Commercial Convection Oven for Baking in Kenya

In September 2015 Bake Wave decided to venture into an unchartered territory: Introducing the commercial convection oven for baking in Kenya, at a time when every baker believed that every electrical oven was a high consumer of power.

CONVECTION OVEN VS ROTARY OVEN

THE 3 TYPES OF BAKING OVENS

I can clearly understand their pain at this point in 2015 since the only ovens predominantly at that time for commercial baking were deck ovens and rotary ovens. Just to clarify further of all the three ovens used for commercial baking in Kenya some can be powered by electricity (100%), others by gas (95%) and electricity ( 5%), and finally for the rotary oven diesel (95%) and electricity ( 8%). They are hybrid models but in these models electricity consumption is negligible.

LIMITED OVEN OPTIONS BEFORE 2015

Gas deck ovens were not common by then, so one had to choose between an electric deck oven (100%) or a diesel rotary oven (hybrid). With deck ovens not improved and well insulated, the power consumption was very high, the only advantage was they were affordable. However, any bakery that could afford a rotary oven which by then was averaging (1.5M- 2.9M) Ksh depending on production capacity, was enjoying the best possible energy-efficient baking since the cost of diesel per liter by then was low. (Rotary ovens use between 2.5L – 4L of diesel per hour depending on the capacity of the oven). Their cost of loaf in terms of energy spent was definitely below 0.80ksh (80 cents).

INTRODUCING COMMERCIAL CONVECTION OVENS FOR BAKING IN KENYA

At this time trying to introduce an electric convection oven would definitely be going against the grain. Gas was even more difficult because even today there is a general fear of the use of gas ovens in commercial baking. A part could be because large volumes of gas are needed weekly and handling it could be a challenge. To cut the long story short, in 7 years Bake Wave has installed more than 150 commercial electric convection ovens across supermarkets, schools, cake shops, hospitals, etc.

HOW DID THIS NARATIVE CHANGE?

FIRST COMMERCIAL CONVECTION OVEN IN KENYA

It all began with the first buyer in September 2015. After trying to convince them for almost 1 month that a 14-tray electric convection oven would give you the same quality & baking efficiency as a rotary oven (though half in price & capacity as opposed to a rotary oven). Juja Ecomart Supermarket Kawangware finally decided to give Bakewave a chance.

The magic happened! The oven efficiency was much higher than expected. Producing 140 loaves per hour and electricity consumption of 5 units per hour (125ksh). This was definitely less than 1 KSH just like the rotary oven.

COMMERCIAL CONVECTION OVEN FOR BAKING SUCCESS IN KENYA

Bakewave installed the entire bakery which included dough mixers, proofer, bread slicer, and all baking accessories. We also provided free training on baked products and recipes.

EARLY ADOPTION

The project was so successful that 6 months later, Juja Ecomart set up a second bakery in their branch in Uthiru with the convection oven. In 2018 they opened a mega large bakery in their newest branch in Juja town.

The supermarket referred more than 10 clients in a span of 4 years and all have been set up. They allowed them to visit their bakeries and learn about the newly acquired project with such high efficiency. It’s important to note that a convection oven is such a modern oven equipped with the latest steaming technology and produces very high products: golden brown color for bread and soft crust.

MORE CLIENTS SWITCHING TO CONVECTION OVEN

Another notable client is Joflow Bakers in Kawangware. After learning the success story from Juja Ecomart Kawangware he bought his first 14 tray convection oven. To our surprise he came back later in 6 months and bought a second unit at that time each unit was going for 1.2M KSH.

He again came back 3^rd time to buy another convection oven but we sat down and advised him to consider a rotary oven since he was producing very large quantities of buns and scones for distribution. We managed to convince him to rotary oven but this time on the basis of the quantity of products to be baked. Energy consumption for both the convection oven and rotary was the same per packet of buns at that time.

In summary, these two success stories definitely say something about the commercial convection ovens used versus deck ovens or rotary ovens. Let’s look into the advantages of why Bake Wave beats the narrative that any commercial 100% electric oven consumes a lot of power. It is because of the following:

TOP 7 REASONS WHY COMMERCIAL CONVECTION OVEN FOR BAKING IS BETTER

1. Commercial convection is ideal for mid-level baking e.g. 1000 – 2000 loaves or packets per day.

This could be a mini–supermarket, a hot bread or cake shop business, a mini–bread or cake factory, a hospital bakery, or a school bakery.

This is because such bakeries described above, produce a variety of products and a convection oven is fast enough and ideal to produce such products.

NB: If your production is lower than this you can consider our 5-tray, 10-tray convection ovens that are available. This will adjust your efficiency to almost that of 14-tray convection oven.

2. Commercial Convection Ovens Consume less power.

For example, the 10 tray convection oven will produce 140 loaves per hour it will use 5 units of power.

1 unit of power is 25.00 ksh

5 units of power is 125.00ksh

Therefore: 1 loaf on power alone will cost (125 Ksh × 1 loaf) / 140 loaves = 0.89ksh

It will cost 0.89 ksh to produce a loaf in 14 tray convection oven at 70 loaves per batch of 25 minutes baking time.

