New Rational Product Configurator

As a solution provider for hot food preparation, the German manufacturer and ceda Platinum Partner Rational has two appliance ranges available on the market; the combi-steamer and the VarioCookingCenter which works with contact heat. An in-depth detailed product advisor is now available on the internet for the multifunctional cooking appliance.

Rational’s primary objective is to find new solutions that benefit customers and improve their day-to-day work in the kitchen. This means that in addition to the cooking appliances being continuously developed, the services associated with the technology are as well. The company’s latest announcement confirms this; so that customers can be advised 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, a product configurator for the VarioCookingCenter is now available on rational-online.com.

Like a car configurator, it is also now possible to design the cooking appliance according to the customer’s requirements, or to be advised individually with the help of guided questions. “The product configurator should always be used in conjunction with the valuable advice offered by our dealer partners” explains Simon Lohse, Managing Director, Rational UK, “as it provides a good overview of all appliance variants and the performance benefits of the VarioCookingCenter.” The product configurator is now available on the company website under the VarioCookingCenter product section.

Liebherr Values Quality in Entry Level Esf Range

Designed and built on Liebherr’s commercial refrigeration production line, Liebherr Esf refrigerators and freezers feature the same design, quality and commitment to sustainability that runs through the whole foodservice and hospitality range.

Why the Esf Range?

Foodservice operations from centralised kitchens, small independent restaurants to front-of-house need options. The Esf range features large capacity models for large busy kitchens to counter top and display models. Esf ticks the boxes for reliable food storage, along with excellent product guarantees and spare parts.

The range includes the types, capacities and footprints to handle the varied produce needs that operators might need. Importantly, the cabinets don’t compromise energy efficiency for pricing with the large capacity GKVesf 5445 tested to deliver energy consumption of just 0.983 kWh over 24 hours. Key cabinets are:

• GKVesf 5445 – 164cm tall x 75cm wide fridge with 544 litres storage and 60kg shelf loading
• GKVesf 4145 – 180cm tall x 60cm wide with 365 litres storage and 45kg shelf loading
• GGUesf 1405 – under counter freezer with a storage capacity of 24kg
• FKVesf 1805 – under counter fridge with 180 litres storage
• FKVesf 1803 – as above with glass door

For more information click HERE

Liebherr GB Ltd will form part of Liebherr’s impressive presence at Host 2019 in Milan, October 18-22 and we would like to invite all ceda members and colleagues who are planning to be there this year to call by and see us. We also plan to launch a new key product range at the show that have been developed to meet customer demand in commercial foodservice.

For further product information and advice contact: 03330 147 888, or visit  https://home.liebherr.com/en/gbr/products/commercial-appliances/commercial-appliances.html

ceda Welcomes New Board Members

ceda is delighted to announce the appointment of two new Board members, Richard Toye, Director of GastroNorth Ltd, and Paul Neville, Managing Director at CHR Foodservice Equipment. Both have been co-opted onto the Board, and will formally become Directors at the end of the year. It is hoped that their arrival, and the wealth of experience that they will bring to their new roles, will enable ceda to increase its presence in the catering and foodservice industry, and build on its current impressive rate of expansion.           

ceda Chairman Derek Maher reflected on the new appointments, saying “ceda continues to grow from strength to strength as its members benefit from the services and support that is available. Having a diverse, informed professional team of directors on the board of ceda is essential to the continued development of the association and its progress. ceda are therefore very pleased to welcome Richard Toye and Paul Neville on to the Board as we all strive to raise the standards within our great industry.”

Richard Toye, who was “surprised and flattered” to be considered for the position, explained why he had agreed to become a Board member: “The Board of ceda over recent years has turned the organisation into a driving force in transforming our industry in terms of learning, knowledge, awareness, communication and the general betterment of our industry to be more sustainable and professional, as well as developing our youth to bring new fresh young blood into our industry and keeping them in the industry, and increasing the distributor’s worth to the marketplace.

