The Prairie Team visits
Middleby Innovation Kitchens

Chef Tim Tesch, Senior Executive Chef for Lunds & Byerlys, and Chef Michael Herskowitz of Phoenix Marketing, Inc. are all smiles as they see first-hand the labor savings and product quality improvements offered by using the Firex | Food Processing Equipment Multi-cooker instead of traditional kettles for all their pasta prep at the Lunds & Byerlys Commissary. By embracing this new Firex Automation, Lunds & Bylerlys will almost cut their production time from raw pasta to refrigerated pasta in half. In the process they will also save over a 1000 gallons of water PER DAY! 

The The Middleby Corporation Firex Multicooker has a Cook Tank, with temperature-controlled water and an auto lifting basket, that then dumps cooked pasta into a Quench Tank. The Quench Tank is filled with chilled water (through a separate water chiller) that is gently circulated to keep the pasta from sticking while stopping the cooking process immediately and bringing the pasta below 41F rapidly. Finally, the autolift basket for the Quench Tank deposits the finished pasta onto the loading table where it is deposited into totes for storage and distribution. Between the timed cook cycle, autolift and gentle circulation, significant labor savings are achieved as well. Custom cook settings are developed for each pasta type, so perfect pasta every time!