With the first days of autumn just around the corner, college football seasons are officially in full swing, and another year of tailgate parties is quickly rising on the horizon. Whether big or small, every good tailgating event is likely backed by a collection of various tools and equipment geared towards outdoor cooking. Here is a quick list of recommended items for making your next tailgate a great time for both you and your friends.

Ice where you want it, when you want it. That’s what the Manitowoc NEO can do for you. They bring a whole new level of performance, convenience and intelligence to ice makers. Their compact design doesn’t reduce the amount of ice they create. In fact, they produce up to 40 lbs more ice per 24 hours than the other under counter models by Manitowoc. The key pad speaks a universal language with easy to understand symbols, so no matter who you are, you know how to work the NEO .

Hosting a wine tasting in your bar is likely going to be a much more intimate and personal experience than the more open “convention center” feel of larger, exhibitor-style tastings. Bar tastings allow a unique opportunity for conversation and community building, but it can sometimes be challenging to balance a bit of “wine professionalism” into the pre-existing atmosphere of your bar. In part one of this post , we discussed how to select your wine order. While your wine is ultimately the main attraction at your event, the presentation and surroundings can make or break a good wine selection. Here are a few things to consider when organizing the layout of your tasting.

For over 50 years Fleetwood products have been supporting the foodservice and food retail industries.  They offer a wide range of products from meat slicers to blenders, scales to food mixers; they have a product for just about every aspect of the industry and they stand behind their products 110%.  While looking through their new catalog a few items caught my eye that I thought were worth mentioning.

School is back in session and the cafeterias are busy again. Schools are focusing on feeding kids healthy foods, but how do you know if they are eating off of healthy lunch trays? A lot of schools stopped using the plastic trays when Styrofoam became popular because of how cheap it is for schools to buy. Now, a lot of schools are reverting back to reusable trays because of how un-environmentally friendly Styrofoam is. Styrofoam takes years to decompose and is a leading cause of ocean pollution. Several school districts moved to use paper trays that can be used in compost, but unless the school has a composting facility, these trays also end up in landfills.

Time to save money again!!  Do you own a restaurant?  One thing that you have in your store is an exhaust hood or two. In the summer time down south it gets hot and humid and sometimes cooling your building can seem impossible. Maybe all that cool air is being sucked out with the hot air from your cooking equipment through the exhaust hood.  Here is a test to see if this is happening in your restaurant.  With all of your exhaust hoods running, make up air included, go to the front of the building open the entrance doors and take note of what you feel.  Did you feel a rush of air come past you, or did you feel resistance when opening the door?  If you did then you have negative pressure in the building and all of your high cost AIR CONDITIONING is being sucked up through the exhaust hood.  Do you want to fix this situation?  If so there are companies that will balance test the building and bring this situation under control.

As a restaurant owner, any and every detail should be important to you. This could range from the type of commercial dishwasher you choose to buy for your commercial kitchen to the type of floor mat you choose to lay out in the entrance way of your establishment. Your open sign , the one thing that will draw your customers in or turn them away, is no exception.

Refrigerator door gaskets probably don’t come to mind every day unless they are falling off.  The seal between the door and the cabinet are very important, they provide a barrier that keeps the warmer outside air from entering the cooler air inside; same concept as the weather stripping on your doors at home.  If the gasket has gone bad (cracked, dry rotted, etc…) and is not creating a tight seal around the door and cabinet body then the compressor is running more and costing you a lot more in energy dollars.

Another frequently asked question we receive is, “what’s the difference between a radiant & lava rock charbroiler?” (often called a chargrill as well). Well the main difference is the way in which the heat is transferred to the food. On a radiant chargrill the burner is positioned under a cast metal radiant from which the heat is radiated towards the food being grilled. The radiant is usually pitched like a roof allowing the excess drippings to run off and not carbonize; although some of the drippings from the meat will actually “burn” and provide that chargrill aroma we are all so familiar with. Lava rock charbroilers use a bed of lava rock positioned above the burners to catch and radiate the heat towards the meat above.

