When the aspiring home cook looks to what equipment they use, many times they look at what restaurants use to figure out what products to buy themselves. There is both good and bad with this. Realize that restaurants are high volume shops and what they need is significantly less than what a home chef needs. So things like knives make sense but the ovens are probably quite a bit different.

What about Induction Cooking at Restaurants?

Most restaurants use gas ranges with high BTU’s with a lot of control on gas control. This is ideal for the high volumes and the style of cooking they are using. That being said some are actually starting to use induction cooktops. If you look at when and how they are using them, it makes a lot of sense.

The Pop Up I worked with used Induction Cookers

I worked with one restaurant group that started a Ramen pop up inside one of their Italian restaurants. And they used induction cook tops for very specific reasons. They needed to simmer and have broth kept at specific temperatures. It needed to stay hot for 3 hours at a time. They used commercial style induction cookers that had 10 hour times and would allow them to set specific temperatures for their broths. This allowed for quick lunch service.

Food Trucks use Induction

Some food trucks have started using the same induction burner above in their food trucks. If they don’t need a large flat top style grill, those commercial induction cook tops don’t take up a ton of space and are easily powered by the generators they carry with them. So those that serve things like pasta, ramen or others, will most likely use a commercial style cook top and sometimes two.

Remove Food Service use Induction Cookers

If you ever go skiing up in the mountains and get things like hot chocolate, most of them are using induction burners. It is easier to bring a generator up the mountain or even power via solar PC panels than having to hike up with Propane tanks. Let’s face it, they are not getting natural gas up there and with an unobstructed view of the sun, electric just makes much more sense. So you are seeing that.

Short answer yes, Restaurants use Induction Cookers

Yes many chefs are using induction cooktops for a variety of reasons. Some due it due to lack of gas to cook on, some use it because it serves a specific purpose, such as a consistent temperature. Others do it because they think using Gas is bad for the environment. So yes, go ahead and use induction. Whether you purchase a full range or just get a portable one to keep things warm and have extra cooking space. They are quite useful to the home chef.