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Practical advice for producing consistently great burgers at scale
To celebrate National Burger Day, Falcon Product Development Chef Chris Ewing took on a sizeable catering challenge: cooking more than 150 burgers for the team at our Stirling factory.
Producing burgers in this volume is very different from preparing a handful to order. A kitchen team needs to deliver the same flavour, colour and quality across every batch, while ensuring everything is ready for a busy service window.
From planning ahead to selecting the right equipment, Chris shares his practical tips for producing consistently juicy burgers when catering for a crowd.
A combination oven is especially valuable when the priority is producing a large number of burgers consistently.
While a chargrill has a limited cooking area, a combi oven can accommodate multiple trays at once. The controlled oven environment helps produce even results across the load, allowing the kitchen team to work towards a clear and predictable service time.
Cook several trays of burgers within the same production cycle.
Maintain greater control across large and demanding oven loads.
Coordinate cooking so large quantities are ready at the right time.
This approach is useful for school catering, workplace dining, event venues, contract caterers and other operations where a large number of customers may arrive at once. It reduces the pressure on the chargrill and allows the chef to focus on finishing the next batch, organising accompaniments and preparing for service.
After cooking, the burgers can either be served immediately or transferred into suitable hot-holding equipment. Hot holding can be helpful when managing a large service, but it is recommended that holding time is minimised wherever possible.
For the best eating quality, always cook the burger through and serve it immediately. This helps preserve its texture and ensures customers receive the freshest possible result. Where holding is necessary, kitchens should use suitable equipment and follow their established time and temperature controls.
When cooking burgers in high volumes, it is ideal to use two different pieces of equipment, with each one performing a specific job.
The process begins on the chargrill, where the burgers are seared to develop their colour, flavour and recognisable branding marks.
The burgers are then transferred as quickly as possible into a Lainox combi oven to finish cooking under controlled conditions.
For the burgers served at the Falcon factory, they were cooked in the combi oven at 180°C for approximately 18 minutes. However, cooking time will vary depending on factors including the burger's size, thickness, starting temperature, recipe and oven load.
Catering teams should always follow their established food safety procedures and verify that the required safe core temperature has been achieved before service.
This two-stage approach offers the best of both appliances. The chargrill creates the attractive finish and characteristic flavour, while the combi oven provides the capacity and consistency needed for large-scale catering.
A combi oven also allows a catering team to complete several trays of burgers together. This makes it much easier to coordinate the end of cooking and have a large quantity ready within the same service window.
Use the chargrill for flavour and appearance, then let the combi oven provide the capacity and control required to finish the burgers consistently.
When you are catering for large numbers, good organisation is every bit as important as the cooking itself.
Prepare and arrange the burgers on trays before cooking begins. Having everything portioned, organised and ready to go makes it much easier to manage each batch and maintain a consistent workflow between the chargrill and oven.
The chargrill should also be fully preheated before the first burger reaches the cooking surface. This helps the burgers begin cooking immediately and creates the distinctive seared finish customers expect.
Planning the process in advance also reduces delays during service. Rather than preparing burgers as space becomes available, the catering team can follow a clear sequence:
Prepare and portion everything before cooking begins.
Make sure the cooking surface is fully up to temperature.
Create clear branding marks and develop the chargrilled finish.
Move the burgers promptly to maintain an efficient workflow.
Cook the burgers in controlled batches for consistent results.
Serve immediately or move the burgers into suitable hot-holding equipment.
For the Falcon factory lunch, following this process meant 150 burgers could be prepared consistently and made ready for service at the same time.
The best equipment combination depends on how many burgers are required and how they will be served.
For a restaurant producing burgers individually, an electric or gas chargrill provides the control needed for cooking to order.
A griddle may be more suitable for smash burgers or menus featuring several flat-top cooked items.
For larger events and high-volume catering, combining a chargrill with a combi oven provides an effective balance of appearance, capacity and consistency.
For larger events and high-volume catering, combining a chargrill with a combi oven can provide an effective balance. The chargrill delivers the flavour and appearance, while the combi oven supplies the capacity and consistency.
Whatever the size of the service, the advice is clear: prepare properly, preheat the equipment and plan how the burgers will move through the kitchen.
With an organised workflow and the right cooking equipment, catering teams can produce superb burgers consistently, whether they are serving a table of customers or an entire factory.
