A commercial griddle in Australia is the quiet workhorse behind almost every café breakfast, burger service and brunch rush in the country. That flat, heated steel plate is where eggs, bacon, pancakes, smashed patties, halloumi and onions all hit the heat at once — and the right unit can be the difference between smooth service and a queue out the door. Whether you call it a griddle, a commercial hotplate or a flat top grill, choosing the wrong one is an expensive mistake to live with for the next decade.
This commercial griddle buying guide cuts through the jargon. We'll compare gas versus electric, chrome versus mild-steel plate, walk through sizing for your covers, and cover the cleaning routine that keeps a griddle cooking evenly for years. By the end you'll know exactly which flat top suits your café, burger joint or breakfast service — and roughly what to budget. We sell new, warranty-backed griddles, so we'll be upfront about that, but the goal here is to help you buy the right plate for your kitchen.
What Is a Commercial Griddle, Hotplate or Flat Top Grill?
A commercial griddle is a flat, solid cooking surface — usually mild steel, chrome or a composite plate, set in a stainless steel construction body — heated from below by gas burners or electric heating elements. Food cooks by direct contact with the cooking surface, which gives you that even, edge-to-edge heat and the signature seared finish on a burger patty or a stack of pancakes. Good temperature control across the plate is what separates a workhorse griddle from a frustrating one.
In Australian kitchens the terms griddle, hotplate and flat top grill are used almost interchangeably, and that's fine — they all describe the same flat-surface cooking equipment. (A char grill or chargrill, by contrast, has raised bars and produces grill lines, so it's a different beast.) What matters when you're buying is not the name on the spec sheet but four decisions: the heat source, the plate material, the size, and how easily it cleans.
The commercial griddle range runs from a compact 300 mm benchtop unit for a small café through to a 1,200 mm floor-standing flat top grill in a high-volume burger kitchen. Whatever you cook on it — patties, eggs, pancakes or onions — get those four decisions right and the rest falls into place.
Gas vs Electric Griddle: Which Heat Source Suits Your Kitchen?
The gas-versus-electric question is the first fork in the road, and the right answer depends on your site, your menu and your volume — not on which is "better" in the abstract.
Gas griddles heat fast, recover quickly when you load a cold plate with frozen patties, and run independently of your kitchen's electrical capacity. They're the default in high-volume burger joints and busy diners where the plate barely gets a rest. The trade-offs: they need a gas connection and proper mechanical ventilation, they radiate more ambient heat into the kitchen, and the heat can be slightly less even across the plate unless the burner layout is well designed.
Electric griddles deliver very even, controllable heat with precise temperature control — ideal for delicate breakfast cooking like eggs and pancakes where consistency matters more than raw recovery speed. A benchtop electric model needs only a power point (within its amperage rating), which makes it the natural choice for cafés, small kitchens, food trucks and pop-ups without a gas line. Most electric units are built with a robust stainless steel construction and a thermostat per zone for accurate temperature control. The trade-offs: heavy continuous use can outpace recovery on smaller heating elements, and you're tied to your site's electrical supply.
Here's the quick decision matrix:
| Factor | Gas griddle | Electric griddle |
|---|---|---|
| Heat-up & recovery | Fast, strong recovery under load | Steady; smaller units recover slower |
| Heat evenness | Good (depends on burner layout) | Very even, precise control |
| Install needs | Gas connection + ventilation | Power point within amperage rating |
| Ambient kitchen heat | Higher | Lower |
| Best for | Burger joints, high-volume diners | Cafés, breakfast service, small/mobile sites |
| Typical format | Benchtop & floor-standing | Mostly benchtop |
For a deeper look at how this same trade-off plays out in ovens, our gas vs electric commercial oven guide walks through the running-cost and install factors in more detail — much of the logic carries straight across to griddles.
Chrome vs Steel Plate: The Material Decision
After the heat source, the plate material is the decision that most shapes how your griddle cooks and how much work it is to look after. The two mainstream options are mild-steel and chrome plates (polished or hard chrome over a steel base).
