With the aftershocks of the recent budget still reverberating throughout the hospitality industry, making savings wherever possible without compromising the quality and level of service has never been more important. One area that can generate ongoing savings is when investing in new catering equipment.
Catering equipment is an essential purchase for hospitality, food service and catering businesses, and ensures that menus can be produced quickly, consistently and to high standards. The importance of choosing energy efficient commercial cooking equipment, has never been more apparent, not only in light of the budget but also due to the rise in energy costs.
Numerous advancements have been made by many catering equipment manufacturers, in regard to design and performance features. This means there are more energy efficient catering equipment products than ever available on the market that boast energy efficient features and are capable of generating ongoing operational savings.
Top Tips for Energy Efficient Catering Equipment Purchases
A Boost for Electric
Gas used to be the go-to power supply for catering equipment, however a significant shift has been seen in the sales of electric equipment. More businesses now seem to be making the switch to electric because of inflated energy costs and the typically lower initial outlay of purchasing new electric equipment.
- Did you know that despite 3 phase electric supplies drawing more power than single phase or plug in units, it is more efficient? Sounds counter-intuitive but if your business is set-up to use 3 phase supplies, you’ll save money on energy use in the long run. Be aware that if your premises doesn’t have the correct set-up, it can be expensive to install.
Lowering Wattage Without Reducing Cooking Power
Lainox Oracle high speed ovens are a relatively new range that operates with lower wattage, without reducing cooking power. How can they do this? By using two magnetrons instead of one. A magnetron transmits the microwaves that cook the food -two magnetrons will distribute and transmit microwaves evenly and more effectively around the oven cavity and the food, than a single magnetron can.
The Oracle range offers dual cooking modes, using either high speed convection, microwave cooking, or a combination of both.
Combi Ovens – Not Only About the Cooking
Commercial combi ovens are a popular addition to busy professional kitchens. Combining the cooking capabilities of multiple pieces of equipment into one unit, they may be expensive to buy initially but offer versatility with cooking techniques, space-saving benefits without any loss of productivity, and intelligent operations.
Combination ovens offer a long list of benefits, making them top of the list when chefs are looking for equipment; but do you actually need one? If your menu needs all of the cooking capabilities to produce the required result then it’s an easy decision. If you will only use one or two cooking programs while the rest lie idle, then you may be able to save money by investing a less advanced oven model.
One of the main draws of commercial combination ovens, surprisingly, has nothing to do with cooking. The majority of combi ovens have a handy self-cleaning feature, saving chefs the long and arduous task of cleaning down equipment after every service. While not an efficiency feature, the function is a popular time-saving feature with kitchen staff.
If you’re struggling to choose between different brands of these intelligent cooking systems, and you’re looking for an energy efficiency feature that makes one model stand out over another, then MKN may have just the thing. The majority of combi ovens use a boiler system, where a tank of water is constantly heated thereby using energy, even when the steam function isn’t being used. Some models will also periodically drain this heated water when it hasn’t been used and refill with freshwater that needs to be heated again. Great to ensure that the water used for steaming is fresh, not so great for the amount of energy used to heat the boiler. MKN utilise an on-demand steam system which dynamically controls the required amount of water, with only the required quantity of water heated when it’s needed.
With hospitality businesses looking to make savings where possible without having a detrimental effect on the overall quality of the experience they provide, wise decisions when it comes to buying new equipment can guarantee ongoing savings that can add up to make a big difference.