Find Your Charbroiler

Charbroilers.com carries Atosa's two countertop gas charbroiler lines: the radiant ATRC, in natural gas or propane, and the lava rock ATCB, in natural gas. Every model uses one 35,000 BTU burner per 12" zone, each with its own manual control and standby pilot, under heavy-duty reversible cast iron grates. Choose by width (how many zones your busiest hour needs), heat medium (clean radiant heat or smoky lava rock) and fuel.

For full sizing, gas, hood, installation and care details on every model, read our complete commercial charbroiler guide. Questions? Call or text Sean at 206-419-5801.

What Is a Commercial Charbroiler?

A commercial charbroiler is a heavy-duty gas grill built for restaurant service. The heat comes from below: burners sit under open cast iron grates, with a layer of radiants or lava rock between the flame and the food. Food cooks from radiant heat and hot air rising through the grates, while the hot bars sear grill marks into the surface.

The open grate is what separates a charbroiler from the other cooking surfaces on a hot line:

• Griddle (flat top): a solid steel plate. Food cooks in contact with the plate and its own fat, giving an even brown crust. Best for smash burgers, eggs, pancakes and cheesesteaks.
• Charbroiler: open grates over flame. Fat drips away, marks form where the bars touch, and smoke from drippings flavors the food. Best for steaks, thick burgers, chicken, fish and vegetables.
• Salamander or cheese melter: heat from above. Used for finishing, browning and melting, not grilling.
• Backyard grill: built for occasional outdoor use, usually with a lid. A commercial countertop charbroiler is open-top, certified for commercial kitchens, and, per Atosa's manual, not for outdoor use.

How Charbroiling Creates Its Flavor

Three things happen at once on a charbroiler, and together they make the flavor guests call "flame-grilled":

1. Searing. Where the food touches the hot cast iron bars, its surface browns quickly. That browning, the Maillard reaction between proteins and sugars, creates hundreds of savory, roasted flavor compounds and the dark grill marks guests look for.
2. Drippings turn into smoke. Fat and juices fall onto the hot radiants or lava rock below, sizzle, vaporize and rise back up as smoke and flame. That smoke deposits flavor on the food. This is the part a griddle cannot copy.
3. Fat renders away. Because the grate is open, rendered fat drains off instead of pooling around the food. The result is a drier, crustier surface and a lighter-tasting finished item.

Lava rock grills push the second step harder: porous rock catches more drippings and flares more, for a heavier smoky char. Radiant grills give a cleaner char with fewer flare-ups. Both use the same burners and grates in the Atosa line. Read more in radiant vs. lava rock.

Restaurants Built Around the Charbroiler

Some of the most successful restaurant formats put the charbroiler at the center of the menu and the brand. "Charbroiled" and "flame-grilled" on a menu tell guests what to expect before they order. Common formats and the grill that usually fits them:

What these operations do well. They build the menu around the grill's zones so every zone has a job at peak. They keep the grates clean and seasoned so marks are consistent plate after plate. They cook by thermometer, not by feel, so doneness is consistent no matter who is on the line. And they plan the hood, gas supply and grill size together before opening, so the station can actually handle the rush the concept is built for.

The Charbroiled Burger, Start to Finish

Charbroilers.com started as a burger site, and the charbroiled burger is still the single most common reason restaurants buy a charbroiler. Getting it right starts long before the patty hits the grate.

Choosing the blend

Fat is flavor and moisture on a charbroiler, but it is also fuel for flare-ups. Most restaurant burger programs land around 80% lean / 20% fat. Leaner blends dry out quickly on open grates; much fattier blends flare and shrink.

Grinding in-house

Grinding your own meat gives control over the blend, the texture and the freshness, and it becomes a selling point on the menu. It also adds food safety responsibility.

• Keep everything cold. Chill the meat and the grinder parts (plate, knife, auger) before grinding. Warm fat smears instead of cutting cleanly, which makes dense, greasy patties.
• Cube and chill. Cut meat into cubes that fit the grinder throat and chill them until firm before grinding.
• Coarse, then fine if you want. A single coarse grind gives a loose, open texture; a second pass through a finer plate gives a tighter patty that holds together better on grates.
• Blend gently. Mix cuts by hand or with a mixer only until combined. Overmixing makes tough burgers.
• Clean and sanitize the grinder thoroughly after use.
• Check your local rules. The FDA Food Code calls for record-keeping when retail food establishments grind raw beef, and many health departments enforce it. Ask your inspector what your jurisdiction requires.

