Instore - July 2018 - 42

EQUIPMENT

Slicers
by Andy Nelson

ood safety is front and center in the latest innovations to slicers used in the instore deli and bakery industries.

Higher yields, better
food safety and saving
retailers on labor
costs are among the
principles driving slicer
development at Hobart
Corp. Photo: Hobart

Commissaries and central kitchens are a
growing market for Hobart Corp. deli slicers, says Joe Osmon, sales development
manager in the Food Machines division of
ITW, Hobart's parent company.
"A lot of things are going on in commissary,"
Osmon says. "It's driving new product development for us, and I think we'll do very
well in that segment." Increasing yields, improving food safety and in general making
grocery retailers' jobs easier are among the
benchmarks Hobart is striving for in its development of new slicers, he says.

"Most injuries involving a slicer occur
during the cleaning process."
JOE OSMON, HOBART

Saving labor costs is obviously one benefit
for many retailers to taking their deli slicing
needs off-site to commissaries and central
kitchens. But three other factors play a big,
often bigger role, Osmon says: consistency,
efficiency and what Hobart calls "operator
assurance."
Its commitment to operator assurance is
among the things Osmon says separates
Hobart from the competition. With slicers,
there's always the risk of injury, but Hobart
slicers help mitigate that risk.
For instance, the HS slicers that Osmon says
are the Hobart products most used in commissaries and central kitchens have removable knives.
"Most injuries involving a slicer occur during the cleaning process," Osmon says. "Our
interlock systems and removable blade tool
provide solutions to minimize the risk."
With the blade removed from the HS slicers,
there's no risk of that. And users also feel

42 * JULY 2018 * commissary INSIDER

more confident cleaning slicers if they know
there's little risk of injury, which leads to
another safety-related benefit: food safety.
Eighty-three percent of listeria cases, for instance, can be traced to slicers, Osmon says.
If slicers are cleaned properly, there's much
less risk a foodborne illness will be traced
back to them.

of their industry. "That gives retailers a lot of
pause," Osmon says.

"Keeping it simple, reliable,
high quality and 'Made in the
USA' sets Oliver apart."
YVONNE JOHNSON, OLIVER PACKAGING & EQUIPMENT CO.

"A large percentage of foodborne illnesses
stem from slicers not being clean, that's why
one of the first places the inspector goes is
to the slicer," he says.
"Operator assurance" has become a bigger
and bigger part of Hobart's pitch to potential
customers of its slicers and other machines,
Osmon says.
Hobart is always looking at ways of adding
technology to make its slicers and other machines more efficient and easier to operate,
but at least for the time being, things like
touch screens and connectivity haven't been
in high demand among customers when it
comes to slicers, Osmon says.
"Our goal is to ensure that our end users are
willing and ready to accept it and see value
in the solutions provided." With connectivity,
for example, not only would retailers need
to have the infrastructure in place to make it
work, they might also have to share network
data whose privacy they place a very high
value on, given the ultra-competitive nature

FoodTools' CS-10TWWA is a good fit for
larger commissaries. Photo: Foodtools

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Instore - July 2018