Small and Speedy
By Melissa Master Cavanaugh
Rapid-cook technology - a combination of microwave, impingement, and convection cooking techniques that can cut cooking time significantly - has long been a staple of hotels, banquet halls and other venues that need to quickly churn out vast numbers of meals in a short time. Until recently, though, the ovens that used this technology were much too large to be practical in retail locations.Now, however, this technology can squeeze into a footprint that makes it viable in convenience stores, supermarket delis, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and other foodservice areas without requiring a full kitchen. That means that items that were previously off the menu in such locations -- from chicken fingers to pizza to toasted sandwiches -- are not only possible, but quick, tasty and profitable.
Rapid-cook products vary between manufacturers, of course, and products that use different technologies have different strengths.
Impingement only: These ovens are best for baking, toasting and parboiling. Impingement and infrared: Like impingement-only ovens, these are good candidates for baking items quickly and with an even finish.
Impingement and microwave: A versatile technology that can cook proteins and frozen foods but also handle toasting, browning and finishing parbaked foods.
Convection heat and microwave: Best for browning and accelerated cooking, many of these ovens can now be used with metal pans.
Convection heat, impingement and microwave: The range of technologies used means that these ovens can handle cooking, baking, toasting and browning.
Steam and convection: One of the newest introductions to the retail space, these ovens can bake, broil, roast, grill, steam, stew, blanch, poach and fry.
It's not just the size of new rapid-cook ovens that makes them a good fit for retail foodservice; most have also adapted their requirements so that the ovens can work in the front or the back of the house and suit the capabilities of retail staff. They generally don't require hoods or vents; they are often fully insulated so that the outside of the ovens are cool to the touch and do not pose safety issues for staff or customers; many use catalytic converters that minimize smell and keep flavors from transferring, no matter how many items the oven must accommodate, allowing for a diverse menu; and they are usually programmable, so that employees do not need to calculate the cooking time or temperature for menu items.
In fact, the ovens can change the whole operation of a foodservice program in the retail environment. Locations that had previously relied on separate units - such as a convection oven, a toaster oven, a microwave and a tabletop impingement oven - can get the same functions with some rapid-cook ovens that they could with these four pieces of equipment, saving space as well as cutting down on maintenance. Rapid-cook ovens can cut down significantly on food waste, since retailers can prepare food on demand instead of estimating what they'll need, cooking it in advance, keeping it warm and throwing out the leftovers, according to Joe Kline and Rafael Thissen - respectively, vice president of marketing and director of sales and business development for Duke Manufacturing.
Maverik Country Stores Inc., a c-store chain based in North Salt Lake, Utah, with more than 180 stores in seven Western states, is just starting the transition from premade foodservice to fresher food, with some quesadillas, biscuits and toasted bagels being prepared on demand, according to Kline and Thissen. The chain has Duke Speed Ovens, which use a combination of convection and microwave power, in approximately 35 of its stores, and is planning to add more.
Thanks to this shift, Maverik already has seen both increases in revenue, as customers find the fresh offerings more appealing, and decreases in food costs, thanks to reduction in waste, Kline and Thissen said. Now that the company has seen how rapid-cook technology can offer better overall execution on its existing menu items, it reportedly is also considering the addition of a pizza program.
Kwik and Delicious
Another company that has shown how successful rapid-cook ovens can be is La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip Inc., a convenience store chain with 338 stores in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. "Our foodservice program is based around rapid-cook ovens," said Jim Bressi, director of food research and development. "We have a minimal amount of room in our stores, and we had to find a good solution instead of adding huge kitchens with conventional equipment."
Kwik Trip uses the High H Batch Turbo Oven from Turbo Chef, which employs impinged air, for a variety of menu items. "We reheat precooked proteins, like hot dogs and hamburgers, and put them into holding cases," Bressi said. "We can also do pizza - we start from raw dough, add sauce, cheese and meats, and have a perfectly cooked pizza in seven minutes that meets the FDA requirement that we heat food to 165 degrees before serving."
The Turbo Oven also allowed Kwik Trip to introduce a breakfast program, with four sandwiches: sausage and egg; ham and egg; bacon, egg and cheese; and a Western omelette, all of which are served on bagels, croissants or English muffins. "It's nice that the oven allows us to brown the sausage, toast the bun and heat up the egg patty - and that's all done on one tray, at one setting, in a minute and 35 seconds," Bressi explained.
Besides being fast, it's easy - a key consideration for a labor force that needs to operate the technology without a lot of training. The requirements for every food product are programmed into the oven, eliminating the need for staff to make judgment calls about how long to cook items or at what temperature. The programs can be written at headquarters and updates sent to the field quickly and easily.
Kwik Trip is now exploring the addition of some fried foods to the menu, including batter-dipped, seasoned chicken fingers and hash browns. "They're fried before we get them, and we can either defrost them and heat them up, or put them in frozen and cook them for a little longer," Bressi said. "They come out really well, without the usual greasiness of fried food - and we don't have the maintenance or the smell of working with grease."
Bressi is not currently planning to upgrade the chain's equipment, explaining that Kwik Trip has made a major investment in the ovens it has; most stores have two ovens and some have three, meaning Kwik Trip has purchased more than 600 of the units. However, he does like to keep up with innovations in the technology. He has in his test kitchen a new model from Turbo Chef, the C3, which can make a pizza in 2.5 minutes and cook a frozen roasted turkey breast in 15 minutes. "And it is delicious," he added.
The Toast of the Town
When the launch of Quiznos and its toasted subs made hot sandwiches all the rage, other foodservice outlets had to get in on the act - and some chose to make use of speed-cooking technology.
Wawa, Pa.-based Wawa Inc., with 570 c-stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, had long had a foodservice program that used traditional convection ovens. When it wanted to bolster its sandwich program by offering toasted sandwiches, however, it opted for the Merrychef 402S from Enodis USA, which uses a combination of convection heat, impingement pressure and microwave power.
The program really started in response to customer demand. "We were doing some toasting ad hoc in our convection ovens, which wasn't the best way to deliver the sandwich to the customer and also really burdened the associates," said Lynn Hochberg, director for product development. "It took a long time to toast, so they had to step out of the sandwich line and move down to the oven operation."
The rapid-cook technology has cut that time down to between 30 and 45 seconds per sandwich, depending on the size of the sandwich and how many go into the oven at once. The sandwiches go into the oven containing just bread and fillings; condiments and toppings are added after toasting.
Customer response has been "overwhelming," said Hochberg, and has spurred the release of new products, such as sandwiches served on ciabatta bread, all of which are toasted. The ovens are now in all Wawa locations, and some have two. "The volume on toasted sandwiches just keeps going up," Hochberg added.
Some operators have invested in the technology for a particular product and then realized that it has other uses as well. That has been the case for Roti Mediterranean Grill, a Chicago fast-casual restaurant with one existing location and two more in the works. Roti, which is open Monday through Friday for lunch and has $1.4 million in annual sales, serves pita sandwiches, salads and kabobs, and is using the Fusion oven from Enodis USA to bake its pitas.
"During our busiest time of year in the summer, we serve about 500 to 600 people per day during lunch," said Barry Brooks, executive chef. Roti uses artisan pita bread, both white and wheat. Brooks orders the pitas half-baked and completes them in the Fusion. "They look fresh-baked," he said. "They have great puffability and a nice caramel color."
Roti has experimented with pizzas in the Fusion and is currently testing breakfast sandwiches, which would offer not just a new product but also a whole new daypart for the lunch-only location. It's a testament to the versatility of rapid-cook technology: It seems the only limit of these ovens is the creativity of the operator.