SUPPLIER ROUNDTABLE: Hot kitchen and oven design
Hotel kitchen and oven design is hot property: With professional kitchens becoming increasingly high-tech and eco-friendly, experts discuss the recent evolutions in modern design and what they believe will be the next big thing
Meet the experts
BRETT BEECH, sales and export director (and founder), Beech Ovens. Beech Ovens specialises in supplying made to order ovens to internationally recognised luxury hotels, restaurants, casinos, cruise ships and pizza chains .
WAYNE CUOMO, managing director, Charvet Premier Ranges. With more than 30 years of commercial kitchen design experience, Charvet Premier Ranges offers a made to order range of cooking equipment.
MARCO GUERRETTI, VP sales director (Africa, India, Middle East), Electrolux Professional. Designed especially for hotels, hospitals and central kitchens, Electrolux Professional’s industrial kitchen products aim to combine results and exceptional efficiency while respecting the environment.
ELIAS RACHED, regional director sales MENA, Maschinenfabrik Kurt Neubauer GmbH & Co. MKN is a German specialist in the design and sales of professional cooking technology and equipment for the catering, hotel and gastronomy industries.
NIGEL BELL, chairman and CEO, Adande Refrigeration. Adande has pioneered a unique ‘Refrigerated Drawer’ system which is designed to integrate into busy kitchen environments and help minimise waste.
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Q: What do you believe are the new and upcoming trends in oven and kitchen design?
Marco Guerretti: Nowadays, the technological level of professional equipment is extremely high. Massive usage of professional kitchen appliances equipped with advanced digital technologies has allowed the industry to evolve to a level that no one expected within such a traditional sector as food service.
I believe that when it comes to kitchen technology, we can expect the same tremendous future transformations as have been observed in the telephone and computer industry.
Elias Rached: Easy and intuitive kitchen operation, in combination with high flexibility, will become more and more important for the user of modern kitchen technology.
In addition to this, optimising kitchen processes and reducing consumption of resources like labour, energy, water, food, etc. will become a huge topic.
To be able to produce a high volume of different types of high quality-food, while using less space with less resources, will be one of the most important kitchen design challenges in the future.
Nigel Bell: Kitchens will continue the move from traditional ovens to more flexible combi and accelerated ovens, with the aim of saving space. We are continually being asked to install refrigeration units under ovens, plancha or grill sections.
Refrigeration drawers provide easier food management while removing upright refrigerators from kitchens helps to clear sight lines, aiding kitchen management.
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Q: Has a rising demand for ‘green’ energy saving products affected your sales and product design?
Elias Rached: Yes it has. Any technology with big potential for saving energy and resources is highly demanded by the current market. As a premium technology supplier, it is very important for us to match these expectations and it is something we follow during the entire development process of a new product, like the MKN FlexiChef, which is able to reduce the consumption of water, energy and with it f.e. to reduce CO² emissions.
Wayne Cuomo: In recent years there has been a huge shift to energy saving induction ranges, which have really taken off in sales. Charvet has always tried to be a field leader in energy saving, for example we have used refractory cement in our solid top cookers for the last 60 years, combined with high energy efficient gas burners.
The cement is able to withstand high temperatures and prevents the escape of heat, focusing or directing the burner output onto the hotplate above and thus minimising energy wastage.
Marco Guerretti: Electrolux started modifying its factories and product lines with “Green Spirit” and “Energy Saving” concepts 15 years ago. Our current product ranges are continuously evolving and improving in order to offer the market high performing products while maintaining low running costs and making positive differences every day in peoples’ lives.
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Q:How do you balance the conflict between price point and product quality?
Marco Guerretti: This is a very sensitive issue that we approach in the last stage of negotiations with customers. It becomes much easier when our interlocutors have a sustainable approach and care about energy saving issues.
Some markets are highly oriented toward “environmentally friendly” politics and are ready to spend a bit more in order to purchase a “green” product instead of a traditional one.
