playing safe at scothot
As Stakis's group environmental health officer, Douglas Cameron is responsible for food safety standards across the group's 40 hotels and 23 casinos.
He designs all new-build kitchens and oversees kitchen refurbishment, advising on primary cooking equipment. So his tour around ScotHot focused on health and safety.
Star of the show for him was the US-manufactured Wolf range of ovens on the Frialator stand. "They have a reputation for quality, which is very important now. Caterers seem to be prepared to pay more for something that is going to last," said Mr Cameron.
He was pleasantly surprised by the £2,000 price tag for a medium-duty, six-burner range and oven with a 26,000Btu power rating, and £3,362 for a four-burner, heavy-duty unit (30,000Btu).
Mr Cameron also liked the fact that the paint finish was bonded into the metal and therefore less likely to flake. These ovens are widely used by US-style operations such as TGI Friday's, and Mr Cameron believed they could well have a place in Stakis outlets.
Also on his shopping list were food processors. He stopped at the Robot Coupe stand to look at the new R302 food processor, priced at £995. This machine is designed to fall between the capacity of the 301 and the 501, allowing caterers to prepare vegetables for up to 120 covers.
Mr Cameron was impressed by the improved quality of the base; the 302 is made of stainless steel while the 301 is plastic. Sales director Martin Bates said it is aimed at the 100-bedroom hotel. Mr Cameron was keen to try it in selected Stakis outlets.
Business cards were exchanged at the Rubbermaid stand, where national account manager John McEvoy promised to send Mr Cameron a selection of the newly-launched high-heat scrapers, that claim to resist heat up to 500ºF.
Mr Cameron said the wooden spoon, with its potential to drop bits of wood in the food and harbour bacteria, had had its day. He was eager to try the new scrapers, which range in price from £4 to £9.
He did, however, raise one question: "Why make the head white, when over time it will tarnish and could look dirty?"
Rubbermaid's Mr McEvoy conceded there could be a problem, but insisted that one he had been using for "some time" had not yet shown signs of staining.
Rubbermaid cart
Mr Cameron also showed interest in a two-tiered lightweight cart, also on the Rubbermaid stand, which could be used to transport goods both back- and front-of-house.
It fitted the requirements of the Health and Safety Manual Lifting Regulations of January 1993, which put the onus on employers to remove manual lifting tasks from employees as much as possible. List price of the cart is £93.50.
But Mr Cameron had concerns about a new range of coldrooms on show at the Williams' Refrigeration stand. The new range has been made from plastisol PVC-coated, galvanised steel instead of stainless steel in a bid to reduce prices.
This, coupled with new construction techniques of no longer locking walls to the ceiling and walls to the floor, has led to a price-cut of about 10% over the standard units.
But Mr Cameron thought the plastisol would not be easy to clean and could get dirty where the walls joined the floor. A coldroom of 4cu m capacity lists at about £3,797 as a refrigerator or £4,182 as a freezer.
On the MacGregor stand, catering equipment manager Graham Batty was eager to show the Zanussi Electric Convection steamer, on display for the first time in the UK. Lease price is £45.11 per week or £4,999 to buy (gas equivalent £8,725).
Mr Cameron commended the additional safety factors of this steamer, which included a double-glazed door with a 45mm cavity between the two panes of glass to make the oven door cooler.
But he had his doubts about the drainage: "I would need to be sure about the drainage of this type of product before investing in it."
