Pollen Street Social Club’s new Winterhalter glasswasher system avoids the need to polish.
“It’s a revelation,” says Jason Atherton.
Jason Atherton’s vision for the Pollen Street Social Club is to provide fine dining in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. The vision is working: the Michelin starred restaurant is booked months ahead, typically serving 100 at lunch and 130 at dinner.
As with any great restaurant, the drinks service is a critical part of the success. Over a hundred customers at each service makes for several hundred dirty glasses, all of which need cleaning perfectly. Recently Pollen Street installed a Winterhalter UC glasswasher and reverse osmosis system and is using the company’s specialist glasswashing chemicals. “The reasons are simple,” says general manager Michael West. “We wanted great results, and we wanted to avoid polishing glasses.”
Reverse osmosis (RO) systems are recognised as the best way to treat water to ensure perfect glass and dish washing results, with no smears or odours. Water is passed though an ultra-fine membrane which removes nearly all the impurities and particles that cause cleaning problems. Winterhalter guarantees that glasses coming out of their machines coupled with a RoMatik RO system, and which are using Winterhalter glasswashing chemicals, will be so sparkling clean that they require no hand polishing.
“With quality glassware breakages are an expensive issue,” says Michael West. “Any polishing is inevitably going to lead to some wastage. By avoiding polishing we avoid breakages.”
There’s another problem with polishing: “If you get any odour taint in clean glasses it nearly always comes from the polishing cloth. We have some great wines on offer here – we don’t want to compromise our customers’ enjoyment. The RoMatik takes away the problem and helps us ensure the glasses are totally taint-free.”
Traditionally RO systems are large, but space in the wash room in Pollen Street, being in central London, is at a premium. Winterhalter’s new RO, the RoMatik XS, uses new technology and is a ‘mini’ system measuring just 469mm (h) x 142mm (w) x 515mm (d). It is easily small enough to fit beside or even on top of a warewasher. Yet it can process up to 90 litres of water per hour, removing 98% of particles.
The use of the correct cleaning chemical optimises hygienic glasswashing. Winterhalter has developed a wide range of cleaning chemicals for catering, including special formulas for hard water areas and environment-friendly cleaners, sanitisers and soaps.
Jayson Ball of Salix, who installed the Winterhalter system at Pollen Street, says: “The old machine in there had issues with cleaning and polishing. Like most London restaurants, Pollen Street is really tight on space and we needed a compact resolution. With the Winterhalter, the glasses can come straight out of the machine and onto the shelf – before, they had to be taken out, put on a trolley, dried and polished prior to shelving, so staff were handling the glasses three times instead of once.
“We’re really pleased with the way the Winterhalter system is working.”
Jason Atherton adds: “Our new Winterhalter system is a revelation. The glasses go in soiled and, after a short cycle, come out sparkling. It gives my sommeliers the chance to spend more time with the customers.”
Winterhalter provides a total solution for warewashing, from pre-sales advice to after-sales service, training and maintenance. Alongside its market-leading dish and glasswashers, the company’s range includes utensil washers, advanced water treatment machines, cleaning chemicals and detergents. For further details, call Winterhalter on 01908 359000, see www.winterhalter.com/uk-en/ or www.winterhalter-scout.biz or email info@winterhalter.co.uk.
Links:
Pollen Street Social Club: www.pollenstreetsocial.com
Salix: www.salix.co.uk
Winterhalter: www.winterhalter.co.uk