Q: We’re excited to feature Convotherm in this edition of Insider. Could you please provide our readers with a brief overview of your company and the range of products you offer?
Welbilt is part of the Ali Group of Companies which is one of the largest foodservice commercial equipment companies globally. As Welbilt, we have a portfolio of industry-leading brands including Convotherm.
Convotherm offers a range of quality combi ovens to fit the needs of any chef. With the maxx pro, maxx, and mini lines, it’s easy to see how our use of leading technology can revolutionise cooking.
Q: Selecting the right oven is crucial for chefs and restaurant owners. What key factors should they consider to ensure they choose the correct oven for their specific needs?
Each of our ranges offers unique features to suit the needs of your establishment. The maxx pro, our high-end combi oven, offers premium functions like Bake, Smoke and Grill. The maxx offers just the right amount of tech-forward features for any food service professional. The mini is a space-saving tabletop combi oven great for cafes and quick service establishments. It is compact yet powerful. We have a range for everyone!
The maxx pro is available in a total of 52 variants and the mini is available in 10 variants. You can use our comparison tool to understand more details on what each model brings to the table.
Q: Energy efficiency is a top priority for many F&B businesses. How can combi ovens contribute to reducing energy consumption in commercial kitchens while maintaining optimal cooking performance?
Our advanced combi ovens are equipped with an Advanced Closed System, or ACS. This creates the Natural Smart Climate which maintains ideal steam saturation and accelerates temperature rises efficiently. In turn, each type of food absorbs the ideal moisture amount naturally, without flavour transfer, maintaining each product’s flavours and nutrients for optimal results.
With the Advanced Close System, the Convotherm uses up to 17 % less energy by retaining heat and moisture. The Natural Smart Climate optimises steam levels, saving water up to 80 % and decreases overall raw material use through precise climate management.
Q: Given the increasing focus on sustainability, automation, and healthy cooking, how do you see Convotherm’s role evolving in the future of the HORECA industry?
The benefits of The Advanced Closed system contribute to the overall sustainability of Convotherm combi ovens. We also boast a 100 % green manufacturing process. Integrating sustainability into our products is important, and understanding data to increase efficiency is a great tool for this. KitchenConnect allows Convotherm users to do just that by incorporating cloud-based controls and remote data access to a number of dashboards. These include data regarding maintenance, peak times, utilisation, and key products and quantities. Analysis of this data can optimise cooking processes, avoid over-production, recognise trends, adapt to changes, and increase overall efficiency for a more sustainable operations process.
We are exploring automation with our Convotherm maxx pro with ConvoSense. Our technology continues to put us at the forefront of automation in today’s kitchens. With ConvoSense, our innovative assistance system, we have created the world’s first AI-powered oven.
It’s easy to cook the contents of a complete healthy meal simultaneously with a Convotherm combi oven. The Maxx pro 10.10 offers 10 + 1 tray load capacity, providing ample space for all the components of your dish. You can steam and poach protein and vegetables together without flavour or aroma transfer across trays.
Our thoughtful design centre features that are practical and important to day-to-day occurrences in the foodservice industry. Sustainability, automation and healthy cooking techniques greatly inform our goals at Convotherm. We plan to continue to evolve our products to reach the limits of the possibilities within HORECA.
Q: For chefs looking to expand their menu offerings, how can Convotherm ovens help them create new and exciting dishes that cater to different tastes and preferences?
The Convotherm offers an array of different cooking methods to inspire chefs. They can adjust cook times tray by tray and explore different methods like baking, steaming, roasting, smoking and more. Using the steam function, they can create dishes that are healthier than fried food to cater to a health-conscious guest. They can also use the equipment to prepare dishes to fit any dietary restrictions they may encounter.
The Convotherm also provides consistency every time, in addition to precise controls for each chef to refine their dishes. Using the Convotherm’s different functions, chefs can push culinary boundaries, and explore cooking methods for the diverse needs of all guests. For more ideas, check out the Ready Recipes section on our website.
Q: FHA-HoReCa is a major event for the HORECA industry. What made this year the perfect time for Convotherm to join as an exhibitor and sponsor?
Our concept at FHA-HoReCa this year is to Innovate, Integrate, and Captivate. The event is a great opportunity to showcase what Convotherm can do through live demonstrations. We are proud sponsors of the competitions at FHA-HoReCa because at Convotherm we’ve always believed in supporting the next generation of chefs.
For the competition portion, we are providing a maxx pro Bake model for the FHA Bakery Challenge. Contestants will be using the oven to bake Artisan Baguettes, Asian Buns and Viennoiserie Products. The same piece of equipment can also be used for the FHA Dessert competition, allowing for multi-purpose uses for one piece of equipment, saving space in the competition area.
Q: What exciting new products or technological advancements can attendees expect to discover at the Convotherm booth?
We are proud to be the industry leaders in AI-powered equipment and show off the Convotherm maxx pro with ConvoSense at this year’s event. Our technology uses AI to recognise food items from reference photos and send relevant cooking information commands to the unit to begin cooking automatically. ConvoSense offers visual product recognition to increase reliability, with an individual AI model for each customer to ensure high recognition rates. Able to recognise routines, it can bypass manual input and reduce time-consuming training needs. It allows for stress-free closing shifts as well, finishing with a fully automatic ConvoClean cycle.
To wrap things up on a lighter note, let’s dive into some fun, rapid-fire questions:
• What’s the most unique dish you’ve seen prepared using Convotherm equipment?
Smoked Beef Rib. Using the Convotherm we can make a dish filled with smoke flavour and tender meat.
• Share a lesser-known fact about Convotherm that surprises people.
Our smoke function is incredibly unique. Since the Convotherm can do both hot and cold smoking, we can easily incorporate smoke functions to create new recipes. It allows us to cook and smoke within a single step, instead of a traditional process that requires multiple steps, lots of time, and speciality equipment. The Convotherm makes it easy and delicious.