Without the drive and passion of Adam and the current and recent Boards we would not be in such a good place to embrace the forthcoming years. An opportunity to be involved in what is a developing and sure to be exciting new chapter in our industry was too good of an opportunity to miss.”

Discussing what he could bring to ceda, he added, “I hope that with my experience from a technical, design and a business perspective, I can enhance ceda and their mission even further and continue my own goals of giving our industry a higher value, making us all more advanced, commercially enhanced and commutatively stronger, and providing a future by developing our youth and making our industry a better place for us now and in many years to come.”

Paul Neville enthused, “I’m very excited and very proud to have been asked to join the ceda Board. I’ve been working in our industry for 28 years and more recently took on a role as northern regional chair for ceda. My company CHR is an established and proactive ceda member who have seen first-hand the commitment and added value Adam and the board have been delivering to us as members, so to be able to get involved and help continue that drive was a really easy decision to make. 

It’s an industry I love and I’ve been lucky to have been a part of it all my working life, so hopefully those experiences will be shared and can be applied to further enhance the value that ceda members get from the association, and continue to help make the association and industry a great place to be”. 

Further appointments will be announced soon.

ceda delighted with uptake of new cedaSAFE Accreditation

ceda are delighted to announce that the uptake of the new cedaSAFE Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme, launched last month, has been hugely impressive.

Sixteen Partners and Members successfully passed the assessment in June and have been issued with their accreditation certificates. These include businesses of all sizes as the scheme is designed to offer a cost effective solution for all companies.

Those companies receiving their accreditation since launch are;

KCM Catering Equipment Ltd
Tailor Made Catering Equipment Services Ltd
Archer Catering Systems Ltd
Apeiron Catering Ltd
YCE Catering Equipment Ltd
AGGORA – Bunzl UK Ltd
CHR Food Service Equipment
Catering Design Group Ltd
Crystaltech Services (UK) Ltd
Whitco Catering and Bakery Equipment Ltd
Marren Microwave Ltd
Hobart UK – ITW Ltd T/A Hobart UK
Barcare Supreme Ltd
Rational UK Ltd
Gastronorth Ltd
C&C Catering Equipment Ltd

Derek Maher, ceda Chairman and Managing Director of Crystaltech Services, which was one of the founder applicants, commented that “The formation of an industry safety accreditation in the form of cedaSAFE will raise the profile and credibility of the Catering Equipment profession and greatly reduce the volume of repetitive and unnecessary paperwork required to assess subcontractors. Manufactures that subcontract their service repairs will have their contractors audited by a competent service provider and ceda members who offer their service to a number of industry members will greatly benefit from having just one accreditation.

If an applicant already has an SSiP accreditation then they only have to complete a few simple questions in order to achieve the certificate at a very competitive £120 per annum. The accreditation has really started to gain momentum from both ceda members and Manufacturers that have signed up.”

Apeiron Catering Ltd’s Steve McEwen, explaining why he applied, stated that “Myself and fellow Director Will Oryino have been looking at different Health & Safety accreditations and decided to apply for cedaSAFE based on the content, requirement and the fact that it was relevant to our industry. With every tender there appears to be a different requirement as to which H&S standard the particular client wishes you to be accredited with.

As an industry body ceda has looked at the requirements for member companies and laid out the specification which made it relevant to us as we solely work in commercial kitchens.

The advantage of having this going forward is that to prospective clients we can prove that we have been externally audited to meet the criteria, we also feel that ceda will continually monitor as legislation changes and update which will be passed onto members to keep their accreditation relevant.

Overall we learned from the process, bolstered our knowledge and gained a worthy accreditation which we can see adds value to our business.”

cedaSAFE was devised after discussions with the Health and Safety Executive, who highlighted the need for a single assessment standard for the foodservice, catering and hospitality industry, in order to reduce the bureaucracy and costs associated with the various pre-qualification assessments on the market.

cedaSAFE is now both the most cost-effective and the most efficient accreditation to achieve, as it requires only the most essential information to be completed. However, it still achieves the same core criteria of other schemes currently available.

