Rapid IR toaster

A toaster comprising:

• a housing defining a toasting chamber;
• a rack configured to hold a bread product within the toasting chamber;
• a lid movable with the rack between an open condition and a closed condition, wherein in the closed condition, the lid occludes an opening into the toasting chamber;
• a heating element arranged within the toasting chamber interior of the housing and relative to the rack and operable to direct IR energy to the bread product on the rack;
• an image capture device positioned exterior of the housing, that operates to acquire image data of the bread product on the rack;
• a controller that receives the image data, the controller processor analyzes successive image data received from the image capture device, and based upon the analysis of the image data operates the heating element to achieve a predetermined toasting level of the bread product and then turn off the heating element;
• and
• a shutter positioned between the image capture device and the toasting chamber and movable away from the image capture device, wherein the controller is configured to operate the shutter in coordination with the image capture device to move the shutter away from the image capture device prior to a first acquisition of image data, to return the shutter to the position between the image capture device and the toasting chamber, and to subsequently move the shutter away from the image capture device prior to a second acquisition of image data.