Contact Toasters For Foodservice

Field assessment of contact toasters for quick service restaurant applications. New contact toasters will replace two baseline units: one toaster for sourdough buns and one for regular buns. The new unit will eliminate the need for multiple heating elements. The expected outcome is validated energy savings for customized solution development.

This field study tested the baseline, two single contact toasters and the new energy-efficient dual contact toaster. The baseline, two single contact toasters consisted of one 1,500 Watt (W), 120 Volt (V) Roundup bun toaster and (1) 3,300 W, 208 V Prince Castle sourdough bun toaster. These toasters work by placing buns vertically into the toaster. On one side of the opening a heated surface runs along the height of the toaster and on the other side a conveyor belt runs the height of the toaster. When a bun is placed into the opening one side of the bun is exposed to the heated surface and the other side is guided by the conveyor belt. Each conveyor belt is set to a specific speed allowing the bread to be exposed to the heated surface for a set time. The new dual contact toaster is a 2,700 W 208 V toaster consisting of one opening with two separate heating surfaces and one conveyor belt in one toaster. Figure 1 displays both systems.