Equipment update helping hands.

Equipment update

Disrupted trading over the past year, and changes in consumer behaviour in the wake of Covid, will be providing some operators with the opportunity to assess their associated equipment requirements.

SPEED AND QUALITY

Caffè Nero in the UK, for example, reports that it has recently undergone the biggest food transformation project in its 22-year history. Their goal was to create and launch a premium deli-style food menu which would not only provide food as premium as its coffee, but also transform the eating experience for its customers, both existing and new, they report.

To do that, huge focus was put on providing authentic, artisanal, Italian style food which could be enjoyed on the move or eaten in store, and that could also be served hot or cold. Part of the challenge in designing the menu was finding the right equipment which would not only maintain the speed and quality of customer service, even when making hot food, but wouldn’t add any operational complexity to the stores, and be the right size so it not only fitted all the various store sizes up and down the country, but didn’t compromise the unique design of Caffè Nero’s coffee houses either.

The solution involved Panasonic’s development chef working closely with the Caffè Nero team using the SCV2 speed convection oven to design new hot food items. In addition to enhancing the Food Transformation Project (FTP) to create food that was innovative, tasty, cooked fast and well presented, the SCV2 also offered Caffè Nero benefits such as ease of use, saving space and consistency across the entire estate.

“As a premium coffee house brand, launching our new deli kitchen food menu was about offering our customers food as good as our coffee and which matched the unique environment our stores provide. It was essential we didn’t compromise on the quality of the food we served, and that meant finding the right oven to prepare the food, but which critically also matched the aesthetic of our coffee houses,” says Will Stratton-Morris, CEO, Caffè Nero UK.

“The Panasonic SCV2 Speed Convection Oven jumped out as the ideal solution. The Panasonic team understood our needs and invested time with our food development

team and supported them through the creation of the new hot food menu. They helped us to achieve the best results from the oven and brought to life benefi ts it offered which also allowed us to develop items that we couldn’t previously offer.

“The SCV2 has enabled us to offer a hugely expanded and diverse food range which is staying true to our principals of offering a premium experience to our customers. It’s given us better control in the cooking process as well as fl exibility in what we can offer in store. It’s helped us launch a menu which is a step change for the high street.”

Because Caffè Nero’s estate is diverse with each store designed in a bespoke way - no two coffee houses are the same - it creates a challenge when selecting new equipment which needs to work across all stores.

The SCV2 is compact with a small footprint, and has the added bonus of being stackable and doesn’t need extraction. In addition, its sleek design allowed Caffè Nero to locate the oven front of house and still maintain the premium look and feel in its stores. Food can be cooked or heated to a high quality, with a crisp, toasted fi nish within the critical 60 second target – Caffè Nero’s baristas take 60 seconds to make a coffee, and the challenge to Panasonic was to ensure food service could keep pace!

The two brands collaborated to optimise the solution and following successful trials, Panasonic has since managed the installation of the ovens and training of all staff.

NEW LAUNCH

Gloucestershire based Autonumis Ltd report that they have launched the innovative and stylish looking MilkShot (www.milkshot.co.uk) – a high volume portion-controlled milk dispenser with under-counter refrigerated bulk milk storage. This unit, manufactured in the UK, is ideally suited to busy coffee shops who are looking to save costs and be more sustainable.

The dispenser helps speed up serving times as a result of its automated push button operation, say the company. Additionally, milk wastage is virtually eliminated thanks to the dispenser’s accuracy in delivering portion sizes.

Sustainability sits high on the list of benefi ts offered by the dispenser, points out the fi rm. Operating from BIB milk pergals or stainless-steel churns the dispenser eliminates the need for milk to be delivered to the coffee shop in plastic cartons. Plastics reduction equates to 70% with BIB (when compared with milk supplied in two litre plastic cartons) or 100% with the churn option.

The counter mounted dispense unit has two outlets, each of which offers three programmable volume outputs that are accurate to within plus or minus 1%. It can also operate on free fl ow for any custom portion sizes. Laminar fl ow outlet nozzles ensure there’s no frothing of the milk and no dripping.

