Gas burner with spaced orifice

The present invention generally relates to the field of commercial cooking devices, and more particularly to gas burners for commercial cooking devices with increased performance. A gas burner forces a premixing of the incoming gas with ambient air by moving the front face of the gas orifice upstream from the normal location and spacing it from the front face of the venturi portion of the burner. The premix air is pulled through the gap formed thereby and enters the venturi section with the gas via a central opening. Primary mixing air flows through separate opening(s). Both the gas and the premix air flow through the central opening, and the premix air at least partially combines with the gas before the primary air combines with the gas in the venturi. The combination of the gas, the premix air, and the primary air the routed to the output ports for combustion. Such a burner combusts the gas with an efficiency factor of at least forty-five, and optionally at a rate of at least 30,000 Btu/hr.