Question for commercial appliance fans

[fan-of-fans]

I have always wondered why fast food places do not ever seem to have basket lifts on their fryers. With all of the frying they do, and usually having separate fryers for each item it would seem to make a lot of sense if they did. Especially since it could allow fewer employees to watch the fryer. And it would be safer not having to lower and raise the baskets from the hot oil manually, plus less risk of overcooking food, so a more consistent product.

I never really see fryers with basket lifts in general other than 1) chicken fryers in the grocery store 2) when schools had fryers basket lifts were very common, at least here.

I wonder why that is? Added expense possibly? Fast food places usually have timers also but most restaurants have very basic fryers it seems with no electric parts at all, just gas.

 

[petek]

Some McD's use them plus they fill the baskets automatically. 

 

[toploader55]

In my 40 years+ in the Restaurant Business, I have never used auto lifts.

I have seen them and they are quite a bit more than a Regular Fryer.

 

[panthera]

McDonalds

has them and uses them in many Walmart outlets.

And, what, you may ask, is a non-meat-eater doing at a McDonalds?

In most small towns out here, the only place one can get a reliably meat-free meal is McDonalds.

 

I don't know, but I would guess that oil fryers are among the more reliable and expensive kitchen appliances in commercial establishments. Once one has a working unit, there's probably little motivation to replace it with the newer designs. McDonalds has the sales volume and purchasing power to pay for new technology. They also tear their restaurants down regularly - the only solution to grease intensive kitchens. It's why they have (relatively) few fires and chains which don't tear down regularly have more problems. One chain in particular has seen several of their affiliates burn down around here in the past few years, not to mention trouble with the health department.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I ate at the McDonald's here today and took note of the fryers - no basket lifts. And this was a fairly recently remodeled store, so of the two in town I figured it would be likely to have them.

Maybe it depends on the location or maybe they are a recent addition. I don't think I've been to a McDonald's in a Walmart. The one here was a Radio Grill, then a Blimpie sub and now is a Dunkin' Donuts. Another I've seen in them regularly is Subway.

The auto basket fill sounds interesting too, I've never seen a fryer that did that.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Auto basket fill:

The fryer does not do this.  It is done by a separate machine with a stack of baskets and a hopper full of Mac Fries.  The baskets are then taken to the fryer and lowered into the oil either by the fry cook or auto-lift.   Hopefully they clean all those dozens of baskets on a daily basis.  Every restaurant I've worked in they were sent through the dishmachine daily.

WK78