SHOW REPORT: Host 2011

For sophisticated design, stunning cooking suites and really blank-sheet new approaches, the Host Milan show has long been a Mecca for equipment and supplies spec/buyers. And the draw for Americans has only intensified in recent years, as Europe and America increasingly face similar challenges with environmental restrictions, tight spaces and aging infrastructures.

Not that all the products displayed in Milan will make it to America. In fact, much of what we saw there is not available in the United States and might never be because of what one European manufacturer calls American “dedicated” approvals that are “bureaucratic” and “require too much time and paperwork.” But still, the products are useful solutions for European installations, and they point the way for likely U.S. product development down the road.

So for many reasons, the 2011 Host Milan Show, once again, proved a rewarding destination. The five-day show in October was attended by 125,000 visitors from 153 countries. The Fiera Milano exhibition center hosted 1,600 exhibitors in 1,076,391 sq. ft. To give you some sense of scale, although the comparison isn’t quite apples to apples, the 2011 NAFEM Show, put on by the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers last January in Orlando, Fla., filled 318,000 sq. ft.

Trends? Self-ventilated countertop cooking equipment appears to be gaining momentum. We took note of such new products  in three different displays—AutoFry, Eurochef and Stima. The Euro emphasis on coffee continues unabated, and this year we saw new coffee pod packaging for single serving dispensers. Also new: more combined equipment, including a blender/cutter that cooks, a vacuum/pressure cooking tilting skillet and self-ventilated countertop cooking equipment.

OUTDOOR HEATING IN THE TABLE BASE

The Polidoro gas space heater is housed in the base of a table and is designed to stay on long enough to finish a coffee and cigarette before automatically shutting off. The exterior of the base can be personalized with any covering, including logos. The company is just starting to present it to the public and will see how it does once production starts in January. They don’t know if it is suitable for US standards.

Polidoro Combustion Technology * polidoro.com/usa/index.php

TALKING TRASH

The patented SuperLizzy Waste Compacting machine by Gruppo CMS brings trash separation to the front of the house. SuperLizzy extracts liquids from solids and deposits each in separate containers on a trolley that rolls out of the machine. From the automatically opening door, tray contents drop into a continuously operating double screw mechanism which reduces solid volume by 90% and sends liquids either to a container or directly to a drain. It can be installed outdoors and has optional features including a video screen for marketing efforts and a receipt printer to use with an incentive program.

Gruppo CMS * gruppocms.com, superlizzy.com

ROTATING DECK OVEN MERCHANDISING

Now here’s something really different. Ser Gas’s new rotating deck pizza oven with curved glass sides can be stacked up to three decks to produce as many as 210-240 pizzas/hr. The Greek oven’s rotating plate is ceramic or stainless steel, and interior lighting helps you keep an eye on the proceedings. The company does not export to the United States.

Ser Gas *  sergas.gr/

A NEW APPROACH TO HIGH-END ICE CREAM

One-Shot, based in England, dispenses a single portion of high quality ice cream or frozen yogurt in 4 secs. The machine extrudes ice cream from a custom container into a soft serve swirl. The larger SoftXpress dispenser holds two accordion-shaped plastic cartridges for 33-40 portions of high-end super premium ice cream. Essentially no cleaning or sanitizing is required because the ice cream container is removed after dispensing. A smaller unit extrudes ice cream from individual containers allowing a great variety of flavors and still without the need to clean. The machines are made in the UK and Japan.

One-Shot * one-shot.com

SELF-VENTILATED COOKING

Countertop self-vented cooking is a big deal in Europe, and Stima showed off multiple new products in the category including a one-minute pasta cooker, a pizza oven and an induction cooktop with its own self-venting. The Speedy Chef induction cooktop, shown, offers the cool cooking surface and cool workspace of induction, cooking efficiency said to be 90%, seven power settings and active carbon hood filtration.

Stima s.r.l. * stimasrl.com

DISH DISPENSING WITH STYLE

Slidedish is a classy patented disposable plate dispenser for the manufacturer’s own custom plates. Sliding a lever either to the left or right drops a clean plate out of the mouth of the dispenser. Two plate sizes, 17 cm and 21 cm, are available. Originally manufacturers of plastic packaging and disposable tableware, ILIP touts hygiene as a big advantage because no hands touch the plate until the diner’s do. One interesting application would be outdoor locations where wind often takes a hand in distributing lightweight plates. The company sells in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, but not yet in the United States.

ILIP * ilip.it

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