CATERING
Why an MT Series flight conveyor dishwasher is the perfect solution for shopping centre catering: Shaun Turnbull, Facilities Manager at »Westfield Shopping Centre« in Shepherds Bush, London, and his decision to opt for Winterhalter.
The food court at the Westfield Centre in Shepherds Bush is high-end and an incredibly busy operation. Warewashing is centralised and has to cope with up to 9,000 plates and bowls a day, plus associated cups, glasses, cutlery and so on. The variety of outlets and cuisines, from British to Lebanese, means the machines have to cope with different types of soiling as well as a complicated mix of tableware.
“We have seen our operational efficiently flourish since the introduction of the new scullery. Our food court retailers have given positive feedback, not only on the speed of service but also the exceptional cleaning results achieved by the system.”
The existing warewashing system wasn’t coping and, with plans to expand throughput in the food court meaning it would have to handle 20% plus more volume, Westfield decided to upgrade the scullery. Graham Bean, Design Director at Bunzl Lockhart, managed the project. “The brief focused on using innovative technology to deliver sustainability, better efficiency and cost savings,” he says. “A key criteria was improving the working environment for staff – plus, we had to work within the existing, compact warewash area footprint. For the warewashers, Winterhalter was the obvious choice.”
There are three Winterhalter machines at Westfield. Two are flight conveyor types, whereby crockery and trays to be washed are loaded straight onto the conveyor. The third is a rack conveyor, which uses racks to transport the glassware through the washer. All are Winterhalter MT (multi-tank) modular systems, which allow the specifier to adapt the design by using different modules – prewash, wash and so forth. For example, one of the flight conveyors has a double drying zone, specifically to get trays dry as quickly as possible. The machines are packed into a very tight area but, thanks to clever design work, staff have room to work efficiently.
One flight machine is dedicated to crockery, the other cleans trays and pre-washes cutlery. The rack machine, which is fitted with a reverse osmosis (RO) unit, is used to clean glasses and finish off cutlery.
However, all the Winterhalter machines have been pre-programmed to be multifunctional, with both glasswash and dishwash functions. The programmes can be changed by flicking a switch on the control panel. They adapt the wash parameters, including chemical dosing, to ensure best results, whatever is being washed. The multifunctionality of the Winterhalter systems means that if one machine has an issue, or if there is unusually high use of glasses or dishes, then the scullery can manage.
With Westfield’s old system, cutlery and glasses needed to be hand polished after washing – a time consuming task that led to breakages, too. The new glasswash system features Winterhalter’s market-leading RO water treatment unit, which produces such sparkling results that there’s no need to polish. “The Winterhalter RO makes a huge contribution – it reduces labour costs and breakages massively,” says Graham.
Sustainability is a key part of the Westfield scullery – for example, it features an innovative vacuum waste management system that reduces food waste by 80%, the residue of which is sold for composting. The Winterhalter machines feature a variety of technologies to minimise energy, water and chemical consumption. They include heat recovery pumps, sophisticated filter systems that minimise water use, and detergent and rinse aid saving devices.
Each of our customers has their own specific reasons for choosing Winterhalter for their commercial warewashing needs. These are Shaun Turnbull's main ones :
From start to finish, preparation and project management was second to none and delivery of this first class, innovative solution was a great success.
