Food serving bar

A temperature-controlled food serving bar comprising

• a cabinet having opposite sides and opposite ends defining an elongate interior cabinet space extending endwise of the cabinet,
• at least one channel of thermally conductive material extending lengthwise of the elongate interior cabinet space and dividing the interior cabinet space into a plurality of elongate, upward-opening pan-receiving cavities each of which extends endwise of the cabinet to allow placement of at least one food-holding pan in the cavity at any desired location along the cavity, the channel having opposing side walls and a bottom wall, at least one of the bottom wall and the side wall having a wall thickness between about 0.1 inch and about 0.2 inch,
• a liner having side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall of the at least one channel being spaced above the bottom wall of the liner to form an interior space,
• a plurality of food-holding pans received in one of said pan-receiving cavities, at least one of said pans having a bottom wall, side walls, and a width of approximately 6.9 inches,
• the side walls of said at least one of the food-holding pans being spaced from a respective side wall of the channel between about 0.03 inch and about 0.15 inch, and
• a temperature control system for heating the at least one channel.

A retrofit kit for installation on an existing food serving bar cabinet having opposite sides and opposite ends defining an elongate interior cabinet space extending endwise of the cabinet, the retrofit kit comprising

• at least one divider of thermally conductive material for placement in the cabinet to extend lengthwise of the elongate interior cabinet space, said divider having opposed side walls for extending down into said interior cabinet space and a bottom wall to divide said interior cabinet space into a plurality of elongate upward-opening pan-receiving cavities each of which extends endwise of the cabinet to allow placement of multiple food-holding pans in the cavity at any desired location along the cavity, at least one of the side walls and bottom wall having a wall thickness between about 0.1 inch and about 0.2 inch,
• at least one food-holding pan received in one of said pan-receiving cavities, said pan having a bottom wall and side walls,
• at least one of the side walls of the at least one food-holding pan being spaced from the side wall of the divider between about 0.03 inch and about 0.15 inch, and
• a temperature control system for controlling the temperature of the at least one divider.

A temperature-controlled food serving bar comprising

• a cabinet having opposite sides and opposite ends defining an elongate interior cabinet space extending endwise of the cabinet,
• a plurality of generally parallel dividers of thermally conductive material extending lengthwise of the elongate interior cabinet space and dividing the interior cabinet space into a plurality of elongate, upward-opening pan-receiving cavities each of which extends endwise of the cabinet to allow placement of multiple food-holding pans in the cavity at any desired location along the cavity,
• each divider of said plurality of dividers having generally parallel, closely spaced divider side walls defining a narrow, elongate interior divider space between the divider side walls,
• a plurality of food-holding pans received in each pan- receiving cavity, at least one or more of said pans, when received in a respective pan-receiving cavity, having a side disposed closely adjacent a side wall of one of said plurality of dividers and an opposite side disposed closely adjacent a side wall of another of said plurality of dividers, and
• a temperature control system for controlling the temperature of said plurality of dividers.