Cleaning, which is required every 24 hours, is made quick and simple with the dispenser’s automated cleaning and rinse cycle. The complete system has been tested and certifi ed to meet all relevant food hygiene regulations. The dispense unit comes with an integrated drip tray (three sizes available), drain kit and an optional jug washer.

The MilkShot’s fridge unit offers several supply options - 3 x 13.6 litre pergal bags or 2 x 10 litre churns and includes a patented universal BIB dispense tube connector. Designed as a high performance commercial refrigeration system it is interchangeable with standard 600mm wide catering fridge units.

A HIGH VOLUME PORTION CONTROLLED MILK DISPENSER WITH UNDER-COUNTER REFRIGERATED BULK MILK STORAGE.

70%

LESS SPEEDS UP SERVING TIMES

Automated push button operation

REDUCES PLASTIC PACKAGING BY OVER 70%*

Works with BIB pergals or refillable churns

ELIMINATES MILK WASTAGE

Delivers accurate portion sizes

From Autonumis

Tel: +44 (0)1666 502641 Email: info@milkshot.co.uk www.milkshot.co.uk

A RETURN TO PROFIT

“Café equipment that will generate profi t, only needs a small space to operate and will keep customers coming back for more is a winner for businesses looking to step up their offering this year,” says Paul Ingram, managing director at Carpiginai UK Ltd (www. carpigiani.co.uk).

“Premium gelato, sorbet, frozen yoghurt or ice cream offers incredible fl exibility and can accommodate many of the trends that the industry is currently observing such as dairy free with coconut and almond milks or local and in-season sourcing of fruit and vegetables. The profi t opportunities from producing gelato and premium ice cream in house can be substantial compared to buying in ready-made alternatives.”

However, the challenge of offering a varied menu with the space limitations often found in a café mean that the right equipment choices are crucial, feel Carpigiani. Known globally for their gelato and ice cream equipment, the companys says that it is committed to providing equipment using the latest technology and are targeting operators with smaller kitchens.

Their award-winning Freeze&Go, for example, is just 300mm wide and is the most compact countertop professional batch freezer in its class, claim the company. Producing up to 5kg of fresh, high quality gelato, ice cream or sorbet per hour, and up to fi ve portions in just four minutes, the Freeze&Go allows cafés to create small portions of fresh dessert offerings, on demand, and without wasting valuable kitchen space.

Equipped with a single-phase power supply, the compact, virtually silent and easy to clean model also offers a classically shaped, retro design with a cream fi nish to refl ect Carpigiani’s extensive brand heritage. It’s this unique colour and quality design that also ensures the unit is perfectly suited for placement in sight of the customer, feel the fi rm, allowing operators to further enrich the customer’s experience. The innovative design of the Freeze&Go allows the mixing cup to be removed easily for cleaning, and with additional mixing cups available, cafés are able to create an assortment of ready to serve fl avours with ease.

For those looking for a slightly larger capacity of between 8-12 kg, the Carpigiani Labo 8/12E offers the capacity required to produce medium sized batches - ideal for maintaining freshness and the production of multiple fl avours, they propose. A simple plug-and-go operation and a compact footprint ensures the Labo 8/12E will fi t effortlessly onto an existing countertop in even the most compact catering environments.

Following on from its Airack Glass Dryer’s success, and the benefi ts it brings to their customers, Clenaware Systems (www.clenaware.co.uk) say that they wanted to provide the same quality and convenience to cafés, bistros, restaurants and alike that are drying mugs. Available from this summer, the CafeRack has been specially designed to dry and warm mugs ready for serving hot drinks and eliminate cross-contamination from tea towels. The rack dries and warms mugs, eliminates any cross contamination, provides cross contamination, provides a constant rotation of mugs and is simple and easy to use, claim the company.

HOME DEMAND

Over the various nationwide lockdowns during the pandemic, we’ve all missed our ability to carry out normal daily activities and treat ourselves to life’s little luxuries that we’ve become accustomed to. Most missed has got to be the daily visit to the local coffee shop to enjoy our favourite espresso, latte or cappuccino.

