What is a Roti-Broiler? Where did it come from? How does it work? How can it benefit my restaurant menu? Who invented it? And why is it Innovative?

What is it? How does it work?

The Roti-Broiler just happens to be the world’s first rotisserie broiler that cooks food quickly, consistently, and by the portion. It can cook high volumes of fresh or frozen protein, vegetables, and even fruit – the recipe possibilities are endless. And, the Roti-Broiler takes up minimal kitchen space, and its automated cooking and dispensing design allows for easy operation at a high rate of production capacity. The concept is simple, if the food can be placed on a skewer, then it can be cooked by the Roti-Broiler.

Competitive Marketplace Advantages

First, because the food is broiled and not fried, the Roti-Broiler offers a healthy alternative for customers. Food cooked on a Roti-Broiler is lower in calories and fat than fried food. And because the Roti-Broiler cooks by infrared heat at relatively low ambient temperature without open flame, food to metal contact or smoke, the occurrence of possible carcinogens is greatly reduced.

Second, the Roti-Broiler is designed to quickly prepare smaller innovative food products with an ultra-fast cooking cycle. The Roti-Broiler is designed for performance – producing food in continuous production system or one portion at a time. A single broiler produces 175 to 200 3-ounce portions per hour, or 35 to 50 pounds of meat per hour. That means that the Roti-Broiler can dispense a single portion every 14 to 40 seconds!

Third, the Roti-Broiler opens the QSR world up to limitless new product innovation, and perfectly fits the trend to smaller food portions. Let’s be honest, in recent years, new product innovation has almost come to a standstill in QSR restaurants dependent on fryer cooking platforms. Since newer restaurant chains have blended cooking platforms that cook numerous menu offerings, the Roti-Broiler fits well in those store builds that try to fit a grill, broiler, fryer and oven in limited square footage areas.

The Roti-Broiler is a high-quality standalone unit that easily incorporates into kitchens. The durable unit takes up minimal space, sitting on only 3.5 square feet while maximizing a kitchen’s often under-used vertical space. It operates on 120/208 volts and does not require hood ventilation in most locations.

Who invented it? Where did it come from?

The Roti-Broiler was developed by True Restaurant Innovations LLC, a group of “hands on” foodservice veterans, each with more than 25 years experience in the QSR industry in R&D, menu development and restaurant operations. Their collective experience enables them to see those opportunities that existing business processes don’t have the time or resources to develop within a limited 3 to 6 month LTO development window.

Most marketing executives want an innovative new product NOW, and as a result they revert to promoting a variation of an existing product called Line Extensions.

TRI’s goal is to bring true equipment innovation to the QSR and Fast Casual dining world. TRI president Dale Bennett realized there are many opportunities that could be developed for corporate operators to speed service and deliver product consistency while improving labor efficiency and offer exciting new menu items so he founded True Restaurant Innovations in early 2010. The Roti-Broiler is the first of several new equipment innovation projects currently in the TRI product pipeline.

But Dale’s success wasn’t by accident. He followed one of the keys to new product innovation described in a book "The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge," by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble (2010, Harvard Business Review Press). That “Key” was a dedicated team that is a part of a Corporate Performance Team that is less innovative and more process driven.

Since most restaurant chains only support the traditional product commercialization process, Dale assembled a dedicated team of innovators outside the traditional environment to achieve true equipment innovation.

Why is it innovative? And, how can it benefit me?

The Roti-Broiler is innovative because it has answered a need for a cost effective, space efficient, labor efficient, and healthy cooking platform. It can benefit a small, medium, or large restaurant store by providing a new cooking platform that only uses 3.5 square feet, and can cook over 50 new menu items. On my Food Innovation Yardstick, it rates a perfect 36 inches!

Click on www.rotibroiler.com for a quick demonstration of how the unit works.