An Introduction to Hot Food Holding Equipment
- Published on Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hot food holding equipment tends to have two general applications: back of the house and merchandising holding.
In either application, the role of hot food holding equipment is to store menu items at the food safe temperature of 140 degrees F, maintaining the items' quality, until they are ready to be served to the customer.
Back–of-the-house hot holding equipment tends to consist of full- and half-sized cabinets and drawer warmers. Merchandise hot holding equipment keep items at the point of service. Some of the more common pieces of equipment in this category include four-sided glass humidified cabinets, sandwich slides and even heated wells for buffets.
Most hot food holding units operate on 120V and can require a decent amount of electricity to keep them holding food at the right temperature.
In addition, the proliferation of open kitchens has driven manufacturers to enhance the appearance of these pieces of equipment. Some manufacturers even offer operators the ability to customize the exterior of their units through the placement of logos or other graphic elements.
