NRA Announces Kitchen Innovation Award Winners

The National Restaurant Association has announced the recipients of its 2011 Kitchen Innovations Awards, which recognize groundbreaking kitchen equipment in the foodservice market.

An independent panel of judges selected KI Award recipients for their innovations that provide new solutions to restaurant and foodservice operators.

The 2011 Kitchen Innovation Award recipients are:

Cambro Manufacturing – Camduction Complete Heat System: The hot meals delivery system charges 20 heat retention bases in one unit, allowing for a base to be ready every 12 seconds with reliable temperature holding for 60 minutes. Includes a drying base cart and transport cart.

CaptiveAire Systems Inc. – CORE Protection Fire System: A UL300 approved fire system for commercial kitchen ventilation with electric remote real-time monitoring, supervision and communication of operational status and specific fault conditions.

Cleveland Range LLC, a Manitowoc Foodservice Company – Mini 2in1 Combi Oven: The Mini Combi oven-steamer, with two independent cooking chambers in a single body, allows foods to be prepared simultaneously using different cooking methods.

The Coca-Cola Company – Coca-Cola Freestyle: A fountain dispenser that pours more than 100 sparkling and still beverages, with web-based consumption reporting to manage inventory and ordering efficiencies.

Cres Cor – Hot Cube 3: The patent-pending tri-powered hybrid hot cabinet uses 120V indoors, then converts to propane heat for 8 hours use outdoors with an optional solar panel to recharge controls.

Ecolab – Apex Conveyor Dishmachine: The Apex Conveyor recycles heat, replenishes the wash-tank automatically and without interruption, and cleans and de-limes itself automatically using a patent-pending process.

Ecolab – Ecolab Cleaning Caddy: A touch-free restroom cleaning caddy with lock-and-key chemical dispensing, spray wand, on-board wet vac and rechargeable battery in a footprint the size of a mop and bucket.

Franke Foodservice Systems – EcoVent Exhaust Air Cleaner: The first cooking exhaust cleaner that introduces the grease- and odor-reducing effects of ultraviolet light into the airstream above the hood without placing any device directly in the duct. As a result, it reduces the need for filters and daily cleaning.

Halton Company – Jet Extraction System (JES): The extraction-exhaust system is designed for display cooking, using a cyclonic aspirating hood incorporating tempered safety glass and vortex tubes to provide a quiet cooking process.

Halton Company – Proximity Heat Reclaim Hood: This reclaim hood positions a flue bypass to capture the highest clean combustion heat from a gas appliance with an integrated heat exchanger to supply hot water and reduce energy consumption.

Henny Penny – PriMelt Oil Melter: An integrated, on-board oil melter that converts semi-solid oils to a completely clear liquid, and maintains it for normal replenishment, without hot splash, through the Henny Penny automatic top-off system.

Hobart Corporation – Advansys CLeR Energy Recovery: This Energy Star-rated conveyor-type warewasher captures heat from exhaust air and ware to preheat inlet water for energy savings while monitoring recovery coil temperatures and automatically adjusting for start-up.

Manitowoc Ice, a Manitowoc Foodservice Company – Indigo Series Ice Machine: Operators can program ice production, and monitor all functions, including ice clarity, machine maintenance, energy/water usage and unique LuminIce growth inhibitor.

Meiko, USA – M-iQ Flight-type dishwasher: The new M-iQ includes the revolutionary ‘M-Filter - Active Wash’ filtration system that actively and continuously removes food waste from the wash water. It features a multiple stage filtration process that collects food soil and then flushes it completely in high-pressure cycles.

National Hot Water – Dragon Fire Thermo Recovery Filter: This heat recovery device replaces conventional grease filters within kitchen vent hoods. It combines a heat exchanger with a two-stage grease filter to convert exhaust heat into energy for heating water or make-up air.

Power Soak Systems Inc. – Produce Soak with Advanced Washing Technology: Free-flowing water through high volume gentle-wash jets removes soils from hard-to-reach areas, and Advanced Washing Inserts and Flexible Tank Dividers create consistent rotating motions for thorough washing and sanitation.

Star Manufacturing – Pro-Max Two Sided Grill with Pro-Lift Hinge System: A new generation of Pro-Max Grills is based on a newly designed hinge system to transfer loads to compression springs, for longevity, and lift straight up before rotation, to improve uniform grilling of multiple foods.

Stoveshoes L.L.C. – Stoveshoes: This cost effective alternative to wheels or casters for commercial kitchen equipment is non-breakable, chemical resistant and low friction so one person can slide equipment easily for more thorough cleaning.

Strahman Valves Inc. – Kwik Clean 3 Pre-Rinse Spray Nozzle: This all stainless steel, unique three-tip nozzle is in a rotating nose cone allowing quick spray pattern changes to handle any job. Its ultra-low-flow/high efficiency design reduces energy, water and wastewater costs while significantly lowering CO2 emissions.

Supreme Metal Inc. – Vision Bar Furniture: A line of underbar furniture featuring interchangeable, customizable finishes, hardware, fixtures, storage options and installation configurations, as a cost effective way to upgrade interior bar functionality and decor integration.

Vitamix Corporation – The Quiet One: The quietest commercial blender available, The Quiet One provides dramatic sound reduction through its exclusive door seal design and patent-pending floating technology that significantly reduce vibration transmission and improve airflow.

Wells Manufacturing - Universal Ventless Hoods: These self-contained, up to 8 feet hoods, have flexibility to mix and match various electric cooking equipment, and feature an innovative air path with 4-stage filtration (including a HEPA filter ) capture more effluents with 34 percent less air flow and 30 percent lower noise.

All winning products were chosen for their ability to enable foodservice operations to run faster and more efficiently by increasing productivity, quality, safety, cost-efficiency and environmental sustainability. The products will be showcased in the interactive Kitchen Innovations Pavilion area of the NRA’s 2011 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place from May 21-24.