Meat + Poultry - July 2008 - 74

BURGERS

deposits the patties onto paper using
the HomeStyle Patty System. The system is designed for use by customers
processing products for foodservice or
case-ready applications in fresh and
frozen forms. Sandberg says portioncontrol thresholds are kept within .5
percent of target patty weight and
shapes, sizes and textures can be modified with the change of a mold plate.
The system can also be easily raised
out of position to allow other products to the produced on the same line.
"Any existing Formax forming machine can be retrofitted to accept the
HomeStyle Patty Conveyor," Sandberg
says. "There's no need for dedicated
lines and unnecessarily high capital
expenditures."

The HomeStyle Patty System
works with any new or existing Formax
forming machine, and eliminates the need for
dedicated lines. (Photo courtesy of Formax Inc.)

Blue Cheese and Black Pepper; and
Cheese, Pepper and Onion. It also produces three gourmet turkey burgers:
Cheese, Pepper and Onion; Steakhouse
and Cheddar; and Barbecue.
"The trends in consumer requests
lead toward a hand-made appearance
and away from a 'manufactured' product," says Richard Clark, plant engineer.
"The desire for different flavor profiles
is also driving this gourmet trend."
74

MEAT&POULTRY

July 2008

Equipment solutions
Demand for specialty burgers is out
there and consumers like the 'freshfrom-the-kitchen' look of a HomeStyle
patty with good reason, says Brian Sandberg, business development manager,
Formax Inc., Mokena, Ill. "Their broken
edges offer a higher-quality, hand-made
appearance and a tender texture that
doesn't appear to be processed or ever
frozen. That freshness translates into an
image of higher quality."
Processors that have capitalized on the
trend toward specialty burgers are seeing
higher sales with better profit margins,
Sandberg says. "Our HomeStyle Patty System is capable of producing patties that
are indistinguishable from hand-made at
high rates of production and with great
weight control," he adds.
"It works with any new or existing
Formax forming machine, and eliminates the need for dedicated lines,"
Sandberg says, because Formax allows
the processor to produce other products on the same line by changing the
mold-plate on the fly.
Formax-made patties are made
light and fluffy using its HomeStyle
Conveyor while its Tender-Form tooling ensures premium texture and appearance, according to the company.
In terms of speed, processors can expect the equipment to handle up to
6,000 pounds of products per hour and

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Answering the call
Meat-industry customers of Canton, Mass.based Reiser said the hamburger-patty
category was stagnant and ripe for innovation, says John McIsaac, the company's
vice president, strategic business development, Reiser. The company looked at the

Photo courtesy of Advance Food Co.

Photo courtesy of Certified Angus Beef

15 years," says Bryan Shuel, president.
"They sell pretty well."
DiLuigi Sausage Co., Danvers, Mass.,
processes more than 50,000 pounds of
hamburgers per week. Its gourmet beef
burgers include Bacon and Cheddar;
Bacon, Cheddar and Jalapeño; Portabella Mushroom and Swiss Cheese;

market and determined most equipment
operated in a similar fashion - pressurize
meat, fill a mold and knock it out.
"Burgers that have been under that
high pressure are very good in that
they are uniform and hard and easy
to handle," says McIsaac. "We saw
the opportunity to make the burgers
without the pressure. Our customers
wanted to make burgers that had the
texture, bite and mouthfeel of hand-

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Meat + Poultry - July 2008

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