History
Robic Refrigeration was founded by Richard and Bernita Roton with three original employees on March 15, 1975. They started out as an HVAC, sheet metal and refrigeration sales and service company. People often ask where the name “Robic” came from…it is a combination of “Roton” and “Bick” which was their last name (Roton) and Bernita’s maiden name (Bick). The three original employees were Carl Stuart who served as the service manager, Kevin Roton (Richard and Bernita’s son) who ran the sheet metal department and finally, Howard Garner who served as Robic’s first service technician. Robic became incorporated in 1980. In 1991 Carl and Kevin became part-owners of Robic while Bernita continued as CFO when Richard retired. In 1998 Carl became President and Kevin, Vice President. Carl later retired in 2000 and Bernita in 2001 leaving the company under the leadership of Kevin as president passing it along to the next generation while Howard became Vice President and Claudina, CFO. In December of 2024, after many years of dedicated service, Kevin and Howard officially retired with Claudina to follow in March of 2025.
As of January 1, 2025, Gary and Nancee Johnson purchased the shares of Robic and took over the business operations. Gary began his HVAC career in 1994 as a service technician at a company in Modesto where he would later meet Nancee when she joined the company as a dispatcher in 1996 and later became his wife in 1998. Nancee came to work at Robic in 1998 for a short time before leaving the work force to raise their four children over the next 20 years. In 2013 Gary was happy to join the Robic team and work alongside Kevin and Howard for the remainder of their careers. In January of 2020 Nancee returned to Robic to join Gary and began the succession plan as Howard, Kevin and Claudina planned for retirement.
Gary and Nancee are excited to carry on the reputation Robic has always had for quality work and taking care of Robic’s team members and customers. The company has always emphasized continued education for our team members in their respective fields as our goal is to provide quality workmanship and dependable service. Our technicians and installers are EPA and NATE certified. We do a variety of work including residential, commercial and industrial HVAC service and installation, furnishing and installing commercial kitchen hoods, ice machines, duct cleaning, and many heating and cooling applications. We do all our own sheet metal fabrication in our shop as well as fabricating for many other contractors in the HVAC and roofing trades.
Our motto “As good as the best and better than the rest!” is still our goal and we take pride in our team members and the many projects we have been involved in throughout the valley. Our mission is to encourage a supportive and caring environment where our employees can thrive and deliver exceptional quality work to our customers. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, excellence, and professionalism. We believe in creating a workplace where employees feel valued and passionate about their jobs, empowering them to provide outstanding service to our customers.