Space
The new kitchen at the five-star Chester Grosvenor hotel is smaller than the two old ones it replaces, and the chef's office space has been cut by half - but executive head chef Simon Radley is delighted with it.
According to Radley, the design of the new kitchen makes it far more efficient. "In condensing it, we've made sure there are no wasted corners and we've made the best use of the area, so it now feels as if we actually have more space," he says.
Radley adds that having a smaller kitchen has enabled the creation of the new Archive Room, used for afternoon tea and private dining. "The income from 20 extra covers over a 12-month period is a sum not to be sniffed at," he says.
He also points out that the new design makes it easier to manage his brigade. Whereas previously the 18 chefs who cook for the 150-cover Brasserie restaurant worked in one kitchen and the seven chefs who cook for the 50-cover Michelin-starred Arkle restaurant worked in another, they now all work in the same kitchen, albeit in separate areas. "It's great because I can keep a watchful eye on everything instead of having to go through two doors to get from one kitchen to the other," says Radley.
Having separate areas for each function of the kitchen is a key feature of the £400,000 refurbishment designed and installed by the Catering Centre - since renamed Prisma - and completed at the end of January. While both cooking areas have their own Technyform bespoke range from Welbilt, as well as separate prep and pass areas, the equipment in each reflects the different styles of the two restaurants. The Brasserie section has a strong emphasis on mise en place and fast cooking, so has equipment such as a refrigerated garnish rail, wok burners and extra gas hobs. For the more formal Arkle there is a more traditional line-up of equipment.
Bakery and pastry are also housed separately and the larder area, where raw meat and fish are prepared, now has a wall to cut it off from the main kitchen. And although a new banqueting kitchen was installed next to the function rooms on the second floor last year, banqueting preparation has its own area in the main kitchen which can also be used as an overflow area for restaurant prep when needed. Similarly, there is a separate area for making hot food for light lunches served in the library; at dinner it doubles up as an area for pastry work.
Dangers removed
Best use of space is a constant theme, and nowhere is this more evident than in the small room dedicated to boiling, where two Cleveland jacketed boilers and three Zanussi stock rings have been squeezed in. This has entirely removed stock- and soup-making from the main kitchen and consequently removed a lot of steam and the dangers of spills and splashes.
Radley was determined that his new kitchen would not be filled with clutter, so decided he would rather have a pan store than a big office. He also deliberately minimised the amount of shelving in the cooking areas, making it impossible for chefs to keep many pans there.
New kitchens generally have the effect of improving staff morale, but at the Chester Grosvenor Radley has noticed an even greater effect. He explains: "Because the chefs for the Arkle and the Brasserie used to work in separate kitchens, there was a certain amount of ‘them and us'. Now we're all in one kitchen, we're much more of a team."
Suppliers
12. Colsec 01905 795070
Foster Refrigerator 01553 691122
Hobart Manufacturing Co 07002 101101
Prisma 01254 616555
Rational UK 01582 480388
Welbilt UK (Cleveland, Frymaster, Technyform, Polaris) 020 8561 0433
Winterhalter Gastronom 01582 490077
Zanussi Professional 0121-766 6655
