New Port Richey, FL – As the 2009 National Restaurant Association tradeshow opened its doors at the McCormick Center in Chicago, this year’s winners of the prestigious Kitchen Innovation Awards gathered in the KI pavilion to accept their well-deserved awards for outstanding foodservice product innovation. Companies were able to showcase their award-winning products and offer live, hands-on demonstrations throughout the tradeshow.
This year, three Manitowoc Foodservice companies received awards – the Frymaster Protector® Fryer (gas version), the Garland Xpress Grill, and the Quest EMS™ Energy Management System created by Lincoln Foodservice Products. Thousands of tradeshow attendees including operators, dealers, and distributors, visited the pavilion looking for new products to keep their kitchens energy efficient, reduce cook times, achieve consistent quality, and reduce operating costs, while still delivering great-tasting food.
2009 Manitowoc Foodservice Kitchen Innovation Award Winners
Frymaster has extended its ultra-high performance Protector® commercial fryer line, now offering the Protector’s oil, energy and labor savings in a gas model. The fryer’s high-technology features maximize oil life by up to four weeks and an Oil Attendant™ automatically monitors frypot oil levels and replenishes as needed. The gas Protector earned an ENERGY STAR® rating of 56.4, near the top of its class among gas fryers.
“With the Frymaster Protector, the legacy of innovation is taken to the next level with the industry’s first oil conserving frying, while offering consistent, great tasting food, enhanced productivity, and ultimately, customer satisfaction,” says Linda Brugler, product manager for Frymaster. www.frymaster.com.
Garland’s Xpress Grill features an innovative dual-surface along with product recognition controls that automatically adjust cook times and temperature based on product thickness. Upper and lower grill plates cook both sides simultaneously, reducing cook times by 50 percent. Along with the gap setting, cook time and temperature for each menu item are preprogrammed for one-touch recall. Precise temperature and time control ensures food is cooked to the appropriate core temperature, so consistent quality and food safety are locked in. With minimal training, an operator can repeat Xpress Grill’s fool-proof, hands-off cook cycle again and again. www.garland-group.com. Lincoln Quest EMS™ Energy Management System is a unique energy saving system designed to optimize the performance of a gas or electric powered burner focused to save 40% to 65% energy at idle conditions. Significant energy savings for accelerated impingement ovens are achieved through the complementary effects of reduced fan rpm, optimized burner or electric control settings, and reduced volume impingement air flow. www.lincolnfp.com. This is the fifth year in a row that Lincoln has been honored with a Kitchen Innovations Award, making it the only company to achieve that status since the program’s inception five years ago.
About Manitowoc Foodservice
Manitowoc Foodservice, a division of The Manitowoc Company, Inc., designs, manufactures and supplies best-in-class food and beverage equipment for the global foodservice market. Manitowoc Foodservice offers customers unparalleled operator and patron insights, collaborative kitchen solutions, culinary expertise and world-class implementation support and service, whether locations are around the corner or across the globe. With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the company has a portfolio of best-in-class brands including Cleveland, Convotherm®, Delfield®, Fabristeel, Frymaster®, Garland®, Jackson, Kolpak®, Kysor/Warren®, Kysor Panel Systems®, Lincoln, Manitowoc® Ice, McCall®, Multiplex®, Merrychef®, Servend® and Scotsman® Beverage Systems. For more information, visit www.manitowocfoodservice.com.
About The Manitowoc Company, Inc.
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. is a multi-industry, capital goods manufacturer with over 100 manufacturing and service facilities in 27 countries. It is recognized as one of the world’s largest providers of lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. Manitowoc also is one of the world’s leading innovators and manufacturers of commercial foodservice equipment as described above. |  | 
2009 KI Awards presented to (pictured from left to right): Mike Kachmer, President Manitowoc Foodservice; Gary Dykstra, VP/GM Lincoln Foodservice; Mary Chiarot, VP of Marketing Garland; Dave Mosteller, VP/GM Frymaster |