However, the innovative and creative afi cionados out there have found other ways to continue their own personal moment of caffeine heaven, report Fracino (www.fracino.com), creating their own personal kitchen coffee bar in what must have been the ultimate solution to the lockdown restrictions.

Britain’s traditional espresso machine manufacturer produces a range of compact espresso coffee machines that will fi t in the smallest locations, whilst offering the espresso quality of full size commercial machine and very impressive performance.

Their Piccino, for example, is their domestic-user model range. Featuring three different versions, each is fi tted with dual boilers to allow espresso extraction at the same time as steaming milk. Constructed from the same high quality metallic, minimal use of plastics, design that marks out all Fracino machines, the Piccino offers the home barista a choice of features, such as electronic measurement of the espresso shot volume, PID control of the extraction temperature and wide array colour fi nishes – in a luxurious, high quality design that will stunning in any kitchen or home offi ce setting.

With a range of different design styles, the Fracino semiprofessional range models also incorporate a single powerful steam boiler to ensure consistently high quality milk foaming with excellent performance and hot water for Americano drinks and tea.

The Classico, with its luxurious real oak wood handles and stylish angular, highly polished stainless steel design, features an intriguing lever operation of the group, enabling the user to pre-infuse the coffee before beginning the main extraction cycle and allowing full control over the fl avour profi le achieved. The more sophisticated Heavenly model, with its striking tridecagon design - features electronic control of the espresso shot volume – providing the barista with consistent quality espresso shots every time.

“Our espresso coffee machines in this sector can operate in conjunction with our range of compact domestic and semiprofessional grinders, or with ESE pods - and even some brands of capsules - that Fracino’s Cherub model.

are increasingly readily available from coffee roasters. Crucially, the compact, domestic and semi-professional models have their own integral water tanks, so are ideal for locations with no easy access to mains water,” says Fracino’s Peter Atmore.

Fracino’s unique manufacturing techniques also allows clients the opportunity to specify a range of bespoke colour and texture fi nishes for their espresso machines.

OFFICE-BASED OPTION

An Evoca Group (www. evocagroup.com) name that’s poised to have a great impact as people return to their offi ce environment is the famous Italian brand, Saeco.

Founded in 1981 in Gaggio Montano, near Bologna in northern Italy, in 1985 Saeco became the fi rst company in the world to develop ‘bean to cup’ - a completely automatic and innovative Italian espresso brewing system, from the coffee bean to the cup. Ever since, they have been developing coffee machines with the aim of satisfying the tastes of people with different lifestyles and therefore different expectations, in and out of home, for both the domestic and professional channels. Now, the brand is coming to the UK market when, largely due to the infl uence of Covid, its machines have all the features that are likely to be in demand as the return to work gathers pace.

The machines are small in terms of both footprint and capacity, making them perfect for hair salons, car dealerships, reception areas, break out rooms and the like, feel the company. And the fact that many larger employers are considering creating in-house ‘bubbles’ has also now opened the door for Saeco machines to provide the ideal solution in larger, more populous environments too.

One prediction is that the departments of larger companies – for instance, sales, accounts, customer service and so on – will be asked to remain segregated from each other in departmental ‘bubbles’. In those circumstances, the deployment of large coffee machines – those capable of serving the needs of hundreds of people every day – will reduce, and in place of one machine we may well see refreshment services consisting of several, smaller machines.

Although compact, their machines still deliver an excellent, authentic Italian coffee experience, claim Saeco. The Saeco Royal, for example, comes with bold design and a stylish image as standard, and the professional and functional components it brings into play belie its size.

Saeco has two further machines ready for the return to work, the Lirika and Aulika Evo Top. Like the Royal, these machines use fresh milk to create the authentic taste of Italian coffee. Additionally, there are two chic pod machines - the Area and the Onda - perfect for when coffee, even when served only occasionally, has to be of the highest quality, claim Saeco.

Designed in Italy. Inspiring baristas worldwide.

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