Breakfast Equipment

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper, said someone who knows the importance of having breakfast. We know everyone loves to have a satisfying, refreshing breakfast that will make us start the day vigorously. From this point of view, a customer wants an eye-catching and filling breakfast with assorted foods. Whether in your breakfast diner, cafeteria, hotel, or hospital restaurant, you can create a gratifying breakfast buffet if you know which breakfast equipment you need.

Breakfast Cooking Equipment

1. Countertop Griddles

A countertop griddle might be one of the most used breakfast equipment for cooking. Its compact size will neatly fit on your counter and meet the needs of a diner serving breakfast. You can grill sausages and veggies or cook eggs to offer your customers a good breakfast. Commercial countertop griddles can be either gas or electric. An electric griddle will be more useful for a small kitchen, while you can consider buying a gas griddle for a larger kitchen with high capacity and a gas connection. You can also choose from the plate surface options such as cast iron or steel. 

2. Hotplates

A hotplate is a piece of perfect breakfast equipment for any commercial kitchen with limited space or as an additional burner. There are two or three burners on a hotplate, and they work with either liquid propane or electricity. A hotplate can cook anything that a range cooks.

3. Waffle Makers

Using a Belgian or standard waffle maker, you can offer your customers freshly-made and fluffy waffles with deep pockets for breakfast. The heat-retaining grid plates of a waffle maker can be made of different materials such as stainless steel, and some materials are non-stick, removing the need for extra cooking spray. All waffle makers feature temperature controlling adjustment, and double grid models are available for large volume businesses. 

4. Egg Station Cookers

Using an egg cooker, you can easily provide customers with the exact form of the egg they want. This practical item lets you not only cook several eggs at once but also cook and retherm bacon or sausages.  

5. Crepe Machines

Crepe is another appetizing and versatile item of breakfast that can be consumed with various food. Gas and electric crepe machines are available both with pros and cons. Electric ones come more portable and save energy in the long term, but they cook a little slower than gas. Gas crepe machines heat up and cook faster than their electric counterparts, although they’re not portable because of requiring a gas line or liquid propane to function. And the surface options to choose from are cast iron, the one that cooks more evenly, teflon, or stainless steel. 

6. Induction Ranges

Induction ranges cook either using electricity or gas. No matter the source type, it takes a little space in a commercial kitchen. With one to five burners, an induction range can cook various dishes safely thanks to the feature that only heats the cookware’s base. You can place your induction range on your countertop or built-in the countertop, which will ease moving the pans from the range. 

7. Commercial Toasters

• Conveyor Toasters: A conveyor toaster is a perfect piece of breakfast equipment for high-volume businesses. Place the bread or other products you want to toast on the conveyor belt and take them toasted from the other side. This durable machine can produce up to 2000 slices in an hour. They can be a little difficult to operate since it needs programming to adjust the conveyor belt speed, and they can take a while to heat. Conveyor toasters are perfect for large-volume breakfast diners, hotel restaurants, or high-demand cafeterias.

• Pop-up Toasters: A pop-up toaster is tho most low-cost type of toaster with a simple operation. You choose which shade you want the toast to be, push down the lever and leave the rest to the toaster. There are heavy and light-duty types depending on your business volume. They take up a little space and use less energy, but the heating elements can wear out faster. They are more convenient to use in the front house, such as buffets. It can toast 60-380 slices per hour.

• Bun Grilling Toasters: In addition to dry toasting, you can caramelize buns, bread, or bagels using butter coating in a bun grilling toaster. It will toast by pulling the bread between heated sheets. As a drawback, a bun grilling toaster is not flexible because of the many moving parts and requires thickness adjustment for each different item. But if you want to offer your customers buttery bakery items, it will do the job, removing the labor to butter and toast separately. 

Breakfast Buffet Equipment

1. Beverage Dispensers

A beverage dispenser is a piece of breakfast equipment that lets you self-serve your drinks at a breakfast buffet. It expedites your and customers’ work by allowing them to refill their drinks whenever possible. There are refrigerated, insulated, non-insulated, and glass beverage dispensers, all with different features.

• Refrigerated beverage dispensers keep drinks cool using a refrigeration system. They feature clear bowls to merchandise the drinks while letting you easily recognize what is inside.

• Insulated beverage dispensers are designed to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold until served. They are generally used in back-house operations.

• Non-insulated ones are more visually engaging than insulated ones; they can not be used for hot drinks.

• Glass beverage dispensers are perfect for displaying your colorful drinks at a buffet bar, appealing to customers.

2. Buffet Tables

• Buffet Steam Tables: They are designed to keep the cooked breakfast items hot until served. Steam buffet tables feature heated wells that heat the added water, and the hot water keeps the food in the floating pans hot. The produced steam helps heat the pan evenly while keeping the food moist. Wells are deep enough to fit in the water and the food pans. A buffet steam table can be powered either with gas or electric.