Forming patties for the grate

• Weigh every portion. A portion scale keeps patties consistent, which keeps cook times and food cost consistent.
• Thickness: charbroiler burgers are usually about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Very thin smash-style patties are a griddle item; they fall apart and overcook on grates.
• Wider than the bun. Patties shrink as fat renders. Form them a little wider than the bun.
• Dimple the center. A shallow thumbprint in the middle keeps the patty from puffing into a dome as it cooks.
• Don't overwork. Handle the meat just enough to hold together. Pressing and kneading makes a tight, dry burger.
• Keep them cold until they go on the grill. Cold patties hold together on the grates; warm ones crumble.
• Season at the grill. Salt the outside just before cooking. Salt mixed into the blend early changes the texture toward sausage.

Cooking burgers on a charbroiler

1. Preheat 15 to 20 minutes, as Atosa recommends, then scrape and oil the grates.
2. Grease-trough side up. Atosa's reversible grates have a trough side for fatty foods that carries grease to the catch tray, which cuts flare-ups.
3. Set your zones. Hot zone for marking, medium zone for cooking through, low zone for holding and buns. On a 24" grill, run hot and medium.
4. Mark, then move. Set patties on the hot zone at an angle to the bars. Let them sear until they release on their own. Give a quarter turn for crosshatch marks if you want them, then flip.
5. Don't press. Pressing squeezes out juice, dries the burger and feeds flare-ups.
6. Finish on medium until the burger reaches your target temperature.
7. Melt cheese on the cool zone, under a dome or a hotel pan, for the last minute.
8. Toast the buns cut side down on the cool zone. A few seconds gives marks; longer gives crunch.
9. Rest briefly. A short rest lets juices settle so they don't all run into the bun. Burgers carry over a few degrees while resting.

Burger temperature chart

Doneness is a temperature, not a time. Cook times change with thickness, fat, how cold the patty is and how hot the zone is. A calibrated probe thermometer in the center of the patty is the only reliable check.

The food safety rules are different from the doneness chart. Grinding moves surface bacteria into the middle of the meat, which is why ground beef is treated differently from whole steaks:

• FDA Food Code (what restaurants are inspected against in most states): ground beef cooked to 155°F for 17 seconds. The Code also lists equivalent time and temperature combinations, such as 150°F for 1 minute, 145°F for 3 minutes, or 158°F for less than 1 second.
• USDA consumer guidance: 160°F for ground beef.
• Undercooked burgers (medium-rare, medium) can be served in many jurisdictions only on guest request and with a consumer advisory on the menu, and generally not to highly susceptible populations. Your health department's adopted code is the rule.

Burger troubleshooting

Cooking on a Commercial Charbroiler

Whatever is on the menu, the same fundamentals produce good results on a charbroiler.

Before service

• Light and preheat 15 to 20 minutes before the first ticket so the grates are fully hot.
• Scrape and oil the grates. Clean, hot, oiled grates are the single biggest factor in food releasing cleanly.
• Choose the grate side. Trough side up for fatty items, flat side up for fish and vegetables.
• Set your zones to match the menu: a sear zone, a cook-through zone and a hold zone.
• Check the catch tray is in place and empty.

During service

• Dry the surface of proteins before seasoning. Moisture steams instead of searing.
• Load back to front so the oldest item is always closest to the cook.
• Wait for the release. Food sticks until a crust forms, then lets go. Forcing it tears.
• Use the cooler zones for thick cuts, bone-in chicken and anything glazed with sugar.
• Manage flare-ups by moving food, never by spraying water on a gas grill.
• Thermometer on every protein that needs one. Poultry 165°F; whole-muscle meats and fish 145°F for 15 seconds under the FDA Food Code.
• Scrape between loads to keep carbon off the next item.

Menu items at a glance

After service

1. Burn off on high for a few minutes, then turn every control to "0".
2. Let the grill cool. Atosa's manual requires all valves off and the unit cool before cleaning.
3. Brush and scrape the grates, clean the back support brace and the catch tray, and oil them.
4. Wipe the body and panel with a soft cloth and mild detergent.
5. Never hose or pressure wash the grill; only the catch tray can be washed with water.

