Conveyor griddle system

An apparatus for cooking food products, comprising:

• a series of individual adjacent cook plates resting on chain supports connected to a drive assembly and a driven assembly for continuously moving the series of individual cook plates as a conveyor assembly;
• the drive assembly further comprised of an electric motor, a chain, and the chain supports for moving the attached conveyor assembly by chain;
• the drive assembly further comprised of controls for adjusting the rate at which the electric motor moves the conveyor assembly;
• the driven assembly comprised of an axle and sprockets for attaching to and directing the chain to return to the driven assembly;
• at least one burner assembly for heating the series of individual adjacent plates of a griddle assembly for individually cooking a food product;
• the series of individual adjacent plates of the griddle assembly are located adjacent to one another, with a long dimension perpendicular to the direction of plate travel and therefore, a short dimension parallel to the direction of travel;
• and
• a smash plate rotatably connected to at least one individual cook plate,
• the smash plate providing slight pressure to, and trapping thermal energy for cooking on both sides of, a food item being prepared on the individual cook plate;
• the smash plate being rotatable between an open position and a closed position.