Vollrath manufactures equipment and supplies for the commercial foodservice industry and sells its products through two-tier distribution.

The product offering for smallwares includes buffet and tabletop service; cleaning and safety equipment; cookware and bakeware; food delivery and transport; kitchen essentials; steam table pans and accessories; and warewashing and handling.

Jacob Vollrath began building farm implements, steam engines, cast iron ranges and cooking utensils in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

He manufactured porcelain enameled pots, pans, plates, cups and other kitchenware by coating cast iron with ceramic glaze.

In 1874 it was reported that J.J. Vollrath & Sons was constructing a factory for the production of porcelain hollow ware and cast iron fences.

Sheet steel stamped ware was added to the product line in 1892, which increased the range of items considerably.

A catalog from that era shows the addition of coffee boilers, dippers, ladles, cake and pie pans, bowls and cups.

In 1900 the company discontinued the manufacture of plumbing goods in order to devote its energies entirely to the cooking utensil field.

In 1904 Vollrath earned top honors for “Excellence in the Production of Colored and Plain, Stamped Steel and Cast Iron Enameled Wares” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

In 1910 construction of the new facility began at 18th and Michigan Ave in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which is the current site of the corporate offices and stainless steel manufacturing plant.

[5] A complete unit for the economical handling of the product was built, where each department housed in surroundings designed for that particular process.

During the years of the Great Depression and under the guidance of President J.C. Vollrath, the company continued its entrepreneurial practices.

The first military contract related to World War II was with the navy for spoons and ladles announced in August, 1940.

Vollrath produced more than 12 million canteens during the war, along with many other products for military use, such as mess trays, meat cans, irrigators, and basins.

[citation needed] When the polio epidemic of the late 1940s and early 1950s struck, Vollrath developed the Polio-Pak Heater.

Selling for $275, this 37" high stainless steel electrical unit could produce 15 double-thick steam heated woolen packs to administer to polio patients.

Vollrath also developed a 20½" high portable size Polio-Pak Heater for visiting nurses to use in patient's home.

He had some political experience as a young man, having assisted his father, Walter J. Kohler Sr., in his successful Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign in the late 1920s.

In 1973 construction was started on an expansion of the plant in River Falls, WI that would expand that facility to a total of 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m2).

[16] In early 1974, Vollrath leased property in Clarksville, Tennessee, moving the cookware finishing there from Sheboygan.

[17] Later that year Vollrath also purchased the hollowware and related assets of the Admiral Craft Corporation of New York.

Vollrath eventually sold the line of self-leveling dispensers, dish and utility carts in 1986 to Servolift of Boston.

His thesis and research were in the area of business application of large scale digital computers in smaller companies.

[21] In late 1989, the Vollrath Company purchased the Leyse commercial aluminum cookware line from General Housewares Corporation, Stamford, Connecticut.

In May 1994 Vollrath acquired a line of food warmers and accessories with the purchase of Idea/Medalie Division, Rogers, Minnesota.

Vollrath had purchased Luitink Manufacturing Co. of Menomonee Falls, and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin in May 1999 to give the company new flexibility for precision created smallwares.

[26] Even though Vollrath had been selling its products in Europe since 1985, growth in the European market prompted the opening of a headquarters in Rijen, Netherlands in 2011.

[27] In May 2012, Vollrath acquired Polar Ware, and its division, Stoelting, a Wisconsin-based food service manufacturer with focus on serving pans and utensils.

The company was unable to accomplish the return of production equipment that it had purchased and supplied the contract manufacturer in China.