There are very few foodservice companies that have built as many top brands as Manitowoc Foodservice. With brands like Frymaster, Lincoln, Merrychef, and Manitowoc Ice, Manitowoc is known for great brands and quality products. In 2011 Manitowoc added Cleveland Range to their list of brands. Since they acquired Cleveland Range little has changed until recently. In 2014 Manitowoc dropped the "Range" from Cleveland Ranges name and now they are simply Cleveland and branded the Cleveland Range Combi ovens and steamers as Convotherm. In 2015 they removed the Cleveland Combi ovens from their product list and birthed the brand Convotherm.

Summer is at hand, and around our house that means cook-out time…

What are grills? Grills are used to cook food with dry, radiant heat either from above or below. Technically, grilling is when you cook food using high heat over an open flame. Cooking from above is referred to as broiling in the U.S. – but it’s still called grilling the rest of the world over. The difference between grilling and barbecuing is that barbecuing uses lower heat and a closed lid. Some advantages to outdoor cooking might include the following:

If I mention French porcelain, you envision pink flowers on a traditional Country French plate.  Revol Porcelaine is NOT that French porcelain.  Google the phrase “French porcelain” and you’ll find several companies selling examples of said plates.   Revol France has its headquarters in Saint-Uze, where the Revol brothers started their business and created Revol porcelain in 1789, during the French Revolution. Revol USA is located in Alpharetta, GA.  Very few companies on the planet are thriving after 225 years, let alone still owned by the founding family, but Revol is.  They’ve outlasted governments.  What makes a business so enduring?

Summer is in full swing and that means that most of you are wanting to enjoy the cold, refreshing taste of crystal clear ice immersed in your favorite beverage in a cool, perspiring glass. Ice-O-Matic a leading manufacturer in ice machines, has a full range of cube ice machines known as the ICE Series. These machines are built with two options: modular or self-contained.

According to recent census results, public school attendance rates have been increasing steadily since the turn of the millennium. As such, school kitchens are beginning to build and expand to support ever growing numbers of incoming students. With many students relying on the school cafeteria for their daily lunch, it is important that public schools be well-equipped to provide a variety of nutritious and sustaining foods to their students. However, because school kitchens differ from restaurants in that they are not necessarily profit or marketing oriented, the equipment requirements can often be somewhat different from typical commercial kitchens.

The ice machine is one of the most important pieces of equipment in any restaurant or commercial kitchen. Whether it be for chilling beverages, packing around food, making smoothies and frozen drinks, or even soothing the wound when an employee burns his or her hand on the stove, ice serves a multitude of purposes in every foodservice establishment.

Hoshizaki is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial ice makers , and second largest manufacturer of refrigerated food service equipment. Hoshizaki operates six plants in Japan, two in the U.S. and one in England, distributing products worldwide. Their production facilities in Peachtree City Georgia and Griffin Georgia are some of the most automated production facilities in the industry. Utilizing the latest state-of-the-art technology Hoshizaki takes great pride in every commercial ice machine that leaves their assembly line, and before reaching the end user every Hoshizaki ice machine is run-tested at the factory and undergoes numerous quality and performance tests including ice production capacity and energy efficiency.

Make your event special with the Sephra Chocolate Fountain. Sephra Chocolate Fountains are recognized worldwide as being the highest quality chocolate fountain available. Their fountains run quietly and deliver a beautiful cascade of chocolate.

The day we celebrate our country’s freedom is right around the corner. This is a day for outdoor summer fun with pool parties, picnics and barbeques. This is a day for family gatherings and spending time with friends. What this is not a day for is being stuck behind a grill babysitting the food.

Make your wedding, corporate event or parties even more special with an Apex Fountain! Apex Fountain has been in business for 60 years and counting. They are the recognized leader in manufacturing of high quality banquet displays and serving products. Apex Fountains carries an extensive line of catering and banquet equipment including, beverage fountains, punch bowls and tiered serving trays.

Chicken, fish or fries this fryer does It all. Brought to you by R&V Works this Super 6 gallon capacity fryer is all you need to fry it up. This fryer comes with 2- baskets so you can load them whatever you may want to fry. This fryer is very versatile and requires very little maintenance, and the quality is phenomenal. The success of these fryers comes from the design of the Burner/Flue. The Burner is positioned 6? above the bottom of the oil reservoir and is at a 45 degree angle. This prevents the food batter from collecting on the burner and allows it to fall to the bottom of the reservoir. Since heat rises, the bottom never gets hotter than 120 degrees, which isn’t hot enough to burn or scorch the batter.