956 uprising in Hungary all privately owned businesses were taken over by the government, he lost his business. Due to his expertise he was asked by the new government to build a larger heating technology business, which he then managed. This is where he taught young Tomas about the various combustion and technology systems available at the time. Tomas had no idea that this knowledge would eventually be very useful and applicable to the baking technology business he founded and has run for over 37 years.
In 1970, at the age of 19, just before graduating from a technical college where he studied Machine Technology and Design, Tomas escaped the Communist regime in Hungary. After spending three years in Switzerland, he immigrated to Canada in 1973, where, in Toronto, he accepted a position with a medium size food equipment and process automation company. Here he gained hands on knowledge about bakery automation, dough process lines and baking ovens.
While with this company Tomas traveled to the Middle East to represent the company and provide support for their turn-key bakery lines performing start-up, commissioning, and providing end user training.
Working autonomously in the various war-torn countries in the early 1980’s provided him with an opportunity for serious character building and an excellent training platform. Tomas strengthened his problem solving abilities rapidly at this time, due to a lack of readily available local support, materials, or spare parts at these bakeries. He had to make do because failure was not an option. He trained the bakeries’ maintenance staff, and prepared written preventative equipment maintenance and troubleshooting guides.
When Tomas returned from the Middle East in 1983 he was sent by the company to Los Angeles, California, to rescue a failing project for them. A newly designed bagel make up line was not performing and the bakery was threatening to ship the line back to Toronto.
Shortly after successfully resolving the line’s production issues, the bakery owners asked Tomas to remain and assist them with designing and building a high capacity bagel production and automated baking line.
This is when and where Tomas Tassy Sr. founded T&T Consulting and Engineering, Inc., in 1983. He helped design, layout and install an all new 3000 dozen/hour bagel automation for the bakery, and hired and trained all the new maintenance personnel. This location and most of the equipment is still operating today. The company and its owners continue as T&T customers. In 2018 T&T upgraded their originally installed tunnel baking oven with all new updated burner technology.
In 1988, Tomas was invited by the owner of a Chicago based retail bagel operation. After having seen the west coast bagel automation, the owner enticed Tomas with a partnership offer to move to Chicago and build a similar high-volume bagel automation. As a small operation they did not have the budget to make this happen easily. Tomas purchased, re-manufactured and converted older make up equipment on site for bagel production.
For the baking section, a rebuilt 10 ft wide by 70 ft long tunnel baking oven was purchased, an improved design submerged type bagel boiler, auto loader, seeder, etc. they achieved the 2500 dozen/hour production volume for the new expansion. The new bakery build out was relocated to a 40,000 sq. ft. building, with an addition for a 2000 sq. ft. storage freezer. These bagels became a staple for consumers and continued into mid-2000. In 1992, the owners sold their operation to a large bakery conglomerate from Canada and the owner/partner retired.
As T&T Consulting and Engineering, Inc. Tomas continues assisting and serving the baking industry, presently also manufacturing its own all new bakery automation lines and baking ovens, in addition to upgrading and rebuilding older tunnel ovens.
With 37 years in the industry, Tomas still believes and conducts business with the old fashioned business values of honesty, integrity and trust. He insists on delivering his projects to customers’ expectations and approval. To Tomas, business is more than personal.