Commercial Toaster Buying Guide

While you probably don't give much thought to the purchase of a toaster for your home, you should carefully consider the needs of your food service operation when shopping for a commercial toaster. We sell two types of commercial toasters: pop-up toasters and conveyor toasters.

Commercial Pop-Up Toasters

Pop-up toasters work in much the same way as the ones found in most homes. However, commercial pop-up toasters are built to have a higher capacity and to last much longer than their domestic counterparts. One advantage of the commercial pop-up toaster is that it is very compact and will take up little counter space. A commercial pop-up toaster is also less expensive than most commercial conveyor toasters.

Waring pop-up toasters, like the ones we carry, are available in a variety of sizes and prices. For example, the Waring WCT702 is a 2-slice commercial toaster that’s a heavy duty model similar in size to a residential unit. On the other end of the spectrum, the Waring WCT805B is a 208 volt, heavy duty 4-slice toaster with a much higher output and sturdier design. Several Waring WCT pop-up toasters fall in between these two models in terms of price, output, and voltage.

A commercial pop-up toaster is best suited for small operations where a maximum output of 200-300 slices per hour is sufficient.

Keep in mind that bagels, buns, sub rolls and croissants don't fit into most pop-up toasters, so you are basically limited to toasting bread. If you are only going to be toasting bread and will never need more than 300 slices in an hour, a commercial pop-up toaster may well be your best choice.

Commercial Conveyor Toasters

Conveyor toasters are intended for high-rate continuous production. With horizontal conveyor toasters, the kind we sell, the product to be toasted is placed on the conveyor at the front of the unit. At the end of the conveyor, the toasted product slides down a chute to a collection tray at the front. This design saves counter space! We carry APW WYott conveyor toasters in many different production capacities. The APW Wyott AT Express toasts up to 300 slices an hour. If you need to toast up to 800 slices an hour, the APW Wyott XTRM-2 might be a good fit. For even higher volume requirements, the APW Wyott Fastrac 1000 can toast up to 1000 slices an hour, and our highest capacity model, the APW Wyott Bagel Master is capable of up to 1440 bagel halves an hour!

These units will accommodate a variety of products from bagels and English muffins to buns and specialty bread products. It would be good to see what the product opening measures when making your selection (this information can be found on the product's specification sheet), as it will vary from model to model. Product openings on our units range from 1 1/2" to 3".

"Hybrid" Commercial Conveyor Ovens / Toasters

Some conveyor toasters defy categorization. The Lincoln Fusion models we carry are unique for several reasons. Their hybrid design makes them suitable for jobs a regular conveyor toaster can't do, like cooking par-baked pizzas, or giving a crispy, crunchy finish to sandwiches or subs! Their horizontal shelves allow this, but this also means they take up more counter space than a traditional commercial conveyor toaster. Lincoln Fusion models come in several different colors for attractive front-of-the-house placement.

The Lincoln Fusion 2030 is an 11" wide model that runs on a 208/240 volt single-phase electrical connection. The Lincoln Fusion 2040 and Lincoln Fusion 2041 are both 16" wide models; the difference is in their electrical requirements. The 2040 requires a 208/240 volt single-phase electrical connection, whereas the 2041 requires a 208/240 volt three-phase connection.

For everyday toasting duties like making toast and toasting bagels, the Lincoln Fusion models cannot match the output of our other conveyor toasters. However, for a small coffee shop, convenience store, or deli, a versatile multi-function hybrid like the Lincoln Fusion might be an excellent solution!

So Which Commercial Toaster is Best for Me?

You should ask yourself the following questions when deciding which commercial toaster is the best one for your operation:

1. What is the maximum number of slices that I might need during any given period of time?
2. Will space requirements determine the positioning and size of this commercial toaster?
3. Will my staff be producing a number of different products using this commercial toaster?
4. How many hours per day will the unit be in operation?
5. What are the electrical requirements of the new commercial toaster?

By carefully considering your toasting needs and consulting each items' specification sheet for detailed measurements and electrical requirements in addition to this buying guide, you have an excellent chance of selecting the best commercial toaster for your needs!