By Gavriel Shohet and Lea Mira, RTN staff writers - 6.19.2026
For operators trying to expand foodservice without expanding the kitchen, high-speed cooking technology is becoming an increasingly practical answer. Restaurants, cafés, hotels, ghost kitchens and other compact foodservice formats are all looking for ways to serve more menu items, increase throughput and maintain consistency without adding hoods, additional labor or larger production areas. That operating challenge was central to conversations at the Prática USA booth at the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show.
Prática’s messaging focused on a straightforward value proposition: help operators expand menus, maximize profitability and minimize operational costs through ventless high-speed ovens that are easy to use, easy to maintain and capable of producing a wide range of food items quickly and consistently. For restaurant owners, operators and technology decision-makers, that places Prática squarely within one of the industry’s most important back-of-house technology trends: doing more with less space, less labor and less operational complexity.
Founded in 1991, Prática has grown into a major foodservice equipment manufacturer with roots in Brazil and a growing international footprint. The company has focused on speed oven engineering and manufacturing since 2007 and operates a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, with a U.S. presence in Lewisville, Texas, providing sales, service, parts and customer support. Its broader international presence includes operations and partners across multiple regions, reinforcing its position as a global high-speed oven manufacturer.
At the NRA Show, Prática showcased its commercial high-speed oven portfolio in Booth 3688, with a focus on helping operators find the right oven configuration for their business. The company’s lineup includes the FIT Express, FIT ST, FIT XL, Rocket Express and Forza STi. Together, these models are designed to support foods such as pizzas, sandwiches, chicken wings, tortillas, empanadas, breakfast items, flatbreads and other fresh, refrigerated or frozen products.
The technology story starts with speed, but the operational value is broader. Prática’s ovens use combinations of impinged hot air, microwave energy and, in some applications, infrared heating to accelerate cooking while maintaining texture and appearance. For operators, that can mean faster service, more consistent execution and the ability to offer hot prepared foods in locations where traditional cooking equipment may be impractical.
Ventless operation is central to the company’s value proposition. Prática’s high-speed ovens are designed to operate without traditional hoods, relying on catalytic systems to manage grease-laden vapors during the cooking process. That capability can materially change the economics of foodservice expansion. A café, hotel market, convenience store or small-format restaurant may be able to add hot food production without the expense, permitting complexity or space requirements associated with traditional ventilation systems.
That flexibility matters as operators continue experimenting with smaller footprints and nontraditional service models. A hotel lobby market may want to add breakfast sandwiches or flatbreads. A convenience retailer may want to improve prepared-food quality. A coffee shop may want to move beyond pastries and packaged snacks. A fast-casual operator may want a compact finishing station for high-margin add-ons. In each case, the ability to produce hot food quickly without a traditional hood can create new revenue opportunities.
Prática representatives framed the platform around menu expansion as much as speed. That distinction is important. For many operators, the goal is not simply to cook an existing item faster. It is to unlock additional menu categories without adding new stations, specialized labor or complex prep workflows. A single high-speed oven can support sandwiches, pizza, appetizers, breakfast products and baked items, giving operators more flexibility from a relatively compact footprint.
The company’s Internet of Kitchen, or IoK, platform adds a connected layer to that equipment strategy. Prática’s touchscreen models now include Wi-Fi capabilities and are connected to IoK, allowing operators to manage equipment and recipes across multiple locations. The platform is included with compatible oven purchases without an added subscription or monthly payment, a point that may appeal to operators trying to add connected-kitchen capabilities without increasing software costs.
For multi-unit restaurant brands and other distributed operators, the ability to manage recipes remotely can be particularly valuable. Recipes, menus and operational settings can be created, organized and distributed across connected ovens, helping ensure consistent execution from location to location. In practical terms, that means a menu update can be deployed across an entire group of ovens without relying on each store team to manually program equipment.
That capability aligns closely with the priorities of restaurant IT leaders. As kitchens become more connected, equipment is increasingly expected to support the same kinds of remote management, standardization and operational visibility that operators already expect from POS systems, digital ordering platforms and back-office tools. Prática’s IoK platform reflects that shift by turning high-speed ovens into connected operational assets rather than standalone appliances.
