Food Warmers... Any Success...

Hello... I am super new to Road Food... Long time stalker though :)

I was a part of a concession stand for a few years and we did fairly well but we used a hot dog roller grill (ick). Shortly after me leaving some one used a table top food warmer to cook the dogs.

With that being said. I am now opening a snack bar/hot dog joint inside a mall coming up in a month. I have 2 food warmers with 1/3 pans. I have started trail and error cooking with the warmers. They do alright but I was wondering if any one has used this method and if so... got any tricks?

A food warmer is meant to hold product, not cook it. Will take way too long to come up to temp and will make health dept real unhappy. Please I beg of you, dont use a roller grill! If youve got lots of electric, Ive seen people use the flat plate panini grills with a lot of success, quick and will make some swell grill marks on them.

Yeah... ick to the roller. I just wasn't too keen on the whole thing.

Actually the warmer gets water boiling up to 165 in about 15 minutes and what I've been practicing is boiling the dogs for 5-7 minutes. Then moving them to a "dry" tray (which is sprayed with a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic), where they are hot held until ready to serve. They turn out ok and I can do quite a few dogs to keep up with the lunch crowd. But I've seen people that have had it down to a science.

I don't like the look of the panini grill (because I am in a stationary location with in a mall competing against national chains). Our Nemco warm tabletops have our graphics on them and all that. They said specifically as long as I didn't have a foreman grill Id be ok, lol. I am finding that the steam tables are working ok.

I just wanted to know if any one else had any ideas :)

Shhhh,
Microwaves.On my trailer with a broad spectrum menu we hold 8-12 dogs in a steam table in water and sauerkraut.I believe the microwave is about 1500 watts.4 natural casings to serving temp takes me 54 seconds but 60 will burst the casings on all 4-it is a close call.The system is four to six in two ranks in a third pan and drag the newer dogs to the left as older ones are used.Always start at the top left and prep dogs on every fourth sale...

If people actually knew just how much of their food they eat out (even in fancy places) is actually microwaved at the last second they would be shocked! I use a little 700 watt from time to time to get a little boost in a pinch.

We also sell veggie dogs and Chicago tamales at our joint. The veggie dogs have to be microwaved, they can't lay in the steamer. Only takes 30 seconds in the nuker from solidly frozen. Tamales can be kept in the steamer, but sales are real erratic (2 rs?). Takes awhile to get Charlotteans accustomed to ordering them. Once they do, they're hooked. We serve them plain, with chili, with chili and cheese or with a tamale, covered with fries and topped with chili and cheese. (We have a list of referrals for cardiologists in the area). The sales are not steady enough to keep them in the steam table, because after about a month, they look pretty raunchy. Just kidding. We thaw about 1/2 dozen in the fridge at a time and just nuke them for 1/2 minute and they come out great.