LPG griddle / hotplate
for a food trailer.
The griddle is the workhorse of most Irish food trailers — burgers, breakfast, onions, bacon, anything flat. Its width is also the single biggest driver of your trailer layout, because everything else has to fit around it, and it is the piece people most often buy too small.
The numbers
- Thermal output
- 5–12 kW (LPG) Heat output, not electrical draw — this does not go into a generator calculation
- Footprint
- 600mm · 900mm · 1200mm are the common commercial widths
- New (indicative)
- €400 – €2,500
- Used (indicative)
- €150 – €900
- Checked
- 2026-08-01
Power figures are ranges across models commonly sold into the Irish trailer trade — read the rating plate on the actual unit before you build a load budget on them. Prices are indicative guidance bands, not quotes, and no supplier is named or implied.
Size on your peak, not your average
Griddle surface is throughput. A 600mm griddle holds roughly 8–10 burgers, a 900mm around 14–16, a 1200mm around 20. Work out your busiest realistic fifteen minutes and size for that — a griddle that is comfortable on an average Saturday is the thing that caps your revenue at a festival. Running out of hot surface at peak costs more than the larger unit ever will.
Thermal rating and zone control
LPG griddles run 5–12 kW thermal depending on width and burner count. What matters at least as much is zone control: independently controlled burners let you hold one area hot for searing and another cooler for holding, which is how you actually run a service. A single-zone griddle forces everything to one temperature and makes a busy period much harder to manage.
Extraction is a legal requirement, not a comfort
A griddle at full tilt produces grease-laden vapour that must be extracted. A canopy with a grease filter over the cooking line is required in a commercial trailer, and environmental health officers check both that it exists and that the filters are clean. Grease-clogged filters are a fire risk and one of the most common failures at inspection.
Questions
What size griddle do I need in a food trailer?
Size on your peak fifteen minutes, not your average. Roughly, a 600mm griddle holds 8–10 burgers, a 900mm holds 14–16 and a 1200mm holds 20. A griddle that is comfortable on a quiet day is what caps your revenue at a festival.
How much gas does a trailer griddle use?
LPG griddles are rated 5–12 kW thermal depending on width and burner count. That is heat output, not electrical draw — it costs nothing from your generator budget, which is the main reason trailers cook on gas.
Do I need extraction over a griddle?
Yes. A canopy with grease filters over the cooking line is required in a commercial trailer, and environmental health officers check both that it is there and that the filters are clean. Clogged filters are a fire risk and a common inspection failure.