Know which types of Commercial Oven is Right for Your Restaurant: Standard, Convection or Conveyor

Any good restaurateur knows they need a solid oven to power the heart of their operation. Because of their importance and their potential use, ovens come in many designs to fit different needs. Some ovens work best for desserts, others find their niche with bread. Others still work best for cooking different types of meat. The key to finding the right oven for your restaurant is knowing exactly what you want to cook with it. 

This article will cover three of the most popular commercial oven types: standard, convection and conveyor. Each has a little bit of a different niche it can fill, meaning that they will fulfill a duty a little better or worse. 

Standard Oven

The standard oven does not necessarily have its own particular niche. Instead, it delivers a nice middle of the road experience that makes it best for a variety of operations. So if your restaurant does not intend to necessarily specialize in many baked goods, consider purchasing a standard oven. Standard ovens work by using radiant heat from the bottom of the appliance. This heat rises and fills the oven’s cooking compartment, cooking the intended food.

Because standard ovens are, of course, the standard, they come in a variety of shapes and designs. This means you can find the right size and style a little easier to fit more completely in your kitchen. Some standard ovens also feature stovetops, making them complete ranges. You can use a standard oven for baking, braising and broiling, giving them the most overall utility over a variety of functions.

Convection Ovens

Convection ovens function in a similar fashion as standard ovens. However, their heating system works in a very different manner. They feature a fan, or fans if they are large enough, which radiates heat around the cooking compartment and cooks the food faster than standard ovens. The fan also helps cook the food more evenly, since the heat gets spread around more purposefully.

In addition to faster cook times, convection ovens also require less heat than their standard oven counterparts. In general, when using a convection oven the cook would reduce the required temperature by 25 degrees fahrenheit. And then on top of that reduced temperature, the overall cook time also usually falls by around 25 percent. This makes the convection oven much more efficient than a standard oven, both in terms of energy input and cooking time. 

A busy restaurant that uses the oven often can benefit from a convection oven by producing more food with less time and energy. Other than time and energy saving, convection ovens work for all the same dishes and foods that a standard oven works for.

Conveyor Oven

Conveyor ovens work very differently than standard or convection ovens. Instead of the food sitting in place, a conveyor oven moves the food along a conveyor belt, heating and cooking it as it passes through. Conveyor ovens also differ in heat source, encompassing air impingement, radiant heat and infrared heat designs. 

Conveyor ovens work really well when simply heating or toasting a food for immediate consumption. However, you can also cook complete dishes using this oven. A sandwich shop could probably derive the most benefit from a conveyor oven. Pizza conveyor ovens also work to cook that specific food. The biggest benefit of a converter oven is consistency, since the food only stays under the heat for a certain amount of time, making it impossible to overcook anything. 

Finding the Right Oven

If you need to upgrade your commercial kitchen appliances, look no further thanTexas Restaurant Supply. We feature new and used appliances to keep your kitchen cooking the dishes your patrons love. Check out our wide assortment of products, and give your kitchen the equipment it deserves.