|
|
A Newsletter for Foodservice Executives
|
|
News, trends, science, design and tidbits that influence food,
foodservice and foodservice equipment |
|
 Problems Solved
 Manny Velis, owner of Formaggio's Pizza in Florida,
would watch his servers having to move glasses, plates and silverware to accommodate
a full round pizza. Since he owns an architectural metal company in Queens,
NY, he was able to design and build a
space-saving solution: the Pizza Butler.
The Z-shaped stand holds half a pizza on the top and half on the bottom and
takes up the space of half a pizza on the table. website link
The commercial kitchen version of those flat silicone glides
for moving heavy furniture is Stoveshoes
- blocks that fit  under stove legs and allow even heavy stoves to be moved
easily. They were invented by a Pam McGrew, a chain restaurant owner who likes
to have a clean restaurant, including under her stoves. She found that by
removing wheels and adding Stoveshoes, she could move her heavy ranges herself.
website link
|
IWD Plug
Contact us. We can help. Call 877-312-1706, Mike Colburn at ext.101.
|
|
Here's the rest of our NRA 2010 report. You'll find notes on the Kitchen Innovations Award winners - and probably discern my frustration with companies that make it difficult to find information on their products online. We didn't make it to every booth in the KI area - you can find more info at the NRA website.
We really enjoyed discovering some small items that solve a problem. It's always a pleasure to meet the people who took a risk and made something happen. Innovation can seem like magic, but it isn't - put a lot of research into solving a problem and your mind becomes open to ideas that become part of a solution. Read about how we do it.
A few companies that focus on huge food processing equipment have made smaller products suitable for commercial kitchens. I could easily eat my way around the show, so I try to bypass the food booths, but the spiral potato on a stick caught my eye - read about it and other products from overseas.
We took notice of several companies that introduced new products or improved old ones. NRA is a big show and we never manage to see everyone, despite walking every aisle; please forgive us if we missed your favorites.
If you want to read previous issues of this newsletter, go to the Ideas Well Done website archive.
Enjoy Summer! Mary Esther Treat |
|
Most people think of softserve machines when they think of  Taylor, but
the company has introduced a very sophisticated electric grill at NRA. Many lessons were learned while developing grills for McDonalds for 25 years, and were applied during the year it took to develop
this grill. Among the smart ideas are guidelines sandblasted onto the lower
cooking surface to aid in patty placement and an auto-lowering top that
maintains the proper gap for the product being cooked. Elements are sandwiched
in the bottom between a ¾" cooking surface and  an energy-storing cast aluminum
plate. Both top and bottom have abundant thermocouples. A gas model will be
available in the fall. website link
Also by Taylor is a product
designed for Dunkin Donuts that dispenses 9 different flavors, 3 combinations
of flavors and/or liquid sugar into coffee. Photo left. website link
Accutemp received
the 2010 Blue Flame Product-of-the-Year Award from the Gas Foodservice
Equipment Network for development of their gas-fired Evolution Boilerless Convection Steamers. Sibling to
the electric Evolution introduced in 2007, the gas model uses baffles and the
natural convection of steam to deliver a very even cook throughout the six
pan cooking compartment. spec sheet link
AJ Antunes reshaped
the rollers on their ubiquitous roller grill to oblong with a textured surface to guarantee products will move and cook
evenly. The Roll-Rite can cook egg rolls, taquitos, breadsticks and the like. website link
|
At
Ideas Well Done we tackle problems and look for innovative solutions. All
problems have solutions, but good solutions don't exist without knowing a problem well
enough to decide if it is worth the effort and will deliver something of value.
We
spend a lot of time looking at problems, poking at them from all sides.  Erno
Rubik, the Hungarian designer who invented the famous puzzle cube said, "If you
can't find six sides to a problem, you aren't looking hard enough."
To
truly innovate, we need to focus attention on the problem, not on the quick solution.
It's hard not to leap at a quick fix!
When
researching a problem, we gather the raw materials to create an innovation; we develop
specialized knowledge which guides us toward the creation of a unique, useful
and valuable solution to the specific problem.
Research
may take a day, a week, a month or years.
Fictional
detective Sherlock Holmes was a master of research - he considered it a mistake
to establish theories before examining and studying the facts of the case. Holmes
felt that premature theorizing causes the investigator to force the facts to
fit the theories. It is always better to
let the evidence decide which of the possibilities to pursue. It is the same
with inventing and innovating.
After
spending time studying a good problem, ideas jump out from all sources. When obsessed
with a problem, references to it seem to be everywhere. As
Louis Pasteur said, "Chance favors the prepared mind" - so put meaningful time
into research and good solutions will result. |
From
Europe & Asia |
Frozen dessert heaven comes from Pacojet (Switzerland),
a food processor that shaves very fine layers from frozen food inside a
container, producing one serving of smooth, creamy sorbet from frozen fruit.
The container is returned to the freezer until the next use, maintaining the
quality of the product. Pacojet can also be used for savory items and with
accessories can process non-frozen and fresh foods, plus cut, mix and whip. website link
Vito (Germany)
oil filter system is a portable device that filters sediment out of hot
fryer oil within five minutes. Vito creates a cyclonic vortex that agitates
sediment and forces it through a fine particle cellulose filter under pressure;
an oil tester comes with the machine to check polar components of oil. The company claims oil life is extended up to
50% because nothing is left to carbonize in the oil. Vito can be cleaned in a
dishmachine. Vito has been sold in Europe for 10 years
and is new to the US.
website link
For bakeries - Jeros
(Denmark) Tray
Cleaner cleans and greases (optional) 100 trays in 6-8 minutes! Nylon bristle
brushes clean perforated baking trays without using water. The company says
that it costs about ten cents to wash each pan by hand, and the Tray Cleaner
does it for about a penny. website link
 Want something to
replace blooming onions? Try the Twist
Potato from CF System Co.(Korea). photo left. Method: spiral cut
a potato, spear it with a long bamboo skewer, pull the potato along the length
of the skewer, roll in the company's recommended "frying paste", fry and serve.
