Formerly | Taylor Freezer Corporation |
---|---|
Industry | Retail food processing equipment manufacturing |
Founded | 1926 |
Headquarters | |
Parent | Middleby |
Website | taylor-company |
Taylor Company, previously known as Taylor Freezer Corporation, is an American manufacturer of food service equipment located in Rockton, Illinois. [1] They are known as the supplier and maker of several machines that McDonald's uses, including their grills and many of their ice cream machines. Although known for soft serve machines, the company also offers commercial grills, frozen and carbonated beverage units, frozen cocktail machines, batch freezers, smoothie equipment, and shake equipment. [2]
The company was founded in 1926 by Charles Taylor, a third-generation ice cream maker from Buffalo, New York, who invented an automated countertop ice cream freezer [3] that allowed restaurants to manufacture their own ice cream from mix. [4] The machine stores liquid ingredients in a hopper and freezes them in another chamber. Blades scrape the frozen product off the walls and send it to a nozzle. [5] Taylor's invention has been reported as the first soft serve ice cream machine. [6] Inventor L.A.M. Phelan became the company's president in 1928. [7] From 1945 to 1955, Taylor Freezer Corp. franchised the Zesto Drive-In restaurant concept, which was centered around the "Zest-O-Mat" frozen custard machine that Phelan developed and Taylor sold. In 1945, Phelan organized Tekni-Craft, a pioneering worker cooperative that operated Taylor's manufacturing facilities. [7]
In 1956, the company made a handshake agreement with Ray Kroc of McDonald's Corporation to supply milkshake machines for the fast food chain. [8]
The company was acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1967. [9] In 1985, the company was sold to Specialty Equipment Companies along with other former Beatrice operations. [10] Specialty Equipment Companies was purchased by United Technologies in 2000 and merged into its Carrier unit. [11] Middleby Corporation of Elgin, Illinois, acquired Taylor from United Technologies' UTC Climate, Controls & Security division in 2018 in a deal valued at $1 billion. [12]
Equipment is not sold directly from the manufacturing location, but the company operates using a distribution system model with distributors based around the world. [13] The company has a support network for installation and maintenance of their machines. [14]
As of 2021, the Taylor C602 ice cream machine is found in more than 13,000 McDonald's locations in the United States and many more around the world. [5] These Taylor ice cream machines can make milkshakes, soft serve ice cream, sundaes, [8] and the McFlurry dessert; rather than use gravity, they actively pump the ice cream material through it, allowing far higher throughput and production than "standard" ice cream machines. [5]
Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food colouring is sometimes added in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. It can also be made by whisking a flavoured cream base and liquid nitrogen together. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.
A milkshake is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may also be made using a base made from non-dairy products, including plant milks such as almond milk, coconut milk, or soy milk. Dry ingredients such as whole fruit, nuts, seeds, candy, or cookies may be incorporated.
Drumstick is the brand name, owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners, for a variety of frozen dessert-filled ice cream cones sold in the United States, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and other countries. The original product was invented by I.C. Parker of the Drumstick Company of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1928.
An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a cold-food specialty food truck or a mobile retail outlet for pre-packaged ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play – outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street. Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, and this often displays pictures of the available products and their prices. Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice pops in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake, a sugary syrup, or toppings such as sprinkles. While franchises or chains are rare within the ice cream truck community, some do exist.
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The machine combines flavored syrup or syrup concentrate and carbon dioxide with chilled and purified water to make soft drinks, either manually, or in a vending machine which is essentially an automated soda fountain that is operated using a soda gun. Today, the syrup often is pumped from a special container called a bag-in-box (BiB).
A sundae is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, peanuts, maraschino cherries, or other fruits.
An ice cream float or ice cream soda, also known as a spider in Australia and New Zealand, is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.
Carvel is an American ice cream franchise owned by GoTo Foods. Carvel is best known for its soft-serve ice cream and ice cream cakes, which feature a layer of distinctive "crunchies". It also sells a variety of novelty ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches. Its slogan is "America's Freshest Ice Cream".
Ice cream parlors or ice cream parlours are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream, and/or soft serve, which is usually dispensed by a machine with a limited number of flavors. Ice cream parlors generally offer a number of flavors and items. Parlors often serve ice cream and other frozen desserts in cones, cups or dishes, the latter two to be eaten with a spoon. Some ice cream parlors prepare ice cream desserts such as sundaes or milkshakes, or even a blend.
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Redenbacher's, Swiss Miss, Peter Pan, Avis, Milk Duds, Samsonite, Playtex, La Choy and Dannon.
Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company is an American designer, marketer and distributor of home appliances and commercial restaurant equipment marketed primarily in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including blenders, mixers, toasters, slow cookers, clothes irons, and air purifiers.
Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert and variety of ice cream, similar to conventional ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the late 1930s in the United States.
Tastee-Freez is an American franchised fast-food restaurant specializing in soft serve ice cream. Its corporate headquarters is in Newport Beach, California, and the chain has stores in four states. The first Tastee-Freez was established in Keithsburg, Illinois, and Tastee-Freez products are now available at four remaining ice cream stores and approximately 375 locations of quick-serve restaurants, Wienerschnitzel and Original Hamburger Stand.
Marble Slab Creamery is an American chain of ice cream shops owned by FAT Brands. Its corporate offices are in Atlanta, Georgia.
Zesto is a licensed trademark owned by TJ Group Investments, LLC and currently used by a significant amount of independently owned restaurants and independent franchise chains who sublicense the trademark to franchise owners. Until 1955, Zesto Drive-In was a chain of drive-in restaurants franchised by Taylor Freezer Corp., featuring ice cream and frozen custard. They are recognized for their ice cream favorites such as avalanches, milkshakes, sundaes and ice cream sodas, to name a few.
Electro Freeze is an Ali Group brand specializing in the manufacturing of frozen dessert machines including soft serve machines, shake machines, slush machines, and batch freezers, and is a division of H.C. Duke & Son LLC. It is most known for being the soft serve machine used by Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Sonic Drive-In, as well as many other soft serve ice cream establishments.
L. A. M. Phelan (1884–1971) was an American businessman and inventor. He is known mainly as inventor of the broaster equipment and method for pressure-cooking chicken, and founder of the Broaster Company.
Parfait is either of two types of dessert. In France, where the dish originated, parfait is made by boiling cream, egg, sugar and syrup to create a custard-like or meringue-like puree which is then frozen. The American version consists of layers differentiated by the inclusion of such ingredients as granola, nuts, yogurt and liqueurs, topped off with fruits or whipped cream.
The Middleby Corporation is an American publicly traded commercial and residential cooking and industrial process equipment company based in Elgin, Illinois. The company manufactures commercial cooking equipment, industrial processing equipment, and residential appliances. The commercial cooking equipment side of Middleby does business with 97 out of the top 100 food service chains in the United States and internationally.
The McDonald's fast food chain has used multiple ice cream machines at its various locations, but the chain has primarily operated those made by the Taylor Company. In 1956, Ray Kroc, who would soon become the founding owner-operator of the McDonald's franchise business, made a handshake agreement with the Taylor Company to supply milkshake machines for the fast food chain as its exclusive supplier. The two companies have continued to cooperate to the present day.