Baker Perkins automatic ovens for volume production of popular "convenience foods"

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Carton boxes with red bottoms that are products from Holloway House  on both the left and right hand side of pages on the ad including: Swiss Steaks, Stuffed Green Peppers, Cooked Salisbury Steak, and Stuffed Cabbage Rolls 

Cartoon image of a red house with three windows and a door 

Cartoon image going from the left side of the page all the way to the right side of a direct gas fired tunnel oven with piece of food inside each compartment 

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#Baker Perkins automatic ovens for volume production of popular convenience foods 

Baker Perkins, long recognized as the leader in building high performance ovens and equipment for the baking industry, has now designed and built ovens and automated systems specifically for the volume of production of a full range of ‘convenience food.” Holloway House, the frozen food division of the John R. Thompson Company, has installed a Baker Perkins Direct Gas Fired Tunnel Oven in their new Lafayette, Indiana, plant for baking meat products such as salisbury steak… cabbage rolls… stuffed green peppers… and swiss steak in both retail and institutional sized foils. High standards of quality are rigidly maintained and production is fully automated from automatic loading and unloading of the 107’6'“ long oven to the packaging and cartoning lines. The oven is equipped with a Baker Perkins system for the automatic draining of excess meat liquids generated during cooking. 

Why not let a Baker Perkins sales engineer show you how B-P experience and engineering skill can help you in the volume of your products. 

[additional notes]

Themes: cooking as the enemy, high volume, massive output, fast-paced food, speed, quality, uniformity 

• the cartoon-like images of the convenience foods adds to the narrative of ‘home-cooked’ meals while also alluding to the effectivness of making something simple, without having to do the ‘laborious’ task of cooking 

• the use of the word ‘popular’ demonstrates that the foods being chosen are based on what the public deems as ‘essential foods’ 

• What does that say about the American diet in emphasizing meats and steaks? 

• foods are being confined to mass production rather than just the intensification of flavors, multiple tastes

• difference in the way food is presented in comparison to other journals: food should be made in volumes, and be made easier for the public to consume 

• insitutional settings are arising within these ads not only along retail: the workforce and jobs-need food for lunch/dinners in a timely manner

What is a Direct Gas Fired Tunnel Oven and what does it do? 

• industrial baking system with gas burners located in the baking chamber, products are exposed to intense heat, products move on a conveyor, the heat maintains the structure

• allows for quick baking 

• high volume of outputs 

Why was there a rise of insitutional foods in the 60s?

• workforce participation 

• Baby Boomers leads to more readily available options in schools, hopsital 

• standardization

• push for better prepared dining options at a fast rate 

[Karlene Rodriguez]