Mild-steel plates are the traditional, hard-wearing choice and what most operators picture when they think of a flat top. They take and hold seasoning, give an excellent sear and crust on burgers and steaks, and are forgiving of scrapers and metal spatulas. They cost less up front. The downsides: they need regular seasoning to stay non-stick and rust-free, they show carbon build-up, and they take a bit more elbow grease to keep clean.
Chrome plates have a smooth, mirror-like polished surface fused over the steel. They're prized for delicate, mixed-menu work — pancakes, eggs, crêpes, dosa, fish — because food releases cleanly with little sticking and almost no flavour transfer between items (your French toast won't taste of the onions you cooked earlier). Chrome also radiates less heat toward the operator and wipes down fast, so it's a popular choice for breakfast-heavy cafés. The trade-offs: a higher purchase price, a softer sear than bare steel, and a surface you must protect — never attack chrome with a metal scraper or abrasive pad, or you'll scratch through the plating.
| Mild-steel plate | Chrome plate | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Burgers, steaks, high-volume searing | Eggs, pancakes, mixed/delicate menus |
| Sear / crust | Excellent | Good (gentler) |
| Food release | Needs seasoning | Releases cleanly |
| Flavour transfer | Some | Minimal |
| Cleaning | More effort; re-season | Wipe down; no abrasives |
| Up-front cost | Lower | Higher |
| Durability | Very tough, scraper-friendly | Tough but scratchable |
If you're weighing surface profiles more broadly — including ribbed and grooved plates for grill marks — our guide on flat top vs ribbed electric griddles breaks down which surface suits which menu.
Sizing Your Commercial Griddle for Your Covers
Buy a plate that's too small and you'll bottleneck every breakfast rush; buy one that's too big and you'll waste energy and bench space heating metal you never use. Griddle size is measured by plate width (the cooking frontage), usually quoted in millimetres.
A practical way to size it: each 300 mm of plate width comfortably handles roughly 4–6 burger patties or one busy cook's worth of mixed breakfast items at a time. Map that to your service:
| Plate width | Rough capacity | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|
| 300–400 mm | 1 cook, light load | Small café, food truck, brunch add-on |
| 450–600 mm | 1–2 cooks, steady service | Busy café, bistro, pub bistro |
| 600–900 mm | 2 cooks, high volume | Burger joint, diner, function kitchen |
| 900–1,200 mm+ | Team service, peak loads | High-volume burger kitchen, large venue |
Also weigh:
- Benchtop vs floor-standing. Benchtop units sit on a stable bench or stand and suit most cafés; floor-standing models free up bench space and scale to bigger plates and gas burners.
- Single vs split-zone heating. Multiple independently controlled heat zones with their own temperature control let you hold one end hot for searing and the other cooler for holding or gentle cooking — invaluable on a mixed menu.
- Stainless steel construction. A heavy-gauge stainless steel construction body resists corrosion, takes the knocks of a busy line and wipes down easily — worth checking on any unit you compare across the range.
- Power and gas headroom. Check that the electrical amperage or gas connection your site can supply matches the unit's rating before you buy, not after it's delivered.
If kitchen space and extraction are your tightest constraints, our guide to countertop griddles, power and venting for tight kitchens is worth a read before you commit to a footprint.
Cleaning and Maintaining a Commercial Griddle
A griddle that's cleaned properly cooks evenly, lasts longer and stays compliant with food-safety expectations. The routine differs slightly by plate material, but the daily discipline is the same.
Daily, after service:
- Scrape while the plate is still warm (not screaming hot). Use a steel scraper on mild steel; use a griddle pad or non-abrasive scraper on chrome — never a metal scraper.
- Clear food debris and excess fat into the trough and grease tray.
- Wipe the surface with a damp cloth, then a thin film of oil on mild steel to protect it overnight.
- Empty and wash the grease tray every day — a full tray is a fire and hygiene risk.
Weekly / deeper clean:
- Use a griddle stone or screen on mild steel to lift carbon build-up, working with the grain.
