Creating a revolutionary appliance that prepares food in a fraction of the time it would take using a conventional oven has fueled investor fancy. After three years of research the company introduced its first commercial oven in March of 1994. While there have been technological enhancements since the original D-1 model, the oven's process has remained relatively unchanged. Hot air is circulated through the oven at high speeds to cook the food from the outside in, while microwaves help ready the food from the inside out. Steak and lobster, which may require a half-hour or longer of cooking time in a conventional oven, are ready in just two minutes.
Technology is nothing without validity.
While working versions of TurboChef's supercharged baking devices have been around since 1994, its acceptance has been as slow as its cooking speeds are fast. The first step came when the company teamed up with Britain's Whitbread PLC just fifteen months after the D-1's introduction. Yet, foodservice sales, a potentially more lucrative segment than the home kitchen market, were slow to materialize. TurboChef's product made sense. It made sense, but it didn't make cents.