Brothers and partners in Arctic Refrigeration, Bruce and Terry Spencer co-founded the business in 1973. Both brothers worked for a heating and air conditioning company in Rockford, Ill., and Terry had serviced refrigeration for the United States Army. By the early 70s, the brothers were both newly married and ready to establish a business of their own. They looked south, to Madisonville, Ky., a small community near their extended family.

“We were looking for a place to go into business that needed our services,” explained Terry.  “There was no one else in Madisonville doing the type of technical work that we offered at the time.”

Bruce opened the business in June 1973 on 34 S. Church Street in Madisonville, and Terry joined him one year later. At that time, the business handled three major areas — residential heating and air conditioning, commercial heating and air conditioning, and equipment rentals. In 1977, business was booming and the brothers moved to a new location on Spring Street.

In the early days of the business, the Spencer brothers rented and serviced items such as walk-in refrigerators, meat-slicers, and ice machines. In 1995, they decided to expand on that line of the business and sell the heating and air division to David Wells, who had been working with them since 1990.

Arctic has grown to be a leader in the region for food service equipment, and the Arctic Refrigeration name no longer reflected the true scope of the business. In 2022, Arctic Refrigeration changed its name to Arctic Restaurant Service & Supply.

Since that time, Arctic has been solely focused on the sales and service of food service & refrigeration equipment. In 2000, long-time employee Jeff McKnight became an equal partner in the company with the Spencer brothers, and business grew. Eight years later, Terry and Bruce decided to take a step back from the company to focus more on family and their second business, Spencer Brothers Self Storage. Terry’s son, Aaron, returned home after living in Lexington to join McKnight in over-seeing the day-to-day operations.

With McKnight’s primary focus on service, Aaron turned his attention to marketing and growth opportunities. He realized that in order for the business to continue its prosperous history, the company needed to rebrand. Over the years, Arctic had grown to be a leader in the region for food service equipment, and the Arctic Refrigeration name no longer reflected the true scope of the business.

In 2022, Arctic Refrigeration changed its name to Arctic Restaurant Service & Supply. Now located at 1520 Island Ford Road, Arctic has an impressive showroom of new equipment and smallwares onsite. Under the direction of McKnight and Spencer, the company is growing to meet the ever-changing needs of the industry.

Please be sure to contact us with specific requests. We will happily help you find the items to fit your needs.

Whether you’re a professional chef or an every-day chef, we have the tools of the trade to help you serve up any menu.