What steps can garden centre restaurants take to use less energy in the kitchen?
The volume of hot main meals and snacks that garden centres create every day is simply amazing – 1000-2000 covers daily is not unusual. In these circumstances, the choice of a heavy-duty cooking range is essential for reliability and economy in use.
Some ‘heavy-duty’ cooking ranges will also provide better economy in use and offer genuine energy conservation to the operator.
Induction is always quoted as more efficient than gas or electric, but not all induction is equal from a sustainable point of view. It’s not very sustainable, for example, to have to replace an induction unit every three or five years. We use induction hobs with a minimum 10-year user life!
Some garden centres prefer gas, but again, not all gas ranges are equal. Sales brochures are fond of quoting large power outputs for the burners, but some makers can achieve the same heat output with less power. Energy is saved using a smaller burner with a cement surround that focusses the heat, ensuring more heat hits the pan and less escapes up the side.
Grills are essential for the kitchen – look out for those which turn the heat up with an energy saving plate detection system and which can operate one half at a time, saving energy in slack periods.
