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Fryer Buyer's Guide

Floor Models

Countertop Models

The right commercial fryer is one that is designed to cook the foods you offer on your menu. Fryers take any food from frozen to crispy and ready to serve in minutes and can cook hundreds of pounds of food per hour. Choosing the best deep fryer for your food service business helps to produce a healthier, higher-quality food product and will extend the life of the oil. To find the perfect commercial deep fryer for your operation, read over the following information, and then evaluate your menu to determine which fryer is best suited to meet your business’ specific frying needs. Some of the main concerns when purchasing a commercial fryer are whether to choose gas or electric, the fryer's pot style and how to keep the cooking area clean. This handy buyer’s guide will help to answer those questions for you and hopefully make your decision a little easier.

Gas Fryers vs. Electric fryers

The main question when purchasing a commercial fryer is whether to choose a gas or electric powered model. There are benefits to both varieties, which will be outlined in this guide. Commercial gas fryers come in either standing or countertop models. Gas fryers are typically cheaper to operate than electric models and can quickly regain heat when restarted. Gas fryers can give you the option of using natural or propane gas and have a variety of filtration systems and draining options.

Electric fryers typically require more energy to operate than gas fryers, but can also be extremely efficient. A key feature of the electric fryer is the low-watt design which will extend both the life of the heating elements and the oil or shortening used to fry your food. Electric fryers are also easily disassembled and portable, which allows you to reorganize your kitchen as needed.

Which fryer is best for me?

The type of fryer your business needs can be determined by the pot style and type of food you are cooking. There are four basic fryer types to consider, each specific to certain types of fried foods:

Open Pot Fryers

Open pot fryers have heating conductors outside the frypot and deep internal sediment collection zones, also known as cold zones, inside the frypot. This makes the open pot fryer ideal for non-battered foods such as French fries, and lightly battered foods, such as prepackaged mozzarella sticks. This style of fryer is also great for a number of other appetizers and prepackaged food items. The open pot design allows all internal surfaces of the frypot to be easily accessed for cleaning and maintenance purposes.

Tube-Type Fryers

Tube-type fryers feature internal heating conductors which are located just above the sediment collection, or cold, zone. This fryer type is an excellent choice for general purpose frying and for foods which are heavily breaded or fresh battered, such as calamari.

Flat Bottom Fryers

Flat Bottom Fryers have no sediment collection or cold zones. This type of fryer is best suited for wet-battered products such as hand-battered fish, delicious blooming onions, funnel cakes, and other such items. With the flat-bottom design, sediment and other contaminants are in direct contact with the heat conducting fryer bottom, exposing these for longer periods of time to the highest temperatures in the frypot. This can lead to more rapid oil decomposition, increased carbonization, and accelerated formation of contaminant compounds in the oil.

Lift Out Elements (electric fryers only)

Electric fryers have the unique design of lift out elements. These lift out elements share the deep “V” designed cold zone of the open pot fryers, however the electric elements are located inside the frypot. This makes electric fryers with lift-out elements good for both battered and non-battered foods, as well as breaded foods. In general, electric fryers with lift-out elements are good for nearly any food your business would need to fry!

Cleaning

Ease of cleaning is another important factor when choosing the perfect commercial fryer for your food service business. When considering this factor, the basic choice is whether your fryer should or should not have a sediment collection zone, also known as a cold zone. This cold zone optimizes the fry cycle by allowing particles from the food to precipitate away for the cooking area into a location at the bottom of the fryer. Here, the particles accumulate into a more temperate, less turbulent area of the frypot.

Other Considerations:

• How much space do I have available for this commercial fryer?
• Which fryer can produce the quantity of food my business needs?
• Do I need one fryer or multiple fryers to serve the variety of foods on my menu?
• Is this fryer the best option to fit my business’ budget?
• Did I include shipping costs (if applicable) in the price of this fryer?
• Does this fryer have necessary safety features to protect myself and my employees?
• Is this fryer easy to maintain?
• How will this fryer affect my business’ utility costs?
• What type of warranty does the manufacturer offer on this fryer?