Toast bread is square. If the ham slice on it is round, four corners stay bare, a staff member adds a second piece and the weight of that toastie is no longer under anyone's control. Square log ham removes that second piece: one slice covers the bread, the meat per toastie equals the slice weight and cost can be worked out by slice count.
What happens when the bread is square and the ham slice is round?
Empty corners are not a cosmetic issue but a cost issue. The second piece added to fill the corners raises both weight and time, and in a counter turning out hundreds of toasties that difference is measured in kilograms by the end of the day. A square section keeps the bread-to-meat ratio constant in every bite, so the customer's first and last mouthfuls taste the same.
The full operational comparison of the two shapes is in square log versus round log for food businesses; here the task is only the toast shop's arithmetic.
Deciding between the 1750 g and 3500 g square log
Mortella's three square-log hams (Beef Jambon Square Log, Chicken Jambon Square Log and Turkey Jambon Square Log) come in two sizes, 1750 g and 3500 g. Size is a turnover question before it is a price question. Once opened, the cut face of the log is exposed to air, and a log you cannot finish within a few days will have you trimming and discarding a thin slice from that face towards the end.
Taking a side: a counter below 50-60 toasties a day runs on 1750 g. A line above that, wanting a high slice count from a single product, takes 3500 g; cost per kilo falls and the number of log changes halves.
How many toasties come from a 1750 g square log?
A worked example with the assumptions stated:
- Slice weight: 15-20 g (a thick slice slows heating in the press, so 20 g is taken as the upper limit)
- End-piece allowance: 3 percent (the uneven slices from both ends of the log)
- Usable weight: 1750 g × 0.97 ≈ 1,700 g
- At 20 g per slice: 1,700 / 20 = 85 slices
- At 15 g per slice: 1,700 / 15 ≈ 113 slices
With one slice per toastie, a 1750 g log yields between 85 and 113 toasties; with two slices it drops to 42-56. The 3500 g log gives 170-226 slices on the same assumptions.
Every one of these numbers depends on your dial setting. Cut ten slices on your own slicer, weigh them, find the average and rebuild the calculation with your own figure.
How is cost per toastie reduced to a slice count?
The formula is short: ham cost per toastie = (price per kilogram / 1000) × slice weight in grams × slices per toastie. The kilogram price comes from your quotation, the slice weight from your scales and the slice count from your menu standard. Two of the three numbers are under your control, so the cost is set by the dial and the menu rather than by the supplier.
How a slice standard flows through to menu cost is worked through in why slice standards drive cost in food businesses. The short version for a toast shop: change the dial and the cost changes while the menu price does not.
The slicer dial: building your own slice table
Dial numbers mean different things on different machines; "setting 3" gives 2 mm on one slicer and 3 mm on another. So talk in grams, not millimetres. Cut ten slices at each of three dial settings, weigh each group and write down the slice weight. That three-line table becomes your standard and survives staff changes.
The square log makes this easier. Its section sits flat against the carriage on four faces, there is none of the rolling a round log produces, and the first slice matches the last in thickness.
How do beef, chicken and turkey square-log ham behave in the toastie press?
All three are cooked products; in the press they only warm through and merge with the cheese. Fat per 100 g is low across the range (beef 2.5 g, chicken 2.8 g, turkey 3.7 g), so none of them renders fat onto the plate and the bread does not go soggy.
On flavour the paths diverge. Beef jambon sets the character of the toastie; with nothing but cheese and bread it gives a full result, while in a multi-filling toastie the other ingredients need restraint. Chicken jambon is neutral and never crowds the other fillings in a mixed toastie. Turkey jambon sits between the two and keeps the balance between layers in a club-style stacked toastie.
Protein can go on the menu card as well: beef 21.5 g, chicken 20.6 g, turkey 20.4 g per 100 g, with salt between 2.5 and 3 g. Türkiye's new Meat Products Code (2026/15) (yeni sekmede açılır) sets thresholds for ham of at least 13 percent total meat protein, at most 8 percent fat and at most 3 percent salt; placing the catalogue figures next to those thresholds is a quick verification any buyer can run.
The cut face of an opened square log: wrap, date label, rotation
From the moment a log is opened only its cut face meets the air, which is why it outlasts a sliced product, but a neglected face darkens. Three rules are enough:
- After every slicing session the cut face is wrapped in film and the log returns to a cabinet held between 0 °C and +4 °C.
- The opening date is written on the log; if two logs are open, the older one is finished before the newer one is touched.
- If the cut face has darkened, a thin slice is removed and discarded; that is a trace of air contact, not a sign of spoilage.
How a chicken square log covers a toast slice edge to edge is shown in square-log chicken jambon and full coverage on a toast slice.
Square-log ham comparison table for toast shops
| Product | Sizes | Protein / fat / salt per 100 g | Role in the toastie | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef Jambon (Square Log) | 1750 g / 3500 g | 21.5 g / 2.5 g / 2.8 g | Defining flavour, stands alone in a plain toastie | Counters selling plain cheese-and-ham toasties |
| Chicken Jambon (Square Log) | 1750 g / 3500 g | 20.6 g / 2.8 g / 2.5 g | Neutral, stays in the background of mixed fillings | Menus built around mixed toasties |
| Turkey Jambon (Square Log) | 1750 g / 3500 g | 20.4 g / 3.7 g / 3 g | Measured, balances a stacked toastie | Cafés doing club toasties and breakfast plates |
The toast shop's checklist before ordering a square log
- Has the daily toastie count been measured and the 1750 g / 3500 g decision based on it?
- Have ten slices been weighed on the slicer and the slice weight written down?
- Has the slices-per-toastie standard (one or two) been fixed on the menu?
- Has the cost-per-toastie formula been run with the kilogram price from the quotation?
- Are the opening-date label and the roll of film ready next to the slicer?
- Has EMKA FOOD been contacted for samples and to open a trade account?
Set the dial, weigh ten slices, run the formula; after those three numbers the order form writes itself.