NB: with the increasing diesel prices in Kenya today. This could be the best efficiency so far. However, a convection oven has a limit on capacity and can only produce a maximum of 1400 loaves per 10 hours of baking. Therefore very large bakeries producing more than 6,000 loaves, the rotary oven remains their option for now.

3. The convection ovens occupy less space

Bakewave’s journey to equip especially mini – supermarkets with bakeries has been challenged by space availability in such outlets. That’s why the convection oven was a perfect fit since it occupies less space as compared to both deck and convection ovens.

e.g  A 12 tray convection oven is only 1.2m wide by 1.4m deep and 2m high as compared to a 9 tray deck oven which is 1.6m wide by  0.8m deep and 1.5m high

4. The convection oven has the best baking uniformity 

This is in comparison to its predecessors: deck ovens and rotary ovens. To understand this more clearly we need to examine how it works.

How does a convection oven work?

One of the distinctive working principles is the availability of powerful fans inside the baking chamber. The work of these fans is to forcefully circulate hot air (heat), that is emitted from the small heating coils normally 1, 2, or 3 depending on the convection oven size.

This way of circulating heat is very efficient and this heat reaches all parts of the oven equally hence very high baking uniformity and lesser baking time is achieved. This leads to lower power consumption or fuel (in the case of gas)

It is not easy to achieve the same results in a rotary oven. You will be required to do several heat adjustments on the heat levels to achieve this. For the deck oven, you will be required to master the upper temperature and the lower temperature in a deck, plus the timing. Therefore the convection oven is easy to use and control.

5. The convection ovens require low maintenance

Among the three commercial types of the oven that is convection, deck, and rotary oven, a convection oven has the least maintenance.

Over the years the only major maintenance our Bake Wave technical team has carried out is cleaning the mesh covering the baking chamber to keep the small holes open to allow the fan to work properly without obstructing airflow.

This can be done by bakers themselves by making sure every day after baking they take a moist cloth and wipe the mesh interior of the convection oven. This will keep Bakewave technicians away!!!

6. Commercial convection ovens are more affordable as compared to rotary ovens.

A 12 tray Bake wave convection oven that can produce 100 loaves of bread per batch (200 loaves per hour) with tray size (40cm × 75 cm) will cost 1.25M +VAT as compared to a rotary oven of 120 loaves per batch which will cost 2.5M +VAT.

Also, note that a convection oven is faster and therefore you might end up with the same quantity as a rotary oven per given number of hours. Bakewave has now introduced 4 main commercial sizes of convection ovens. These include; convection oven 5 tray, 6 tray, 10 tray and 12 tray.

Commercial convection oven price in Kenya

Oven Model	No. of Trays	Bread/hr(400g)	Price(Kshs)
BWC05	5	60	390,500 + VAT
BWC06	6	80	610,500 + VAT
BWC010	10	140	858,000 + VAT
BWC012-T	12	200	1.25 M + VAT

Note: Tray size is 45cm ×65cm

Please comment after this blog to know the correct offer on the best price for these ovens.

The convection oven 10 tray is popular for hot bread shops & hotels.

What is the purpose of steam in a hot bread oven?

After loading your batch you will go to the steam timer and set how many seconds you want the oven to steam. When this steam at high temperatures touches your dough it causes an oven spring giving you that well-rounded, tight, turgid well-risen bread shape.

The second impact and the most important is that the crust (the outer visible layer of your baked product) attains a golden brown color and becomes soft

We all know customers will rush to pick the soft golden brown bread products: steam does magic to your bread or bread-related products such as buns, rolls, scones, special bread, etc.

Commercial convection ovens due to large powerful fans in the baking chamber heat circulation is highly improved and this reduces baking time. This avoids over-baking. Bakewave has also started deck ovens with steam.

7. Produces high-quality products.

7 years ago when Bake wave rolled out convection ovens one of our clients upgraded from deck oven to convection oven.

It was a hot bread shop and at the same time doing bread supplies to neighboring shops in Syokimau where it is located.

For the first one week, our client had too much difficulty to convince her buyers that she baked that bread in her bakery. Because her buyers thought she bought high-quality loaves elsewhere, repacked then supplied to them. It was unbelievable!

The quality of final baked products from a convection oven is breathtaking. Whether it’s bread, cakes, buns, cons rolls, etc. you will clearly see a distinction.

Why is this possible? 

Reasons why a commercial convection oven for baking produces the highest quality of baked products.

Most convection ovens are equipped with a steaming function so let’s examine the negative effects of over-baking.

1. Drives off excess moisture from your baked product making it hard and dry.
2. A lot of time taken therefore reduces your overall production target
3. Higher electric power consumption for electric ovens and more gas consumption in the case of gas ovens.

In a convection oven, you are able to avoid the three challenges above and end up with a high-quality baked product produced at a lower cost.

Check the video below for the new highly improved Bakewave 12 tray commercial convection oven and leave your comments below.

Commercial Convection Oven in Kenya;12 Tray with Trolley

Convection oven 12 Tray VS deck oven 3 deck 9 tray. WHO WILL WIN?!

CONVECTION OVEN FAQs