Kevin Berkins runs two of the best pubs in the North West. The Fence Gate Inn near Burnley was National Freehouse of the Year 2007/8 while the Eagle at Barrow is fast becoming a favourite with locals, since Kevin re-launched the venue late in 2008.
Kevin has more food awards than he cares to mention and was recently crowned National Champion Sausage Maker by the British Pork Executive (BPEX) at the Butcher’s Guildhall in Smithfield. He’s also famous for the giant £8,000 pie that got the Fence Gate into the Guinness Book of Records for being the most expensive pie ever made.
Now Kevin has redeveloped The Eagle as an ‘eco site’, focussing on low energy equipment (“There are only a few bulbs of more than 11 watts in the place,” he points out). When it came to dish and glass washers, he went for Winterhalter machines, including the new GS500 Energy+ pass through with its ‘intelligent resource technology’.
For Kevin, selecting the right warewashing is crucial because of the volume of dirty crockery and glasses his pubs generate. Despite all those awards, he isn’t into fine dining – his pubs supply what he describes as “top-end, brasserie style” menus. Focussing on locally grown, locally bred and locally sourced ingredients has paid dividends, as both sites are very busy with food sales.
And we’re not talking typical pub restaurants – they both have upmarket lounges, with their own idiosyncratic identities, and they both have 100-plus seater brasseries. The Fence Gate Inn also has two function rooms, of 100 and 300 covers respectively, while the Eagle has a 175-seater function room, a very busy piano and champagne lounge and an adjacent deli with its own smoke house and meat aging facilities.
That’s a lot of warewashing. Kevin has relied on Winterhalter glasswashers for more years than he cares to remember: “They’re not the cheapest machines, but they do a better job,” he says. Recently he switched to Winterhalter dishwashers, too, including the Energy+ unit at the ‘eco’-Eagle.
“Going down the energy-saving route has meant the initial costs are higher,” he says. “But the payback will be in efficiency. We’re not just spending money to do our bit for the environment, although that is definitely a factor, we’re also looking to make real savings in the longer-term.” A Winterhalter GS500 pass-through dishwasher fitted with the Energy+ system will save around 23% per year in running costs, the company estimates. “Plus, like the Winterhalter glasswashers, they are totally reliable when it comes to cleaning results.”
Given the success of the two pubs, Kevin admits he’s considering getting more sites, though nothing is certain yet. So what does he call his fledgling pub group? “Bloody hard work,” he laughs. At least the Winterhalters are making light work of the warewashing.
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 email info@winterhalter.co.uk.
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Editors’ notes: Energy+ is part of Winterhalter’s overall energy reduction initiative, IRT (intelligent resource technology). It is designed to take warewashing into a new generation of low running costs and ease of use. Energy+ has won a number of international awards, including the FCSI Award, the Innovation Award at Sirha in Lyon, The Caterer Excellence Award at Hotelympia 2008 and the Special Award for Efficiency at Intergastra 2008.
The GS500 Series is a range of pass-through dishwashers with cleaning capacities of up to seventy racks per hour. The new Energy+ system recycles exhaust heat from the steam and hot wastewater and returns it to heat the incoming cold water. This not only slashes heating costs but also, by condensing the steam to remove its heat, it removes the need for an extractor hood or extra ventilation and makes wash area working conditions much more pleasant. The Energy+ system reduces the total connected load by up to 6 kW, which Winterhalter estimates will cut running costs by around 23%.
The GS500 series also has a new cost-saving rinse system. It uses a radical new design of water jet that actually gives better rinse results even though it uses up to 25% less water. Less water reduces consumption of energy (because there is less water to heat) and chemicals, cutting total running costs by around 20%, according to Winterhalter’s figures.