Commercial restaurant equipment is always a pain. No two commercial deep fryers, counters, or flattops seem to be exactly the same. Don’t get me wrong, almost every commercial deep fryer is more or less the same. There are a couple of different standard sizes, and everything tends to revolve around these sizes. They are all about the same size, the same shape, and the same weight. Nevertheless, they have never managed to agree on a standard. Every few years, they change the design. For such a low tech device, they sure seem to tinker with it quite a bit.
That is why buying a new commercial deep fryer has been such a nightmare for the restaurant. When I first set out to get a new commercials fryer, we did not think it would be any big deal. We had been using essentially the same commercial deep fryer for about 20 years now. Unfortunately, the thing was falling apart. It leaked oil on the floor, it did not get hot enough, and it seemed to be getting to the point where it would be dangerous to use. Commercial deep fryers with leaks, after all, are not exactly the safest equipment. Between the danger of slipping on the oil, the danger of burns, and the dangers of electrical problems, it makes sense to keep your commercial deep fryer in pretty good condition.
If I had known how much trouble it would be to round up a new commercial deep fryer, I would have skipped the whole thing. I had just assumed that you could move the old fryers out, dispose of them, and plug the new fryers in where the old ones have been. It was not the case. Although commercial deep fryers changed very little in 20 years, I could not find one that was the same size. When I looked at the same commercial deep fryer brand that we had used, none of the equipment that they sold was anywhere near the right size. I found a commercial deep fryer that was similar, but it could not quite fit in the space that we had. I did not want to have to remodel the whole kitchen just because we were replacing a commercial deep fryer, but it started to look like that was what I would have to do. To this day, I still have not solved the problem. We run the whole kitchen off of only one commercial deep fryer while I frantically search for a new one.
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