Heating Up

Ovens and rotisseries are playing increasingly important roles in the growing success of supermarket foodservice operations.

With the rapid emergence of foodservice as a profit center for food retailers, due in great part to expanded offerings as a result of a careful eye on the changing American palate, equipment has taken center stage in this growth, particularly in the area of ovens and rotisseries.

Suppliers for these critical foodservice equipment components have worked closely with their retail customers in developing ovens and rotisseries that have positively affected foodservice operations in terms of productivity and labor, as well as quality and food safety.

“In order to provide a working solution to our business partners, we have to involve them in the process,” says Todd Griffith, VP of sales and marketing at Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based oven and rotisserie manufacturer Alto-Shaam, which supplies retailers such as Safeway, the Delhaize Group, Ahold, Publix and Whole Foods.

“Specific design requirements, operational features and ongoing product development efforts are based upon the specific needs and requirements of our customers,” adds Griffith. “Alto-Shaam recently announced the grand opening of our new technical support and R&D lab expansion.”

As retail foodservice operations have continued to diversify in tandem with consumers' heightened expectations, Griffith says the role of equipment has likewise evolved. The equipment package today is menu-driven, he affirms, “and must provide the operator the ability to produce the required amount of food in the most efficient manner possible. Equipment technology in today's retail foodservice environment is an extension of the deli associate and a means to supplement the workforce.”

“Equipment technology … is an extension of the deli associate and a means to supplement the workforce.” —Todd Griffith, Alto-Shaam

Doing More with Less

Now that doing “more with less has become a mantra in many industries, and retail foodservice is no different,” Griffith notes that today's multifunction equipment technology offers operators commensurate abilities to increase production capacity while increasing food quality and sustainability, reducing operating expenses, and requiring less labor to operate and maintain the equipment. He cites faster output production, self-cleaning and multiple cooking modes as features that help to create efficiencies in production, which in turn increases output, and also requires less labor to effectively manage and operate the equipment.

Alto-Shaam's successful innovations have included stacking combi-ovens to maximize production flexibility as well as output. “In many retail operations, Alto-Shaam has stacked combi-ovens over convection ovens to provide a more cost-effective production solution while still maximizing floor space and output production capacity,” says Griffith.

Rotisserie ovens can also be stacked to increase production in a limited footprint, he continues, which in turn reduces width profiles, ventilation requirements and associated costs. As an alternative solution, Alto-Shaam can also place a self-contained ventless hood over select models of both rotisserie and combitherm ovens for even greater placement flexibility and return on investment.

The company's recently introduced “CombiTouch” control technology uses a new graphic interface to give operators a simple platform for use, as well as heightened flexibility and control in food quality and consistency, says Griffith, noting that Alto-Shaam's “combi-like” rotisserie technology produces a load of chickens in half the time of more traditional units, and the vendor offers a design-match ventless hood that lets the equipment be strategically placed in front of the customer to maximize merchandising impact and generate greater sales.

At North Bergen, N.J.-based Hickory Industries, which lists such retail customers as Stop & Shop, Kroger, A&P, Walmart, Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and Roundy's among its customers, company president Steve Maroti points out that “food retailers basically look at labor as the determining function. Retailers do not know ovens — they know cost and quality — and that is what we try to teach them. We are always determining the problems retailers experience in the marketplace, and work backwards to try to determine solutions.”

As the Chicken Turns

Maroti cites the foodborne pathogen salmonella as an issue of particular concern in deli/foodservice operations. To that end, Hickory developed the Thermowave spit, “which helps cook the product from the inside out, and eliminates the possibility of contamination,” he notes.

Despite the fact that some supermarkets market “rotisserie” chickens, often the birds are actually cooked in combi-ovens. However, Maroti, affirms, “The end product is not the same.” He says that Hickory believes that the highest sales are achieved from the highest-end product quality, which, for true rotisserie chickens, means crispy skin and caramelized texture.

“Not all rotisseries can do that, only high-temperature infra-red ovens,” he says. “The most successful supermarkets tend to use larger rotisseries; some use the continuous-cook application, like our N/45WDG-PLUS andN/7P, and others use the batch-cook application, like our N/7.7GBS, N/5.7G and the stacked N/7.5G, our newest concept.”

Retailers do not know ovens … and that is what we try to teach them.” —Steve Maroti, Hickory Industries

Maroti says that cooking with spits — which hold multiple chickens — is much more efficient in terms of productivity and labor. What's more, he adds, “Removing chickens one at a time usually means that the operator mars the skin because each chicken is being held, as opposed to spits, which only go through the center of the product.”

All-in-one Simplicity

Jennifer Letourneau, marketing coordinator at Liniere, Quebec-based Doyon Equipment, sees versatility and energy efficiency as the two major attributes retailers are seeking in ovens and rotisseries.

