Foodservice counters at Whitco’s award-winning restaurant project have green credentials
One of the centre points of the award-winning new restaurant at the Vaillant Group, Belper, is a series of bespoke foodservice counters manufactured by E& R Moffat. Specialist catering suppliers Whitco were in charge of the project, which won the 2012 CEDA Grand Prix sustainability project award.
The brief was to create a restaurant and self-service facility for staff and visitors that would combine a modern, spacious environment with a casual, relaxed ambience. The facility, which also has a Costa Coffee shop, is divided into various areas, offering a range of eating and meeting spaces.
The brief also emphasised environmental issues, with equipment incorporating ‘the latest technology and best ergonomics.’ “They are lovely looking counters, curved, very modern and made of wood, glass and granite,” says Jackie Pace, chef manager of Olive Catering, the contract caterers at Vaillant. The looks are more than skin deep: “All the equipment for the project, including the counters, had to be in line with Vaillant’s environmental policies of recycling, sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint.”
So the Moffat counters include features such as high performance insulation and induction hob cooking stations. They also use technologies developed under Moffat’s ‘green thinking’ initiative, including the energy-saving Sahara fans, which save energy in bains maries, hot cupboards and ovens by blowing re-circulated air through heating or chilling elements. It is up to 48% more energy efficient than conventional systems.
Jeff Whitaker, managing director of Whitco, says: “Vaillant wanted a restaurant for the 21st century. Not a traditional staff restaurant, but a space that offered a range of options including meeting, greeting and break out areas – they have groups of visitors in for training. The counters are laid out very carefully not only to avoid bottlenecks but also to avoid the need for customers to follow a trail.”
Jackie Pace comments: “The layout works very well indeed. There are all sorts of different spaces – a deli area, salad bar, hot food counter, jacket potato bar, a soup bar… everything has its own space. We have cooking stations where food is prepared on the induction hobs in front of the customer. It’s popular and adds a touch of theatre.
“Everyone uses the restaurant, workers on the shop floor, office staff and management, as well as visitors. The counters help give the restaurant a real ‘wow’ factor.”
“Moffat’s green credentials made them the obvious choice to supply the counters,” says Jeff Whitaker. “But another big benefit of working with them is that they’re not frightened of ideas – they have the ability to take an artistic design and turn it into reality.”
For more on Vaillant visit vaillant.co.uk.
For more information on Whitco visit whitcoltd.com.
E & R Moffat is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of quality foodservice equipment, designing and manufacturing in-house. Based inBonnybridge,Scotland, the company manufactures standard and bespoke servery, regeneration and storage equipment and runs a full nationwide after-sales engineering team. E & R Moffat is accredited to ISO 9001:2008 and many of the products have gas approvals and are EMC tested. For more information on E & R Moffat visit ermoffat.co.uk
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