• Cold Buffet Tables: A cold buffet table is another essential breakfast equipment to have. It can hold ingredients that can be easily spoiled, such as salad bar or breakfast ingredients, at safe temperatures, offering customers to easily serve themselves fresh products. Cold buffet tables come in either refrigerated or ice-cooled options. You can choose the one considering your business’s volume and electrical setup.

3. Food Warmers

• Drop-in Food Wells: These pieces of breakfast equipment display the food while keeping them at safe temperatures and simultaneously offer easy service. Drop-in food wells are perfect for buffet bars to let customers self-service various food items. There are both hot and cold food wells for different uses.
  • Drop-in hot food wells can be placed on your countertop or buffet tables. They are insulated to maintain the heat, and each well features independent temperature controls, letting you set different temperatures for different foods. They are available in single or multiple compartments, full or half-size options, and either with built-in drains or auto-fill models.
  • Drop-in cold food wells provide you to maintain the temperature to keep the chilled ingredients without struggling with ice. You can use drop-in cold food wells by simply mounting them on your countertop and leaving the cooling work to them. They feature built-in or remote compressors that produce cold temperatures and keep the food safe. 

• Countertop Buffet Warmers: A countertop buffet warmer is another necessary breakfast equipment to keep the cooked food at serving temperatures to offer customers fresh and hot food. Using a sneeze guard keeps the foods away from dirt and bacteria, and some of the warmers feature overhead lights perfect for displaying.

• Chafers: Chafers, also known as chafing dishes, are a kind of stove designed to keep the food hot inside the floating pan by heating the water in which the pan is placed. We can say it is a single and small version of a drop-in hot well. A chafer uses chafing fuel that can burn up to six hours, providing an economical and eye-catching heating process on a buffet. A chafer mainly consists of a water pan, a food pan, a lid, a stand to hold these, and a fuel holder with a damper. There are electric and induction types as well, but the main point of a chafer is to heat the food pan using heated water.

• Soup Kettles: Soup kettles are perfect for keeping soup and fresh, newly cooked sauces, and nacho cheese hot for serving. The compact size lets you place it on a buffet line or any countertop for the back of house use. Some of them feature as rethermalizer, rapidly defrosting frozen food items, and reducing preparation times.

Breakfast Serving and Display Equipment

1. Refrigerated Display Cabinets

Refrigerated display cases are the breakfast equipment ideal for displaying your breakfast products that need to be kept at safe temperatures, such as refrigerated bakery and deli display cases. The glass door types are ideal for a buffet since it allows customers to see the products and choose what they want. 

2. Cereal Dispensers

Cereal is indispensable for most breakfasts. So having a cereal dispenser as a piece of breakfast equipment for your restaurant will be accurate. You can serve cereals, granola, or other dry food items in a cereal dispenser for easy serving while keeping the ingredients fresh at the same time. They are also so simple to operate by moving the lid and refilling on top.

3. Serving Jugs

These breakfast equipment are an economical alternative to juice dispensers. Serving jugs will be useful for offering juices or milk at breakfast.

4. Tabletop Supplies

You may put the cutlery near the plates for self-serving or place it on each table with servings, creating a more organized and neat ambiance. Placing seasonings and sauces on the table also would be a good idea. 

Coffee and Tea Equipment

Coffee and tea are fundamentals of a breakfast. So you can find a variety of breakfast equipment and tools to make and serve these beverages, from espresso machines to coffee urns.

1. Airpots

Airpot is an insulated drink dispenser designed to keep the drinks hot and provide easy serving. It can keep your coffee or tea hot for long hours without needing an electrical connection, making it perfect for a breakfast restaurant or buffet. They are easy to use, and customers can serve themselves without any risks of spillage, thanks to locking lids and the non-existence of open spouts.

2. Coffee Machines

Automatic coffee makers or brewers work by using water directly from the water line, removing the continual filling requirement of the water tank. Some machines feature warming parts to keep the coffee warm while another is brewing. Also, brewing options such as multi-brew are perfect for customers.

Pour-over coffee makers are portable; you can move and place them anywhere you want since they don’t require hooking up to a water line. With a pour-over coffee maker, customers can serve themselves easily. As automatic coffee makers, some pour-over coffee maker models also feature warmers, which is perfect for having ready-to-serve coffee during busy hours.

3. Hot Water Dispensers

You can offer your customers various herbal tea, pocket teas or coffee, or other hot beverages along with hot water. A hot water dispenser is ideal breakfast equipment for doing the job for you either by hooking up to a water line or refilling the dispenser, such as in pour-over types.

4. Sugar Pourers

Having a sugar pourer near your coffee and tea table may seem like a small detail, but it is essential. Serving granulated sugar with sugar pourers in breakfast is more economical than serving cube sugars and will save money in the long term. 

Conclusion

It is not only mothers that say having breakfast is so essential. According to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, those who skip breakfast have an 87 percent higher risk of dying from a heart attack than those who do. To offer the healthiest and the most delectable breakfast, we have all the breakfast equipment you need for back and front-house operations. Choosing the right breakfast equipment considering your business’s volume, available space, and gas lines will lead you to a successful breakfast diner with many patrons.