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About Broaster

The Broaster Company, headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin, markets and licenses the Genuine Broaster Chicken®, Broaster® Recipe Express, and Bro-Tisserie® food programs worldwide to a wide range of restaurants, supermarkets, bars, nightclubs, convenience stores, and military, institutional, and governmental foodservice operations through a network of authorized distributors. The company also manufactures a full line of specialty foodservice equipment, blends a complete line of marinades and breadings, and markets an expanding line of ready-to-cook, frozen foods to foodservice operations under the Broaster® Recipe Foods brand name.

Brief History

  • “Broasting” – a revolutionary method of preparing chicken, meats, and fish by combining pressure cooking and deep frying concepts, is introduced by Flavor Fast Foods, Inc., in Rockton, Illinois. Flavor Fast Foods is formed under the leadership of Mr. L.A.M. Phalen and staffed by people associated with Tekni-Craft, manufacturers of the Taylor Freezer line.

  • 1954 – The Broaster Company, a 4-man partnership of Tom Payne (lead partner), Walter Blakely, Jerold Spates, and Jack Vos, is formed and begins selling the Broaster line of specialty foodservice equipment, accessories, and food product ingredients through a nationwide distributor organization.  The new company trademarks the words “Broaster” and “Broasted Foods”, protecting the right to use them to only The Broaster Company and its varied group of distributors and licensed commercial foodservice operators using Broaster pressure fryers, marinades, and seasoning products.

  • 1970 – The Broaster Company is purchased by Alco Standard Corporation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, a company engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of a broad line of premium quality foodservice equipment.  The original 4-man partnership is dissolved and William Johnson is installed as the Company's first president.

  • 1977 – Broaster outgrows its Rockton, Illinois facility and moves its entire operation to a newly erected 56,000 sq. ft. facility on 3 acres of land in Beloit, Wisconsin.  

  • 1979 – Broaster/Alco purchases the rights to manufacture and sell the Clark Broiler, a countertop plug-in electric unit.  

  • 1982 – Broaster/Alco purchases Merco Products, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon, and consolidates it with The Broaster Company.  

  • 1991 – Alco sells The Broaster Company to a group of private investors. Jerry Mohr, Broaster’s president, is promoted to Chief Operating Officer and manages the newly independent company for the investor group for the next 12 years.  

  • 1992 – Broaster® Recipe Foods Division is begun. Twelve years later, this division established to market a line of high quality frozen foods, accounts for 50% of Broaster’s total volume.

  • 1998 – a new administrative and training facility is constructed at the Beloit site to accommodate continuing growth.

  • 2003 – Jerry Mohr retires.  Richard Schrank, a 12-year veteran of the company, succeeds him as President/COO.

  • 2004 - Broaster celebrates it 50th anniversary in the foodservice industry.

Unique and Interesting Facts

  • Genuine Broaster Chicken®, the company’s signature product, is marketed via a no-cost licensing arrangement with Broaster operators, rather than as a franchise. To be a Broaster Trademark operator, an operator must cook the product in a Broaster Company manufactured pressure fryer using Broaster’s proprietary marinades and seasonings, follow prescribed preparation instructions, and sign a trademark license agreement. There are no ongoing fees such as associated with food franchises – operators control and keep their profits.  

  • During 2004, Broaster introduced a new variety of pressure-fried chicken called Broasterie®.  Broasterie Chicken is prepared and coated with a special marinade and seasoning for a delicious, rotisserie chicken flavor. However, as the product is actually pressure-fried rather than rotisserie-baked, Broasterie Chicken is more tender, juicy, and flavorful than rotisserie-baked chicken while offering a comparable nutritional profile. And, all this is done in a fraction of the cook time (13 minutes in a pressure fryer vs. 60-90  minutes in a rotisserie oven).  (See news release and sell sheet for additional information.)  

Note:  Broaster also offers a rotisserie-cooked product called Bro-Tisserie®.  This product begins with fresh whole chicken seasoned in a proprietary Broaster seasoning and cooked in a Broaster Company manufactured rotisserie oven.  Broasterie® and Bro-Tisserie® chicken have very similar nutritional profiles.

  • Broaster chicken entrees, whether pressure-fried Genuine Broaster Chicken®, pressure-fried Broasterie® Chicken, or rotisserie-baked Bro-Tisserie® Chicken, offer a fraction of the carbs of the leading national brand – KFC Original Recipe chicken.  Broaster also tops KFC with fewer calories and less fat in most instances.

  • Broaster now offers ventless countertop fryers. Named the VF-2 (ventless fryer, 2 lb. capacity) and VF-3 (ventless fryer, 3 lb. capacity), these units are targeted at businesses wishing to offer hot, grab-n-go type foods without having to invest in a kitchen and/or costly ventilation and hood systems. This  equipment is paired along with the Broaster® Recipe line of prepared individually quick frozen foods and offered as a licensed trademark food program called Broaster® Recipe Express.

  • The Broaster® Recipe line of frozen food products offers three seafood selections – Premium 1 oz. Cod Fillets, Premium Better Batter Recipe Shrimp (deveined and tail-off), and Catfish Tenders. The Broaster® Recipe line also includes a unique dessert product – Fried Mini Cheesecakes!

  • Broaster provides a wide range of food, equipment, supplies, and packaging, thereby allowing Broaster operators to preserve, marinate, bread, cook, hold, showcase, and package their foods using products available from a single source!

  • L.A.M. Phelan, the inventor of the world-famous Broaster pressure fryer, was also responsible for building the first automatic gasoline pump, the first automatic toilet, and the first automatic commercial refrigerator.

  • Darryl Hannah was a model very early in her career for one of Broaster’s print advertisements.

  • Don and Diron Talbert, both professional football players of some renown, own a convenience store in Rosenberg, Texas that features Genuine Broaster Chicken®.  Diron was with the Washington Redskins for 14 years and played in Superbowl VII.

  • Three Broaster operations in the Washington, DC area were featured in a story about Broaster that appeared on the front page of the food section of the April 21, 2004 edition of the Washington Post (click here to read story)

  • We’ve been told that “broasted chicken” has been mentioned in the following TV episodes:

    • West Wing – In season 3, episode 227221, titled "We Killed Yamamoto," which originally aired in May 2002, Josh Lyman said: "Better to look chicken than to get broasted." Then an unidentified staffer said: "What's broasted?" Then Josh said: "I've never really known, but it's what they do to chickens."

    • Better Off Ted – January 5, 2010 episode on ABC. The two research scientist characters in this comedy show, Lem and Phil, are discussing having lunch. Lem: "It's Broasted Chicken Day in the cafeteria. That will give us another chance to figure out what 'broasting' is." Phil: "I do want to get to the bottom of that. Ok, we'll have lunch. I just hope it's not a typo like that 'butter crotch' pudding." A little later in the same episode, Phil and Lem are shown in the cafeteria with plates of Broasted Chicken. Phil: "Lem, I talked to the chef. It turns out that 'broasting' is a combination of, and I'm quoting, roasting and get the hell out of my kitchen!"

  • Broaster foods were featured in a segment of the Steve and DC Show, a radio program recorded in St. Louis which is picked up by 31 stations in 13 states. Click here for a sound clip from that show (3325k mp3 file). 

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