- On chrome, use only the manufacturer-approved griddle cleaning cream or pad — no abrasives, no steel wool.
- Check and clean burners (gas) or around elements (electric) so heat stays even across the plate.
Seasoning mild steel: after a deep clean, wipe the plate with a thin layer of high-smoke-point oil and bring it up to heat until it just smokes, then wipe back. A well-seasoned plate is naturally non-stick and rust-resistant.
What never to do: never pour cold water onto a screaming-hot plate (warping), never use metal scrapers or abrasive pads on chrome (permanent scratching), and never let the grease tray overflow (fire risk). Following the manufacturer's care instructions also protects your warranty — abrasive damage to a chrome plate is rarely covered.
Matching the Griddle to Your Business
Bringing the four decisions together, here's how they tend to land by business type:
- Small café / brunch spot. A 300–600 mm electric benchtop griddle, chrome plate if your menu leans pancakes and eggs, mild steel if it leans toasties and burgers. Only needs a power point.
- Burger joint / diner. A 600–900 mm gas flat top with a mild-steel plate for searing power and fast recovery under back-to-back patties. Plan for venting and gas connection.
- Pub bistro / mixed menu. A 600 mm split-zone griddle (gas or electric) so you can sear and gently cook at once. Material to suit your dominant menu.
- Food truck / pop-up. A compact 300–450 mm electric benchtop unit — power-point friendly, light and quick to clean down.
Whichever way you lean, buying a new unit means a manufacturer warranty, current energy efficiency and full service history from day one — the same logic we lay out in our broader equipment guides. For a focused look at electric options, our roundup of the best commercial electric griddles for restaurants is a useful next step.
The Bottom Line
A commercial griddle is a long-term tool, so make the four decisions deliberately: choose gas for high-volume searing and recovery or electric for even, install-friendly café cooking; choose a mild-steel plate for burgers and crust or chrome for delicate, mixed menus; size to your busiest service with a little headroom; and commit to a daily cleaning routine that matches your plate material. Get those right and the unit will pay for itself, shift after shift, for years.
Ready to choose your flat top? Browse the full commercial griddles range for gas and floor-standing options, or the benchtop electric griddles range for café-friendly units — all new, warranty-backed and available Australia-wide with freight to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a gas or electric commercial griddle better for a café?
For most cafés, an electric benchtop griddle is the better fit. It only needs a power point (within its amperage rating), delivers very even, controllable heat that suits eggs and pancakes, and radiates less heat into a small kitchen. Gas flat tops come into their own in high-volume burger and diner service where fast recovery under heavy load matters most.
What's the difference between a griddle, a hotplate and a flat top grill?
In Australian commercial kitchens, griddle, hotplate and flat top grill all describe the same thing — a flat, heated cooking surface where food cooks by direct contact. A char grill or chargrill is different: it has raised bars that create grill marks, so it's a separate piece of equipment.
Should I buy a chrome or mild-steel griddle plate?
Choose a mild-steel plate for burgers, steaks and high-volume searing — it gives the best crust and tolerates metal scrapers, but needs seasoning. Choose a chrome plate for delicate, mixed menus like eggs, pancakes and crêpes, where food releases cleanly and flavours don't transfer between items. Chrome costs more and must never be cleaned with abrasives or metal scrapers.
What size commercial griddle do I need?
Size by plate width and your busiest service. As a rough guide, each 300 mm of width handles around 4–6 burger patties at once: 300–400 mm suits a small café or food truck, 450–600 mm a busy café or bistro, and 600–1,200 mm a burger joint or high-volume kitchen. Always leave a little headroom for peak loads.
How do I clean and maintain a commercial griddle?
Scrape the warm plate after each service, clear debris into the grease tray, wipe down, and oil mild-steel plates to protect them overnight — and empty the grease tray daily. Do a weekly deeper clean with a griddle stone (mild steel) or approved cream (chrome), and re-season mild steel after deep cleans. Never throw cold water on a hot plate or use metal scrapers on chrome.
