Oven company breaks record for sales

Rational North America announced today that the Rational North American Distribution Centre shipped a record-breaking 10,000 SelfCookingCenter® Combi ovens to customers across the United States and Canada. 

The North American Rational install base now exceeds 60,000 units, solidifying Rational’s position as the market leader within this foodservice equipment category.  

Apart from being the first manufacturer in North America to cross this milestone, year-over-year shipments in 2018 show an increase of 50 percent over 2017, exceeding category growth rates. Rational Combi oven market share is estimated at 45 percent in the United States and 65 percent in Canada, demonstrating clear customer preference for the Rational brand.

Rational employs 150 people focused on the Combi oven market segment in the United States and Canada. “At the beginning of the year, shipping over 10,000 units was our goal. Today I am proud to say that we surpassed it. The North American team’s determined focus on delivering unmatched customer benefit enabled us to grow our business across all customer segments. We have a tremendous amount of momentum, and as Combi technology gains greater acceptance in our market, we anticipate further growth,” said Markus Glueck, executive vice president of Rational North America in a press release.   

Common in European commercial kitchens for four decades, Combi technology is now gaining traction in North America where approximately 20 percent of relevant foodservice locations purchase Combis, often in place of ovens.  However, with the capability to steam, blanch, poach, bake, roast, sear, fry, grill, smoke, sous-vide, overnight cook & hold, and much more, Combis frequently replace several pieces of kitchen equipment. This unexpected multi-functionality combined with advanced intelligence needs to be experienced to be embraced, so RATIONAL invests heavily in live programs ranging from cooking demonstrations, to trade show pop-up restaurants, to culinary school seminars.

In 2018 alone, nearly 33,000 chefs and commercial kitchen operators and more than 7,000 culinary school students, were introduced to the Rational SelfCookingCenter®. The Rational Culinary School Initiative prepares future chefs for the next generation of culinary excellence.