cafeteria

[fan-of-fans]

When I was school I was always interested in the cafeteria equipment as well as the computers at school.

In middle school we had

yellow serving counters
Alto Shaam Halo Heat warming ovens
Blodgett Mark V double convection oven with windows
Steam kettle
Keating fryer with automatic basket lifts
Cleveland steamer
Southbend two burner solid element range top

The high school had

blue Shelleyglas serving counters with steam wells and milk coolers
Alto Shaam Halo Heat warming ovens
Blodgett Zephaire and Mark V double convection ovens
Blodgett tilting skillet
Vulcan walk in freezer
3 Keating fryers with automatic basket lifts and filter systems
6 burner solid element range
2 Cleveland steamer cabinets

After I graduated, the Shelleyglas units were replaced with Galleyline units,
and the Alto Shaams were replaced with Delfield pass through warmers during
a remodel to the lunch lines.

There was also 3 Vollrath counter top steam warmers in the teacher's line. (I own one of these Vollraths actually!)

Also I believe all of the equipment in these schools was electric. Definitely the middle school, but the high school may have been set up for gas connections. Some schools did have gas equipment though.

 

[dysonman1]

I was always fascinated by the dishwashing stations in school. In grade school, the Hobart was one load at a time. The washing and rinsing were not automatic, but controlled by a lever. Pull the lever for wash, push and hold the lever for rinse.

In high school, they had the automated three section setup. Prewash was first, then wash, then rise. With a conveyer belt to pull everything through. It was so cool.

 

[fan-of-fans]

dish machine

The first elementary school I went to used those hard resin trays and silverware, and they had some kind of dishwasher, but I don't remember what.

The other schools I went to didn't have any dish machines. They used disposable trays and utensils and just hand washed the pots and pans in the 3 compartment sink.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

My grade school and high school were in the same

building. It was rebuilt (state of the art at the time) in 1960. It was also the parish center. It had Hobart everything, and also had the conveyor belt dishwasher. We ate on trays.
Several schools where I taught had a lot of disposable stuff. One school had the compartmentalized trays. The faculty ate in the old convent and had to wash our own tray each day. When the school closed, I asked for, and took my tray, for a memory.

 

[dysonman1]

In grade school, they had a giant Hobart mixer. It had a three speed gearbox setup (like my N-50 Hobart I have at home). For some reason, the nuns let us go into the cafeteria kitchen one day while they were making cookies - the nuns let us all taste some of the dough. I think it was oatmeal cookies. I just remember being fascinated by that huge mixer (which was running when we all went into the kitchen).

 

[fan-of-fans]

I don't remember any mixers at the schools here, but my grandmother worked in a hospital cafeteria and she used to tell about the Hobart mixer it had. She knew all about Hobart and other appliances as she also worked at Sears for some years after. I remember her talking about it when I visited my aunt as she had a KitchenAid Hobart dishwasher and trash compactor on each side of her kitchen sink.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Restaurant dishwashers

At a summer job as a teen I worked at a restaurant as a dishwasher. The owner had five restaurants built at different times. Due to the fact that I was the only kid with a car working there I was asked to work the other stores for various reasons. The dishwashers and other equipment in the back varied quite a bit. One was completely manual, no timers, no rollers just a switch for wash or rinse. The newest store had all the bells and whistles including a blower at the end, they were so hot coming out of the machine they hardly needed it. The one thing that all the dishwashers had in common back then was the detergent. Powdered Lye Soap! This green and white powder came in 50lb. barrels. This soap was so strong,(lye), that it was used as a drain cleaner. Like the formidable grease trap!

We did all the pastry baking in house and I became a bakers helper. We had three different sized Hobart Floor stand mixers. One was so big you could easily fit inside the mixing bowl. It takes two people to lift the bowls off the arms of the mixer when full of dough or any batters.Even empty these thick bowls were heavy. We had a special spray stand where you inverted the bowl over this special over sized spray arm to clean them one at a time.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I forgot to mention my high school cafeteria did have a Whirlpool direct drive washer and dryer set (presumably) for towels and aprons.