Choosing the Right Charbroiler

1. Width

Each 12" of width is one zone. Count the zones your busiest hour needs at once: a 24" (two zones) suits bars, cafés and trucks; a 36" (three zones) suits most restaurants; a 48" (four zones) suits steakhouses and high-volume lines.

2. Radiant or lava rock

Radiant ATRC models give clean, even heat, fewer flare-ups and less upkeep, and they come in natural gas or propane. Lava rock ATCB models give a heavier, smokier char and need the rock spread, turned and replaced over time.

3. Fuel

Order the gas you have at the cooking line. Natural gas models use a 4" W.C. regulator; propane models use 10" W.C. Converting between gases is a job for a licensed technician only.

4. Hood and gas supply

Atosa's manual requires a hood per local regulations, and gas underfired broilers are classed as heavy-duty cooking appliances under the International Mechanical Code. Confirm the hood and your gas supply can handle 70,000 to 140,000 BTU/hr before you order.

5. Installation and support

Plan a licensed installer, a non-combustible stand or chef base rated for the weight (116.8 to 247.8 lb net), and 6" of clearance at the sides and back.

The full checklist is in the before you order section of our charbroiler guide.

Keeping a Charbroiler in Prime Condition

• Every use: clean the catch tray; scrape the grates.
• Daily: clean the body, panel, grates and back support brace; oil the grates.
• Weekly: scrape the radiants, or turn and check the lava rock; watch the burner flames (steady and mostly blue).
• As needed: full grate seasoning (oil, then 45 minutes open, uncovered); replace saturated lava rock.
• Yearly: inspection by an authorized, licensed technician, as Atosa's manual requires.

Step-by-step instructions are in our guide's cleaning, seasoning and troubleshooting sections.

Common Questions About Commercial Charbroilers

What is the difference between a charbroiler and a griddle?

A charbroiler cooks on open grates over flame, giving grill marks and smoke flavor while fat drips away. A griddle cooks on a solid steel plate, giving an even crust with food cooking in its own fat. Many kitchens run both side by side.

Radiant or lava rock: which is better?

Neither is better overall. Lava rock gives more flare-up and a heavier smoky flavor but needs rock upkeep. Radiant gives cleaner, more consistent heat with less maintenance and comes in propane versions. Both Atosa lines share the same burners, BTU and grates.

What size charbroiler do I need?

Count the 12" zones you need at your busiest hour. Most full-service restaurants start at 36". Bars and food trucks often run 24". Steakhouses and high-volume lines usually need 48".

How hot does a commercial charbroiler get?

Atosa rates output, not grate temperature: 35,000 BTU per burner, 70,000 to 140,000 BTU per grill. Grate temperature depends on how high each zone is set and how long it has preheated.

What temperature should burgers be cooked to?

The FDA Food Code standard for ground beef in restaurants is 155°F for 17 seconds (or equivalent combinations). The USDA consumer recommendation is 160°F. Serving burgers less done generally requires a consumer advisory and depends on your health department.

Do I need a hood?

Yes. Atosa's manual requires installation under an exhaust hood per local regulations. Confirm hood type and fire suppression with your local code official.

Can I use a commercial charbroiler outdoors?

Not the Atosa models. Atosa's manual says not to use them outdoors.

Natural gas or propane?

Use what you have at the cooking line. Propane models suit food trucks and kitchens without a gas main; natural gas suits fixed restaurants. Burner output is the same.

How do I keep food from sticking?

Preheat fully, scrape the grates clean, oil them, dry the food's surface, and don't move it until it releases. Keep the grates seasoned.

How long does a charbroiler take to preheat?

Atosa recommends turning the burners on about 15 to 20 minutes before cooking.

Why does a new charbroiler smoke?

The first heat-up burns off protective oil from the factory. Atosa says it clears after about an hour at maximum. Do the burn-in with the hood on and no food on the grill.

What certifications do Atosa charbroilers have?

cETLus and ETL-Sanitation; they conform to NSF/ANSI Standard 4 and ANSI Z83.11b and are certified to CSA 1.8b. Warranty is 1 year parts and labor, US only.

Ready to choose? Compare all 9 Atosa charbroilers, or call or text Sean at 206-419-5801.