Wednesday 2 November 2016

Microwaves: Casual Dining November 2016

Microwaves Feature
Casual Dining - November 2016

Please attribute any comments to Ray Hall, Managing Director, R H Hall

What are the latest features appearing on microwaves that better their use in Commercial Kitchens?
Today’s microwave ovens are sophisticated, yet easy to use and produce excellent cooking results in a fraction of the time it takes to cook foods conventionally and their versatility is under estimated. There is a great diversity of dishes that can be prepared quickly and easily from fresh ingredients. Not only that, but more nutrients are retained in microwave cooked food than by any other cooking method. In fact, correctly cooked vegetables contain 85% of their original vitamin content, when boiled they often contain none!

Meat and pastry products are often better cooked conventionally then re-heated in a microwave oven, but with the versatile combination microwave ovens available, these types of foods can be cooked with microwave technology with excellent results. It is likely that most caterers have a need for reheat, defrost and cooking tasks and in this case, it is recommended that both a combination microwave oven and a microwave oven be both purchased. A combination microwave oven will not replace the need for microwave oven and vice versa. These two types of oven work extremely well in tandem together. For example, whilst reheating /cooking pastry products using the combination model the ordinary microwave is available for all your straightforward reheat/defrost requirements. The features available today allow a choice of manual and programmable models and some even allow the chef to enter the detailed names of individual dishes and daily/weekly specials (as with the Maestrowave Combi Chef 7, which uses state of the art Menu Creator 2.0 software). As the name suggests, the Combi Chef 7 is able to operate in a variety and combination of modes making it the most flexible, efficient and easy to use oven yet! If the chef wants to bake, roast, grill, steam, defrost, regenerate, microwave, boil or simply keep food warm this is the oven that can do it all. There is a video showing all the features and benefits of the versatile Combi Chef 7 – visit www.rhhall.com to view.

Name 3 benefits of using a microwave in a commercial kitchen?
1)      Speed of reheating and cooking
2)      Versatility and ease of use
3)      Energy efficiency

Can you provide a case study in the casual dining sector for microwaves?
Any part of this case study used must not be altered.
Marston’s is one of the country’s top pub businesses – a leading brewer of premium cask and bottled ales from its 5 Breweries, it also boasts a national estate of over 1,600 pubs. For many of their customers good value pub food is what they value above all else and the team at Marston’s have worked on a menu that is both traditional yet innovative to satisfy as many tastes as possible. Key to delivering these menus is a consistent quality in the dishes and the Sharp R24AT plays a vital role in achieving this. Andy Kershaw, Group Facilities Manager for Marston’s PLC, tells us more. “We have been  sing the Sharp microwaves for quite a long time now as they are very reliable and their durability is second to none. They are an excellent workhorse, through which we can accommodate large volumes and the pre-programmable settings mean we can achieve the high standard of consistency we want across all of our outlets. We edit and update our menus at certain points in the year and with the Sharp’s operational ease we have the ability to adapt our dishes to emerging customer trends. There are 1,000’s of Sharp microwaves across our estate, with up to 10 units in some sites. Andy continues, “A big percentage of our sales are food based and we need to know we can rely on our equipment and with Sharp we know we can. And if for any reason we need them, we have good access to spare parts, plus a great service and warranty back–up through RH Hall dealer, Albany Catering Equipment. Our programme of installing Sharp  microwaves continues to roll-out across our estate and we are pleased to have just signed a further three year contract with RH Hall to deliver this”. Bob Billingham of Albany Catering Equipment backs up Sharp’s reliability, having worked with this equipment across the Marston’s estate for a long time. His technical knowledge is extensive in this area and he comments “I really like the Sharp units because they are so robust and work well under the heavy workload that Marston’s Pubs are used to. They are very easy to work with maintenance wise and if we ever need them, spare parts are readily available so we can get sites up and running again without extensive delays”. RH Hall has been working with Marston’s for over 10 years now on the provision of the Sharp professional microwaves. We in turn have been working with our own distributors – Francis Catering and Yorkshire Catering Equipment for the installations and fit out; and with Albany Catering Equipment for the service and warranty back-up. We have now signed a further contract with Marston’s to continue the partnership for another three years, which we are very proud of.

Do you have any facts and statistics for microwaves in the casual dining sector?
Not specific numbers, but the use of microwaves in the sector are expanding and will continue to do so. We are seeing multiple units being used extensively on sites – up to 12+ units in some cases – in fact microwaves are appearing at the top of most specifiers’ lists. We have seen double digit growth year on year and this has been sustained for the last 5 years.

Do you have any high res lifestyle images of microwaves?
Yes – and attached!

For more information, please visit:
Press Information Contact: Emma Smith, Marketing Assistant -  emma.smith@rhhall.com - 01296 663400

R H Hall, Hallco House, Beacon Court, Pitstone Green Business Park, Pitstone, Beds, LU7 9GY
T: 01296 663400 F: 01296 663401 E: sales@rhhall.com W: www.rhhall.com

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