More Coming...
This newsletter has about half the good stuff we saw at NAFEM. I'll send the rest next week.
Enjoy!
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Spots of Color
 A few shots of color livened up NAFEM's acres of stainless steel: Winco's salad spinner in a lively green,  and Lowe's refrigerated case with orange sides.
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Products that were not in WHWC |
Hupfer, a German manufacturer with a base in North Carolina, has simplified meal delivery systems by building induction material into a 10" China plate, removing the need for a separate heated base. A 15-second charge will keep the plate above 140° for 30-45 minutes. Plate n Serve is a brand new product and I could not find it on their website. Hupfer also displayed a height adjustable ergonomic worktable with electric hydraulics enclosed below the work top and push button operation. Five lengths are available and the work height adjusts from 33½" to 45".
Multiteria's new imported line by Erinoks of Turkey uses "paperstone" - completely recycled cardboard product (using no petroleum products; resins are made from cashew oil) approved by NSF for food contact - for slick countertops. Multiteria plans a buy-back program to recycle old countertops when customers want to install a new look. The underlit glass frosttop is very pretty and competes with a Refcon version (covered in the next newsletter).
As we said in the WHWC artlcle ar right, Remco is very inventive. Even though they don't make fryers, they saw a solution to the stuff that gets into fryer oil resulting in frequent filtering (and then frequent filter changing...). A simple 3/16 stainless steel woven mesh screen was added to the interior of a fryer basket so that when the food is dumped out, the crumbs go out as well. It's patented, as all their bright ideas are. They also devised a "semi-automatic" pizza peel that gives pizza a half-turn by a mechanism in the handle.
Victoryhas a new look and a bunch of smart new features  as a result of intensive focus groups with customers, service technicians and specifiers. The old WWII era logo is gone (but not yet from the website), the front styling incorporates a top to bottom ergonomic handle, the full length clipless pilasters with "adapta-shelf" universal pan storage make adjusting shelves easy, compressors are easily accessed, and recessed interior CFL lighting is bright and energy-saving.
 BSI is quick to develop solutions for customers. Here's a refrigerated lazy Susan designed for a F&B manager.
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The W ood Stone Ideas booth at NAFEM had a lot of interest in both the countertop steamers and the Green Integrated Building System. It was fun to listen to visitors come up with a wide variety of uses for the steamers. We are planning an official debut of the reservoir steamer (pictured) at NRA. |
IWD Plug
Contact us. We can help. Call 877-312-1706, Mike Colburn at ext.101. info@ideaswelldone.com |
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Everyone is saying it - NAFEM was lively, exciting and optimistic. It's a big show and 3 days was not enough to see it all. I missed some really good stuff - so I'll work extra hard at NRA to find more innovative products to show you. Also - we'll go back to Milan this fall where we always find leading edge products.
Before checking out what we found at NAFEM, it's important to remind you that I include what I find of interest, or what others think is of value (others includes partner and husband Mike Colburn). I don't take unsolicited product info - so don't bother sending it to me. I will publish corrections, of course.
I'm a sucker for enthusiasm. When trade show booth staff exhibit excitement about a product or feature, especially after they have already been talking about it for 2 days, then I know it's the Real Thing. On the other hand, when I walk into a booth and staff ignores me, then it's time to go on to the next stop on my list. Perhaps that's harsh, but if they don't want to talk to me, that's okay - there are other interesting manufacturers to visit. Our mantra during our Stellar Steam days was: you talk to everyone, at least briefly, because you never know where a conversation may lead. Some of the best conversations are unexpected. True at a trade show, true in life!
Mary Esther Treat
Vice President
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The Process
This year I started at NAFEM's What's Hot! What's Cool! (WHWC) new product gallery. Exhibitors could apply for free space in this special, museum-like area IF the product is new or updated since 2/8/09, and it met at least two criteria: it creates a new foodservice application, it provides cost reduction, has a new aesthetic impact to food or operation, or a catchall of "additional benefits". Charlie Souhrada of NAFEM, who organizes WHWC, was excited that it snagged double the exhibitors compared to 2009 - 113 products were featured. Charlie gave me a quick guided tour of some of his favorites, which usually had a good story to go with them. Like me, he's most interested in the story behind the invention - what prompted it, what was the process to get to success, and what were the surprises.
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Five Faves in NAFEM's What's Hot! What's Cool! |
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The father-son team at Remco are very creative. In
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| Remco RedFire |
business for 50 years, producing Infrared-based pizza ovens for the past 20, these two look for solutions. Their WHWC item - the countertop RedFire Flame Roasting Rotisserie is "like a high temp mini-rotisserie", holding four baskets with 25 chicken wings each. Especially notable is its appearance - sleek, concave-curved front with optional colors. A simple push button operates drum advance and cook cycle. Thanks to IR, there's no heat up time, no hood (it does require an outside flue). IR is used to replace filters by scrubbing air before it leaves the oven at 300°F; ventilation is built in so no hood is required (local codes must be followed) - and yes, they do have ETL and NSF approvals as well as MEA in NY and approvals for Minnesota and Los Angeles for no hood.
AyrKing's website is fun to read - chatty, with good
background info, but unfortunately no spec sheets. When I saw their WHWC entry, the LS-8
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| AyrKing impeller |
syrup mixer, I could not imagine why it would be useful; the backstory offers insight to one of our oldest chains and the work involved in producing root beer. Apparently root beer tastes best when made fresh in the store from cane sugar. However, mixing 8 gallons of high fructose corn syrup only takes 45 minutes, while hand mixing cane sugar syrup takes four hours and produces inconsistent results. An A&W engineer mentioned the need for a mechanized mixer to an AyrKing engineer and the invention process was begun. Designed for lower volume stores, the stirrer can consistently combine cane sugar, water and root beer concentrate in 45 minutes. A larger model was soon added for bigger stores. AyrKing is certain other operators could make use of this mixer for syrup-based drinks.
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| BSI XGuard |
BSI was looking for a more flexible and interesting sneeze guard and spent months reviewing dozens of designs. They mentioned the challenge to a job applicant, who then emailed them the design they now use. Needless to say he was hired! The result is the Xguard, a stunning retrofittable sneeze guard that pivots 360°, back and forth, up and down.
Experiments on how to do outdoor catering resulted in CresCor's Hot Cube 3,a hybrid-fueled mobile hot cabinet that can use propane (8000 BTU for 8 hours of holding), solar (charges a battery that powers digital controls) and electricity (120V). Rough surfaces are easily traversed on heavy-duty 8" pneumatic swivel casters and roll bars are incorporated for rigidity. Both electric and propane modes provide radiant heat; gas heaters at the base and electric heating elements in the side wall panels provide heat that is naturally convected through the compartment.
Duke responded to a chain that wanted to reduce water use by developing the DRI-Therm rethermalizer, which uses heated cast aluminum platens above and below bagged food in place of the traditional waterbath. A handle lowers the upper platen down
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| Duke DRI-Therm |
onto a bag placed in a tray; the weight of the upper platen helps speed heating. Each compartment can be programmed to move to a lower holding temp after the product is heated. The units are stackable, up to 8 retherm compartments which operate independently. The platen temperature can be adapted to what the food bag will tolerate.
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