Our Vented Tray Drying Rack has a new name – it’s now the Cook’s Brand Vented Sheet Pan & Tray Drying Rack because we’ve added a new sheet pan insert to our offering. This new insert has slides at 2” apart to hold six sheet pans where the current tray insert is at a 3” spacing. When this rack was originally launched it included inserts at 3” spacing which is ‘universal’ and can hold 4 rows of insulated trays, sheet pans, even 2-1/2” deep steam table pans or pan lids. According to Tim Saner, VP of Sales with Cook’s, “Many of our customers were using the original rack for cafeteria trays and sheet pans only and asked for an insert that would optimize the racks storage volume.” With the new sheet pan insert, the capacity of the rack is increased by 50% for sheet pans or cafeteria and compartment trays that are less than 2” D. Where you could get four sheet pans in an insert you now get six. The small 54”W rack has four shelves with each shelf holding four inserts. That means the capacity of the small rack with the original insert at 3” spacing is four pans per insert x four inserts per shelf x four shelves: for a total capacity of 64 sheet pans. With the new insert at 2” spacing, the capacity is increased by 50% to 96 sheet pans, held in the same amount of space. In the larger 78” rack, you can hold 144 sheet pans with the new sheet pan insert compared to 96 sheet pans with the universal insert.
The Vented Sheet Pan and Tray Drying Rack is designed to replace traditional stainless steel or aluminum tray drying racks with solid shelves. The Cook’s Brand Vented Sheet Pan and Tray Drying Racks have two parts; an all welded stainless steel, square tube frame in a 54” or 78” width and vented polycarbonate self inserts that fit on the frame; either the 3” universal spacing or the 2” sheet pan spacing. The 54” wide rack holds 16 inserts and the large 78” wide rack holds 24 inserts. Because the inserts are vented, air can circulate under and around the sheet pans or trays significantly reducing drying time and there is no water pooling on the tray shelves. No more serving meals on damp trays or grabbing a wet sheet pan for food prep. Sanitation is improved because the polycarbonate rack inserts can easily withstand the high heat and chemicals used in warewashing to go through the dish machine without risk of damage. They can also easily be washed in a pot sink for speed and efficiency.
With the introduction of the new insert, the rack has also been redesigned so that there is about an inch more space between shelves to better accommodate full size sheet pans. With this change, the racks are now 75-1/4”tall, where they had been only 71” in height. Because of this change, they are not retrofittable to racks produced prior to January of 2021. Be aware, the new sheet pan inserts will fit on earlier rack models but without the additional space between shelves the insert capacity cannot be fully utilized. The Vented Tray Drying Rack is a Cook’s Brand product which is exclusive to Cook’s. All Cook’s Brand products are “Made for Corrections”.