The website's translation of Korean into English is entertaining: serve the
product within 3 minutes or it gets "humid and squishy". |
|
|
|
|
|
Kitchen Innovations
Award Winners
Best of Show - Ionater EXP The buzz of the show was generated by the Ionater EXP (photo left) from Activeion which converts tap  water to a
cleaning agent and sanitizer. Electrolysis creates alkaline and acidic water
which is passed through a membrane to create positive and negative charged
"nano bubbles" which attract and lift dirt from surfaces. An adaptation of
electroporation used in medicine disrupts cell walls and kills bacteria and
germs. A much better explanation is on their website.
The Ionater EXP and a smaller home unit need to be properly used to be
effective. The ionized water nano bubbles only lasts 30-40 seconds and electroporation
requires a continuous spray from 4 inches above a surface. It works on multiple
surfaces, effectively cleaning stainless steel, countertops, carpets. It
requires a rechargeable battery and every component is fully recyclable. It
does not have approvals to clean vegs. Merry Chef introduced a 4-color touch screen - which was what qualified it as a new product
for the KI awards. What I found more interesting was a service system that
monitors all components; each oven can host its own website so service records
and cooking activity can be monitored. The oven can be shut down remotely if
filters have not been cleaned. The company is working with a user group of lead
customers who want Ethernet capability once they define what they want to
monitor. website link. Henny Penny's entry
to a KI Award was the iControl for Evolution Elite fryers which monitors all
fryer activity and provides data to improve oil use. Evolution Elite fryers eliminate
the cold zone, which requires the elimination of crumbs that would settle in
the cold zone. To do that they wash and "polish" used cooking oil in less than
4 minutes. website link The demo of Hobart's AM Select Ventless warewasher is
fun, if time-consuming. At the end of a typical wash cycle the doors are opened
and steam billows out. When it runs again, with the vapor-condensing feature, almost
nothing escapes when the doors open. The condensing process involves a fan that
circulates water-laden air over heat exchanger coils, where water condenses and
preheats the incoming water. It adds only 30 seconds to a wash cycle and (according
to the manufacturer) saves hundreds of dollars in reduced HVAC and energy use.
The machine took about a year to develop and has been in field trials for more
than a year. website link Ordering Southbend's
Ultimate Range is like Build-a-Bear
- you can configure the entire system on a dedicated website, selecting burner
BTUs, top, range and options. The result is a spec sheet with a photo of "your"
range that you take to your dealer for pricing. The ordering process is what generated the KI Award. A charbroiler option will
be introduced in August. website link 
Oliver Packaging
& Equipment Company designed the Mini Chip Slicer (photo right) to give bakeries a way to
deal with shrinkage by reprocessing unsold bread product and selling it as
seasoned baked chips. The slicer can also be used on small table loaves. Blades
are in a cartridge, reducing blade change time from ¼ to ½" to 15 minutes. website link
The Vegawattautomated co-generation system provides supplemental on-site electricity and
hot water using waste vegetable oil as fuel. Select a system size based on how
much vegetable oil you produce and reduce your carbon footprint. website link We covered (http://ideaswelldone.com/newsletters/2009-june.htm)
Spin Fresh after last year's NRA
show. Now Perfect Fry of Calgary,
MB, Canada,
owns it (and Perfect Fry is being purchased by Middleby) and it's also available as an upgrade to some of Pitco's fryers. After frying the basket is raised out of the oil
and spun to remove excess oil or water. Food products have lower calories from fat
and hold longer. website link
The Scrub
N Go cordless floor scrubber combines scrubbing and
vacuuming with a cleaning solution dispenser. Developed by Tennant Co.
(Minneapolis)
and launched by Ecolab,
the device reduces cleaning and drying
time. Finding product descriptions on Ecolab's website is impossible. Manitowoc Multiplex
Blend-In-Cup workstation - who wouldn't want one? A self-contained smoothie station with
ice maker, refrigerated storage for up to eight beverage flavors, icon-based
touch screen, two mixing stations for hands-free blending in the cup, and auto
rinsing after the mixed beverage is removed. Unfortunately, other than a "minisite",
there is no additional info on the company's website. New
to Middleby Marshall's Mini-WOW oven is an energy-saving "eye"
that monitors use and powers down to sleep mode between uses, saving up to 35%
energy. Product placed on the conveyor
activates the eye, bringing the oven to full power in three seconds. Three
energy saving modes can either reduce impingement, drop temp 100°F or shut the oven
off - savings increase with each option, but so do restart times. The booth staff
said that the current Mini-WOW also has improved airflow, increasing cooking
speeds about 25%. While I could not find any technical information on the
Middleby Marshall website on a product called the "Mini-Wow" oven, a press
release calls it the 640 model. link to spec sheet
|
|
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who would be interested in foodservice equipment design,
development and invention. |
|
|
|
industry. 
processing industry) maintains the edge on a knife and is easier to use than a steel. The Prime Edge HES
Ergo Steel III provides even tension and its design keeps the knife at the
right angle. Those who wield knives know that sharpening removes metal, and
that a good knife can get dull within a day. The Prime Edge requires no
training to use, can be cleaned in a dishmachine, and can be handheld or fixed
to a surface. 
