Cook-Chill Savings

The economic downturn has seen operators looking to make savings and Ian Martin discovered that manufacturers are keen to meet their demands

The recession has boosted the trend to cook-chill and plated banqueting operations because of the potential to save costs.

An example of this saving is the reduction of food wastage and kitchen staff numbers, according to Lincat's development chef Paul Hickman.

"This trend also reflects a widening appreciation of the high-quality, repeatable results from the cook-chill approach which some caterers might have thought was beyond their reach due to a lack of kitchen space or staff resources," said Hickman.

He pointed to the five-star Moresby Hall Country Guesthouse near Whitehaven which has invested in a 10-grid Lincat Opus SelfCooking Center as part of a banqueting system which can cater for parties of up to 40 without requiring additional staff.

To help those caterers looking to offer banqueting despite limited kitchen space, the CombiDuo system from Rational enables two of the manufacturer's SelfCooking Centers to be mounted on top of each other. The units can even be "mixed and matched" with, for example, a six-grid mounted on a ten-grid unit.

Pre-plated meals are proving increasingly popular for "bypassing all the problems with timing, portion control and wastage that can occur with conventional plated meals and ensures that each plate that goes out is served to the customer at the right temperature," agreed Electrolux Professional's executive training chef Alan Evans.

"The ability to prepare food up to several days in advance takes the hassle out of volume cooking, allowing chefs to manage the kitchen more effectively and economically."

Cook-chill systems significantly improve food consistency "and ensure HACCP guidelines are met", added CESA chairman Malcolm Harling. "Much of a modern cook-chill system will be automatic, making it flexible enough to be operated by all kitchen staff while delivering the best possible results."

In terms of market sectors, Valera's development chef John Harvey believes many pubs have reverted from plated meals to the traditional carvery "as this requires fewer staff both in the kitchen and front of house".

"Banqueting has taken a big hit in the corporate sector in recent months as companies look to cut back on their entertainment budget."

But on a positive note, Foster Refrigerator's foodservice director John Savage identified sports stadia as a growing market for banqueting systems as these look to attract all-year-round business.

He also suggested that caterers are increasingly opting for blast chillers with freezing capacity to enable a quantity of food to be kept for potentially considerable periods of time. "This gives them more flexibility and the cost differential between a blast chiller and a blast chiller/freezer is quite small."

Product-wise, caterers have come to appreciate the advantages of mobile banqueting carts for keeping pre-plated dishes in top condition.

Equip Line pointed to the recent example of a wedding reception which ran two hours late and necessitated the main course for 200 guests being held in Alto-Shaam Banquet Carts for four hours without loss of quality.

The wedding was held at a remote venue and so chilled food and serving dishes were transported in the carts and plugged in on arrival to pre-heat to 84 deg C; the main course was then regenerated in bulk just over an hour before service was due.

When the correct reheat temperature was achieved, the meat and vegetables were portioned into the hot serving dishes then placed in the carts and held ready for service.

Caterers like banqueting cabinets because of "the sheer capacity they can handle", according to Guy Mitchell, managing director of Mitchell & Cooper, leading importer of Satellite cabinets made by Bourgeat in France.

Capable of accommodating GN 1/1 containers, their double-walled structure ensures temperature drops of only 3.5 deg C per hour for hot food and increases of 0.7 deg C per hour for cold food when fully loaded.

Working off a single-phase power supply, the Satellite cabinets' safety devices include stops on the end of the runners to prevent content spillage, thermostats and wheels with brakes.

Similarly, Victor's marketing manager Peter Brewin pointed to continuing strong demand "from all sectors" for the company's hot cupboards.

Victor has recently added the Banquetline 70 one-door hot holding mobile banqueting cart to its range. Sharing the same footprint as Victor's popular BL50 models (855 x 790mm), the stainless steel BL70H1 is taller at 1590mm and so provides almost 50% more capacity. GN1/1 size containers fit on the shelf brackets, thereby eliminating the need for additional shelves.

Foodservice Equipment Marketing (FEM) is supplying the electric Ultra Camcart H-Series food-warming cabinet made by US manufacturer Cambro, designed to transport and hold pans of food at 65-74 deg C even if the door is opened frequently to load and unload.

The Camcart cabinets achieve operating temperatures in 45 minutes and use "less energy that three standard 100W light bulbs", said FEM.

And Imperial Catering Equipment is marketing mobile banqueting cabinets from The Food Warming Equipment Company (FWE), including the new ClymateIQ. They feature Intuitive Climate Control automatically maintaining set levels of heat and humidity, with settings from 10 to 90% relative humidity and from 32 to 93 deg C.

By pressing one of two buttons on the console, the operator can instantly observe actual temperatures and humidity levels on a digital read-out. The range extends from the four-shelf PHTT-4 to the 12-shelf PHTT-12.

Recently launched in the UK, Rieber Hot Banquet Trolleys feature an adjustable humidity option to keep meals moist. Hot and refrigerated trolleys are available from the company: temperature regulation is achieved via a digital control system, providing ranges from 30 to 100 deg C and -12 to 8 deg C

The latest Chillogen Banquet Trolleys from E&R Moffat incorporate the patented Sahara fan system blowing recirculated air through heating or chilling elements, rather than the conventional method of drawing air through the heat exchanger or heating elements first. It says this gives safer, more predictable temperature control.

And for service itself, EasyCall from Call-Systems Technology (CST) represents a wireless paging system diners can use to summon staff via a button placed on each table.

"This can generate significant extra drinks sales, during the meal and for those important, added-value, after-dinner coffee and liqueurs," says CST.
Operators aiming to manage banqueting rooms, sales, marketing, clients and contacts with one easily implemented and fully supported browser-based application, Rendezvous may be the answer.

It is a web-based conference, catering and meeting room booking system from NFS Hospitality.