What equipment have you seen in grocery stores?

[fan-of-fans]

In the bakery or deli in stores?

At Publix they had two Giles autolift fryers, for the chicken. Also an Alto Shaam rotisserie. As well as a Hobart two burner range with solid burners. And Alto Shaam heated display case and rack. The ovens in the bakery I don't recall the brand.

In the new store though, the cooking equipment must be in the back since it's not visible.

The Winn Dixie here has a Vulcan 6 burner solid element range with oven below, a BKI autolift fryer, a Alto Shaam combitherm oven with a convection oven below, and a gas rotisserie. I'm not sure what kind of oven the bakery has, but it's a roll-in cart type.

At another Winn Dixie I saw a Blodgett convection oven (two deck), a BKI autolift fryer in the deli as well as a Henny Penny rotisserie. In the bakery was a Hobart roll in oven and a Baxter proofer.

Walmart has a Giles double fryer (one side has auto lifts) and a rotisserie of some kind. Not sure about the bakery.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I think it might have been behind the meat department in Costco, but I saw this HUGE roasting oven that had the chicken Ferris Wheel roasting method and it had a wash arm in the bottom so after you made a mess roasting chicken or whatever, it could be set to wash itself. With the glass panels, that might be a performance not to be missed. I don't think this was a dream.

 

[superocd]

I do HVACR, so I go to grocery stores quite often

Lots and LOTS of Hill-Phoenix refrigerated cases. Evaporators, line sets (not necessarily the fault of the OEM) and condensate leakage (delayed defrost) are problems on those, in that order. Lots of calls for walk ins too. Grocery stores often have equipment rooms for their refrig systems, which are pretty interesting but extremely warm. Sometimes they'll smell strongly of hot motor oil. This contains the compressor banks for most or all the refrig in the store. You'll normally see large ventilation grates on the back or side exterior wall of the store. A few have the condensers in that room with large exhaust fans.

One particular store I was at was pretty old, so it was naturally cool to see all the old equipment, often produced by defunct manufacturers. I remember seeing this big old tray oven from the 40s in their bakery, still in use as I could hear the intermittent screeching as the trays rotated (bad bearings?). The big floor mixer was probably just as old, it looked like it had been through a battlefield. It was painted an off white at some point but had largely peeled off. Some of the equipment was so old and so worn that it couldn't be identified as the badges were missing or covered in grease. This store also had 1940s Trane steam coil units suspended from the ceiling.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Oh yeah, I forgot about refrigeration. The old Publix had those Hill-Phoenix cases, and Kysor Warren walk ins. The new one also has Hill-Phoenix cases that look like the old ones except they're beige.

The Winn-Dixie nearest my house has mostly Kysor-Warren cases, from early 2000s when it was a Kash N Karry. Then it changed to the Sweetbay name (both were Hannaford brands) and then Winn Dixie about 5 years ago. Hannaford always seemed to use Kysor-Warren stuff.

The Winn-Dixie on the north side of town had the original 80s cases. But about 10 years ago they remodeled and replaced most of them with Hill-Phoenix and Kysor-Warren cases. What didn't get replaced got new fronts put on to match.

Another old Winn-Dixie in my area that since closed had the original Hill cases (not Hill-Phoenix, but just "HILL" on a big metal badge). Old looking with chrome and woodgrain trim from 1985. They did change the colored panels out and I think the produce dept got new cases in the early 2000s, but otherwise all original for 30 years till it closed. The center freezer aisle had the big coffin cases with upright glass door cases on either side, classic W-D style.

Walmart has mostly Hussmann and Hill-Phoenix cases. But they also have Sanyo, which I didn't know made commercial refrigeration. Originally the cases were Tyler, which I think isn't even in business anymore.

As a kid this kind of stuff was fascinating to me, hence why I probably know WAY TOO much about these things.