5 Benefits of Multi-cook Ovens
The restaurant industry has changed dramatically over the past several years. The cost of everything from rent to utilities to food to labour continues to rise. It’s a rare operation that has a full staff, and chances are that many of the employees they do have in the kitchen have only been on the job for weeks. At the same time, consumer tastes continue to change, with new flavours and exotic ingredients increasingly in demand.
The result of those changes is that restaurant operators find themselves trying to add new and interesting dishes to the menu, doing so in a smaller space and with inexperienced staff.
How is a restaurant operator to cope? One solution is by using a multi-cook oven as the foundation of food production.
WHAT IS A MULTI-COOK OVEN?
At their core, multi-cook ovens do what the name implies: combine multiple cooking functions into a single unit. Alto-Shaam created the category in 2017 with the introduction of Vector® Multi-Cook Ovens and later evolved with Converge® Multi-Cook Ovens. These units offer up to four ovens in one – each chamber with independent temperature, fan speed and cook time control.
Benefits of incorporating a multi-cook oven into your kitchen operations include:
Space savings
Alto-Shaam’s multi-cook ovens can cook food using techniques including air frying, roasting, grilling, and steaming, all at the same time in separate chambers. These capabilities eliminate the need for multiple pieces of equipment, allowing expanded functionality in a smaller footprint. In addition, all models of the ovens are stackable, allowing for even greater throughput in the same amount of space.
Labour savings
Multi-cook ovens provide simple recipe programming, so staff of all ability levels are able to cook at the touch of a button. Operators can create menu presets, and then anyone on the line can reproduce it with the right ingredients. Because of the patented, vertical airflow there is also no need for employees to watch and rotate pans.
Ventless operation
Alto-Shaam multi-cook ovens are designed as UL-certified ventless, eliminating the need for costly ventilation systems. This provides flexibility when designing a kitchen layout, allowing foodservice operations in spaces where ventilation systems may not be feasible, and offers the ability for businesses such as bars or convenience stores to easily add a foodservice program.
Expanded menus
A multi-cook oven allows operators to incorporate menu items that may not have been feasible with traditional cooking equipment. Diners are increasingly gravitating away from deep-fried foods, for example, and the ability to add roasted, steamed, or air-fried items to the menu allows operators to increase their customer base and profits.
Improved consistency & food quality
Operators can produce high-quality food on demand with consistent results every time. The secret to Alto-Shaam’s multi-cook ovens is the company’s exclusive Structured Air Technology®, which delivers high-velocity, vertical upward and downward airflow through the oven. This optimised, focused heat creates vertical curtains of air that deliver faster and more even cooking than other methods. The oven’s programmable recipes also ensure a consistent product every time, no matter how inexperienced the kitchen staff may be. No microwaves or inconsistent cooking methods such as a stove top or grill are required.
The Vector and Converge series ovens are just a few Alto-Shaam products revolutionising the foodservice industry. Visit the Alto-Shaam website to see our products, or contact us for more information.