Brett Beech: Our customers insist on the best equipment even if it costs more. Hotel management have to attract the best chefs. To do this they require quality cooking equipment. Buying quality saves you money in the long run. Happy chefs equal good food which in turn equals lots of customers.
Elias Rached: Price is always important, but it is also always relative. So the question is, with what do customers compare and what are their expectations? If you are able to offer innovative and unique solutions for daily challenges and problems, customers will understand that it makes sense to invest in a premium product.
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Q:How has demand for speciality cuisine impacted the range of products you currently offer?
Marco Guerretti: During recent years, almost all major players in the hotel chain industry have developed diverse offers in order to meet the rising demand for speciality cuisine.
Nowadays, a four- to five-star hotel offers at least three or four different specialised restaurants, starting from Italian to Thai cuisine, Chinese, Indian, Libyan and Japanese, not to mention fusion cuisine and the typical steak house.
This modern trend is driving manufacturers to extend their product lines to offer specialised features in order to meet the rising demand for versatile equipment.
Wayne Cuomo: Even though Charvet is a very traditional French manufacturer, it has developed products for new applications such as a paella burner large enough for paella pans, as well as teppanyaki griddles, multi-function cookers (combining induction hobs with plancha, gas hobs and fryers, for example) and wok burners.
Our new Pro 700 Series has also been launched in response to a demand for high powered compact equipment for use at the point of service i.e. hotel pool-side grills and open plan kitchens.
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Q: What is your strategy to grow your business in 2013?
Marco Guerretti: We have a plan to grow by increasing value shares in BRICs countries and at the same time, to keep growing in traditional mature markets.
Our strategy is based on four key pillars; Grow, Innovation, Operational Excellence and People, those are the strengths that have driven our business for years.
Electrolux is a customer oriented company and we’re convinced that this is the right approach: to anticipate the customer’s requirements and always be near to take care of the end customer through the entire buying process.
Elias Rached: We believe that the current worldwide potential for growth is huge. Our strategy is to go more and more into international markets and to give potential customers in established and new markets a MKN live experience, by inviting them to come and cook with us. We aim to be innovative and to offer a big package of real user benefits that will solve customer’s daily problems.
Wayne Cuomo: Our aim is to increase export activity, particularly with the Pro 700 series in the Middle East, where the combination of high power, heavy duty construction but small footprint make it an ideal option for smaller kitchens, service kitchens or even poolside grill operations — where there is a high volume of demand and where the only cooking equipment of the same size currently available is medium duty in construction and simply would not last in such a location.
Nigel Bell: Adande has just launched into the Indian market and continues to develop strongly in the Middle East.
Key to our growth strategy is sharing the experience of current Adande users with other chefs, using local testimonials, such as our installation at Scott’s Restaurant in Abu Dhabi and also within tandoori kitchens in India, where the high internal temperature of the kitchen usually means conventional refrigeration units last only one month. In one kitchen there an Adande has been installed for nine months and continues to run well.
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Q: What do you predict will be the leading F&B trends in 2013?
Elias Rached: Local kitchens will become more and more internationalised. Nowadays nearly everybody has access to different cultures and is interested in experiencing them and a quick and easy way to do that is through food and dining.
At the same time, as consumers become more and more demanding, the quality of native and local food will have to increase. For this, chefs will need flexible, innovative and high quality kitchen technology.
Nigel bell: 2013 will bring a continued growth in Asian inspired cuisine, particularly sushi/sashimi as well as a continuation of the increasing interest in sustainable equipment and the continued fast growth of fast food and casual dining chains.
Wayne Cuomo: The trend is for more compact, high power and energy efficient cooking equipment, which will give designers more flexibility and allow Charvet into more areas of the hotel or restaurant due to the smaller footprint of our new equipment.
Marco Guerretti: I believe quality and simplicity will lead the F&B trends in 2013 as this fits into the worldwide trend promoted by the greatest chefs; to rediscover the natural taste of food.