Can Openers

Throughput comes down to how the opener is built, not just its price. Our Winco Standard Steel Manual Can Opener is rated for up to 50 cans a day, making it a solid fit for a mid-volume kitchen running through canned goods every shift. For heavier use, the Winco Premium Manual Can Opener adds a nickel-plated build and a quick-change blade and gear, so a busy line can keep opening cans without waiting on maintenance. Edlund's Edlund-1 and Edlund-2 are built the same way — a sturdy, plated-steel base designed for continuous daily use — though Edlund doesn't publish a specific cans-per-day figure. Phoenix Food Equipment carries all of these, so you can match the opener to how many cans your kitchen actually goes through.

The two differ mainly in how tall a can they can handle. The Edlund-2 opens cans up to 7" tall, while the Edlund-1 opens taller cans up to 11" — both use the same sturdy, plated-steel, countertop-mount base with a rust-resistant arbor and a plastic bushing that keeps turning force low. Beyond that height capacity, the two models are built the same way, so the choice comes down to the tallest can you're regularly opening in your kitchen.

A manual can opener uses a hand crank and a fixed blade, with no motor or batteries to fail — which is exactly why commercial kitchens lean on manual openers like our Winco and Edlund lineups instead of consumer electric models. An electric can opener is faster for a single can at home, but the motor, gears, and electrical components are extra points of failure in a kitchen running through dozens of cans a shift, and most electric models aren't built for that kind of continuous commercial use. A manual opener is also easier to break down and sanitize, with no housing or wiring to work around. For a commercial kitchen, that durability and easy cleanup usually wins out over the small time savings an electric opener offers.