Cambro released the new Ultimate #10 Can Rack in 2018, and since then, foodservice operations that have adopted the product are finding it easier to organize their heavy and frequently utilized #10 cans. School Nutrition Plus, a catering company contracted to manage the foodservice operations at charter schools throughout Southern California, serves around 30 schools, equating to about 20,000 meals a day.

“Cans are big part of our operation. We use at least 1000 or more a month. We have to use the commodities that are provided by the USDA schools and a lot of those are can goods–it’s fruits, beans, tomatoes, so we constantly are getting those in every month,” said Jason Keegan, Culinary Operation Director at SNP.

Keegan says their challenge was finding somewhere to put the cans after their cases had been broken open. Previously, SNP would put the cans haphazardly on other pallets or on metal can racks, but those weren’t satisfactory either.

“We used traditional load-from-the-back metal can racks. We would always have issues with the metal can racks over time getting sharper edges, bending out of place, cans were not moving down right, constantly having to move it forward to reach from the back and then cleaning was an issue,” said Keegan.

“We couldn’t put them through a machine and we couldn’t take them apart, so it was taking a lot of time and effort to keep the racks clean and sanitized. And the casters, they build up a lot of dirt.”

The Ultimate #10 Can Rack completely changed the game for SNP, allowing them to get rid of the metal can rack and replacing it with a unit that is easy to clean, promotes first in, first out (FIFO) and won’t dent, bend or break.

“We do a deep thorough cleaning of our kitchen a couple of times per week where we take down all of our shelving. We have a lot of other Cambro products, so when we saw this one, we thought it was a natural fit for us because just the cleaning alone makes it so worth it. We take apart the whole rack, run it through the dish machine and put it together. It’s pretty simple. It’s easy to pull out the cans, set aside and drop them back in on the clean rack,” said Keegan.

Not only is the Ultimate #10 Can Rack easier to clean, it makes daily tasks in the kitchen much easier for SNP employees.

“[Our operation] really improved because we don’t have to have [the can rack] in the dry storage warehouse. We are able to keep it in the kitchen, we always know it’s clean and sanitary. You load from front and drops from the back, maintaining the FIFO rotation,” said Keegan.

“With the other system, the rack was always pushed around on the wheels to different areas. With the Cambro #10 can rack, it fits right in the kitchen next to the other Cambro shelving racks. It looks like a sequence shelving system.”

This next generation of can storage will change your kitchen in way that wasn’t possible before. Contact your Cambro rep or visit cambro.com to add Cambro’s Ultimate #10 Can Rack to your foodservice operation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER AT CAMBRO.