FROM THE FIELD
March 2006
Better and Faster

What’s new in equipment? Independent manufacturers’ rep Jeff Hessel, BSE Marketing, hit all the key points at a panel discussion during last year’s National Restaurant Association Show. In response to a question from the audience, Hessel, then president of MAFSI, mentioned labor savings, reduced energy and water consumption, and improved productivity.

“Can I find a piece of equipment that will give me 40% or 50% or 60% more production from the same footprint?” he asked. “Every year, there are pieces of equipment that come out that do it better and faster.”

We agree. Which is why we’ve put together this Product Innovation Guide.

The initial concept, to show the significantly new, “gotta have” products, seemed simple enough. Get the products that have blown off our socks lately, and write them up, right? Well, yes, and no. Do subtle upgrades qualify? Where do you draw the cutoff? Evolutionary changes, product line extensions and so on can be important, certainly, but they’re so numerous that we couldn’t possibly address them all.

Instead, we focused on the true, certified biggies, as applauded by industry judging panels in two major new awards programs.

Last spring, the National Restaurant Association sponsored its Kitchen Innovations Awards program, soliciting entries and gathering a judging panel of well-respected, big-name operators and consultants. When all the entries had been scored, 19 products, none more than 24 months on the market, got the nod and appeared in a special display section at the NRA Show.

"These are not just Botoxed versions of 10-year-old designs"

So what are their claims to fame? One refrigeration line touts a truly innovative valve that radically improves evaporator performance, slashing defrost cycles, improving the quality of refrigerated food product, and dramatically cutting energy consumption. Another item, a blender, is such a huge leap forward in blending quality and labor reduction that it’s akin to introducing autopilot in aircraft. Others make big advances in cooking mobility, cold-rail performance, water efficiency, speed cooking. The list goes on, and they’re all significantly new tools.

Last summer, meanwhile, Foodservice Consultants Society Int’l. also decided it was time to stimulate and recognize product development. In FCSI’s Innovation Showcase program, a panel of its own judges named 10 significant new products. Among them, a hoodless ventilated ceiling system that’s been time-tested in Europe but is radically new here, a UV-light sanitizing system for tray lines, water-saving warewashing, an induction system for mobile heated cabinets that eliminates the need for pellet bases, and again, the list goes on. These are not just rouged-up and Botoxed versions of 10-year-old solutions. These are significant new advances.

And to round out the issue, we decided to throw in some cooking, steaming and warewashing products that we ourselves saw and liked at the NRA and NAFEM shows last year. They stayed on our minds, as Executive Editor Jennifer Hicks put it. Among our faves: a nuanced, remarkably even-baking oven; a radical new induction-powered kettle with agitating “fingers” that lets you stir fry without paying someone to do the stirring and frying,  and a sophisticated energy- and water-saving warewasher that uses waste heat to preheat incoming water.

Better and faster. Every year.

Brian Ward
Chief Editor