Ease of use is another important part of the Prática story. The company’s ovens feature full-color touchscreen interfaces, programmable recipes, customizable icons or food photos, multilingual controls and recipe storage designed to simplify training. For operators dealing with high turnover and varying employee experience levels, reducing the number of manual decisions in the cooking process can improve consistency while shortening onboarding time.
The FIT Express illustrates that approach. It combines ventless operation, a compact footprint, touchscreen recipe management, impinged air, microwave capability and bottom infrared heating. The oven can store a large number of recipes and allows operators to customize recipe images with icons or photos of their own dishes. These details may seem small, but they matter in real-world operations where employees need to identify and execute menu items quickly during peak periods.
The FIT ST extends the platform into a stackable format with a 12-inch chamber designed for refrigerated, fresh or frozen foods such as breakfast sandwiches, chicken wings, muffins, lasagna, mac and cheese and sub sandwiches. The FIT XL offers a larger 16-inch chamber, while Rocket Express and Forza STi address higher-capacity and pizza-focused applications. The model range gives operators flexibility to match oven selection to menu strategy, throughput needs and available space.
That range is important because high-speed cooking is not a one-size-fits-all category. A hotel grab-and-go market, a pizza concept, a convenience store and a university café may all need speed, but their menu requirements and volume patterns differ significantly. Prática’s portfolio gives the company a stronger story across several operating environments rather than limiting its relevance to one segment.
Hotels and lodging properties represent a particularly relevant opportunity. Many hotels want to improve food-and-beverage offerings but face significant constraints around staffing, kitchen space and capital investment. Ventless high-speed ovens can allow properties to offer hot breakfast items, sandwiches, pizzas and other menu options from lobby markets, bars or limited-service foodservice areas. That can help improve guest satisfaction while creating incremental revenue opportunities.
Convenience stores and retail foodservice operators present another strong use case. Prepared-food programs are becoming increasingly important to these businesses, but execution remains challenging. Operators need equipment that can support speed, consistency and ease of training in high-traffic environments. High-speed ovens can help retailers offer a broader range of hot items while maintaining a relatively simple operating model.
Restaurants can also benefit, particularly in smaller formats, satellite locations and concepts with limited production space. A Prática oven may not replace a full cookline in every environment, but it can serve as a powerful finishing, reheating or menu-extension platform. For operators adding off-premise channels, catering, late-night menus or limited-footprint units, that flexibility can be valuable.
Prática also brings a strong culinary support angle to market. The company’s materials emphasize recipes, demonstrations, tools, accessories and support resources designed to help operators understand what the ovens can produce. That support is important because the return on high-speed oven investment often depends on menu development. Operators need to know not only how fast an oven cooks, but what profitable menu items it can enable.
The competitive landscape for high-speed ovens includes several established manufacturers, many of which compete around speed, ventless performance, footprint, menu flexibility and reliability. Prática’s differentiation rests on its combination of model breadth, ventless design, connected recipe management, touchscreen usability and a clear focus on helping operators expand menus while controlling operating costs.
The booth conversations reinforced that Prática is not trying to position high-speed ovens merely as replacement equipment. The stronger message is that the ovens can help operators rethink foodservice deployment. A business that previously could not support a hot food program may now be able to do so. A location that could only support a narrow menu may be able to expand its offering. A multi-unit operator may be able to simplify recipe rollout across locations.
That makes Prática relevant to the broader restaurant technology discussion. As operators continue investing in digital transformation, the kitchen is becoming more connected, more programmable and more operationally strategic. The next phase of innovation will not be limited to ordering, payments or guest engagement. It will also involve the equipment responsible for producing food quickly, consistently and profitably.
For restaurant owners, operators and technology decision-makers, Prática offers a compelling example of how high-speed oven technology is evolving. Its combination of ventless operation, connected recipe management, touchscreen usability and menu flexibility addresses several of the industry’s most persistent challenges at once: labor, space, consistency, speed and profitability.
Prática’s latest positioning suggests that the future of foodservice expansion may not always depend on bigger kitchens. In many cases, it may depend on smarter, faster and more connected equipment that allows operators to serve high-quality food from smaller, simpler and more flexible production environments.
