When Henny Penny stepped in to help South African client Chicken Licken with new fryers, the company was changing oil every couple of days. But even the pros at Henny Penny were impressed by the dramatic change Chicken Licken saw when it upgraded to the Evolution Elite Open Fryer: The company went more than three months before having to change oil—with no loss in food quality.

“That was a dramatic change,” says Jason Moles, field marketing manager at Henny Penny. “But we brought in a level of expertise that helped the company understand the importance of oil management and the frying operation, the different components that go into it. It’s not just the food coming out that creates the reputation; there are a lot of other things affecting food quality, including the oil. Step by step, we were able to tell them how to work the operation to get the most out of the oil and get better food quality and a better tasting product for the customer.”

Henny Penny understands its clients’ businesses. “We can identify areas where we can help them improve. We’ve been frying for more than 50 years, and our customers value that knowledge,” Moles says.

There are two types of Henny Penny fryers, the closed pressure fryer for heavier tasks, such as fried chicken and meat, and the open fryer for lighter fare. The one constant Henny Penny offers is knowing the value of filtering oil, how it affects the food, and how to manage using the oil day in and day out, and both fryers manage that.

“Because of the focus and understanding of the importance of oil management and filtering,” Moles says, “we don’t sell a unit that doesn’t come with a built-in oil filtration system. It’s that critical.”

The system counts how many times the oil has been filtered. The Evolution Elite lets the operator set the control to get a notification about when oil should be filtered—there’s no guesswork involved. Every operator gets different results based on usage and menu, but Moles says typically Evolution Elite users are able to double or triple the life of their fry oil.

Henny Penny takes the dirty work out of filtering oil as well. “With the push of a button, you can filter the oil and be ready to fry again in less than four minutes,” Moles says. And if the fryer has separate vats, you can still be frying in one vat while you are filtering the oil in another.

Not to be ignored in all this is the increased safety because of these functions. No one is handling hot oil, and no one is sloshing through a busy kitchen with hot oil.

Another feature of the Evolution Elite is the auto top-off feature. The unit measures the volume of oil and knows when to top off, filling the vat from a reservoir so service never has to stop.

The timing for cooking gets set by the operator—push one button for one product, push another button for a different product. Any changes are off-limits to regular staff, which ensures consistency and therefore, quality.

A machine this easy to use makes training a snap, always of value in the high-turnover environment of quick-serve restaurants.

Henny Penny won’t stop improving the machines, either—the company will always look for new ways to improve the processes. “When we introduce new features and operations, everything has to address a customer’s needs,” Moles says. “We have a network of about 150 distributors we work with for sales and service, so we have people ‘on the street’ and inside the stores. This is a network we are constantly tapping into, so new ideas and requests are coming straight from customers and our great network of distributors.”

For more information about Henny Penny, visit www.hennypennyevolution.com.