Doyon's most popular oven for supermarket foodservice, according to Letourneau, is the new JA5P2618-2 Jet Air Plus oven, whose reversible ventilation system permits faster and more even cooking and baking, allowing associates to work without having to turn pans during baking and cooking, which translates into time and energy savings. The model also has two independent chambers, enabling two separate dishes to be cooked simultaneously, another saving of both time and energy.

“Our new Jet Air Plus oven is an all-in-one cooking system that will cook, bake, roast and rethermalize, combining modes for convection, or a combination of steam and convection heat,” explains Letourneau.

“With the ever-increasing cost of electricity,” she adds, “Energy Star-rated appliances will help you save money, while at the same time protecting the equipment. That is why Doyon is offering Energy Star equipment like the JA5P2618 Jet Air Plus oven.”

Hans Sell is corporate chef for Garland Canada, a Mississauga, Ontario-based division of Manitowoc Food Service that makes Convotherm ovens. He offers this perspective on the changing roles of rotisseries and ovens in supermarket foodservice: “When the rotisserie oven was first introduced, the impact was huge. Visual appeal and the impression of ‘freshly roasted’ were the keys. The downside was that the loss on yield of the product was significant, and that maintenance and cleaning was tedious and poorly done.”

With the introduction of combi-ovens, he goes on: “Many, if not all, of these issues were eliminated. Although the visual aspect of seeing the product spin around at the counter was gone, the quality of the food product was significantly improved, with higher yields, shorter cooking times, better consistency, and documented and controllable food-safe environments. And most units are equipped with a self-cleaning feature.”

Sell says that the Convotherm brand manufactures combi-ovens ranging from a small countertop unit called the Mini to its largest unit, the 20.20 with a “roll-in” trolley racking system. “We produce a solution oven for any-size grocery store,” he says. “Convotherm even produces a Combi Chicken Oven 10.10 with a specially designed drainage system for safe and easy removal of chicken grease. This has been a breakthrough and is very popular with grocery stores with HMR outlets.”

The Combi Chicken Oven 10.10 was a recent introduction to the North American market, says Sell, noting advancements on the panel design with a touchscreen format that has made the unit more operator-friendly. New additions to the programming capabilities have also made it possible for the ovens to be customized to the needs of any operation, he adds.

Matador and Beyond

Based in Shelton, Conn., WP Bakery Group USA/Kemper Bakery Systems has entered the supermarket foodservice market with the company's electric deck ovens known as Matador Stores, which Shawna Goldfarb, director of food service/in-store, says offer a theater effect and tremendous bake capacity for an electric oven, as well as ease of use and what she calls “networkability.”

“These ovens can be monitored and analyzed from a local manager's office, a head-quarters office or even from the manager's home,” she explains. “They also have the ability of uploading all the baking recipes to a USB (universal serial bus) stick and e-mailing them to stores to ensure all the ovens have the same recipes, completely controlling the baking of every product.”

Goldfarb adds that WP is introducing Superior Tower ovens early in 2011. These units, she notes, have an electric deck oven, a convection oven and a proofer in one compact tower, creating “three machines in a very small footprint.” According to Goldfarb, the Superior Tower line features the same look, controls and network capability as the Matador Stores.

“We have just begun to create our relationship with food retailers,” she continues. “We have been working closely with the retailers who have already installed the ovens to determine what should be changed or what could be improved.” Goldfarb lists New Seasons in Portland, Ore., and Commisso's Fresh Foods in Niagara Falls, Ontario, as current retail customers.

One-touch Cooking, Cleanup

Raymond Bittikofer, GM/retail cooking for Troy, Ohio-based Hobart, says that the increasing demand for supermarkets delis to offer hot “take-home” meal items of restaurant-level quality, along with a consequent drive for increased efficiency and reduced operating costs, has led to advances in ovens and rotisseries like his company's KA7E Self-Cleaning Rotisserie.

The unit offers press-and-go capability that combines one-button cooking and one-button cleaning for simplified operation. Bittikofer notes that the rotisserie has storage for up to 99 programs, which allows the operator to select a stored cooking program and simply press “start.”

Pressing the “clean” button activates the self-cleaning process and eliminates the need to disassemble the rotor and fan blades, a process usually required in other units. “The self-cleaning feature saves approximately 60 to 90 minutes a day in labor typically needed to clean a rotisserie oven,” says Bittikofer. “The KA7E rotisserie also cooks 22 percent faster than competitive rotisseries, which results in energy savings and increased productivity.”

As supermarket foodservice's scope broadens in terms of offerings and sophistication, equipment such as ovens and rotisseries will keep pace in terms of efficiency, cost and food safety, helping the retail food industry keep the heat on restaurants.