Companies can achieve accreditation to promote their business as operating to the highest levels of independently verified Health and Safety standards. They can also assess the suitability of any subcontractors used by insisting that they are cedaSAFE accredited.

Lyon takes pride in joining commercial catering firm Sprint Group

Worcestershire-based commercial catering firm Sprint Group, which celebrates its 25^th year in business, is expanding its sales team to meet demand. Ex head chef and AA Rosette winner Martin Lyon joins the Sprint team as their Sales Manager based in East Anglia.

Martin has an impressive CV, with head chef at The Dorchester under Anton Mosimann, The Grosvenor and Prue Leith, amongst his accolades, so is well-placed to support the needs of Sprint’s client-base. Martin was also the youngest chef in the UK to win the coveted AA Rosette whilst at Lewtrenchard Manor in 1987.

Having hung up his chef whites, Martin has enjoyed a career in catering design at Rational, Garner’s, KCM, Airedale and most recently Lockharts, with redundancy – due to the Lockharts and Aggora merger – leading him to join the team at Sprint.

Martin said: “I remember the days when I worked in the kitchens with extremely hot, inefficient appliances and conditions, now you can achieve a really comfortable working environment and I look forward to bringing my experience to Sprint and the team to achieve this for our clients.”

Sprint Group are currently celebrating 25 years of trading and are expanding their operations to ensure they forge their way as the future innovators and industry leaders in the design and installation of commercial kitchens and bars. The team continue to recruit and retain the best in the business to support their growth into the next quarter century.

Sprint Group have enjoyed exponential growth in the past few years and continue to expand their sales and service teams to meet and exceed the expectations of their clients which include an impressive list of well-known brands like The Ivy Collection and Brasserie Blanc.

Martin continues: “I will focus on food development and design as well as energy efficiency in kitchens – a growing trend in the industry in which Sprint aims to excel.”

Sales Director, Ian Bryant, agrees:

“I totally agree with Martin, energy and sustainability are becoming more and more important and need to be embraced. We welcome Martin’s depth of experience not only with his catering equipment knowledge but also having spent so much time as a chef his understanding what a good kitchen needs to deliver under pressure.”

Call the team on 01386 555922 or email sales@sprint-group.co.uk today for more information on how they can design and fit the perfect commercial kitchen for your business. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

HOSHIZAKI PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON LATEST LEGISLATION

ceda Platinum Partner Hoshizaki has issued guidance on the upcoming legislative changes, which Simon Frost, Director UK & Ireland, describes as the “the largest change in living memory within the commercial refrigeration sector.”

The majority of upcoming legislative changes within the commercial refrigeration centre around sustainability, protecting our environment and minimising global warming impact. For example, from 2020, refrigeration manufacturers will be prohibited from using refrigerants with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) factor exceeding 2500, as Simon elaborates:

“To put this change into perspective, many refrigeration and freezing installations currently use refrigerant R404 – which has a GWP factor of 3200 – making it well above the new limit.”

As a company that has, and continues to put sustainability first, Hoshizaki has been an early adopter of sustainable refrigeration solution, such as natural refrigerants, as Simon explains:

“As global leaders in commercial refrigeration and ice making equipment, Hoshizaki understands the importance of offering the greenest solutions at a competitive price. This is why we took the decision to begin phasing out Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) units in January 2019, replacing them with significantly greener, Hydrocarbon (HC) models. These will be sold at a lower purchase price than the remaining HFC appliances in order to encourage operators to make the switch ahead of legislative changes in 2020.”

A change that is being implemented much sooner than 2020, which both manufacturers and operators must be aware of, is amendments to Energy Labelling. From July 2019, energy labels will be changing from the current ‘A+++ to F’ categorisation, to ‘A+++ – E’, in order to further push manufacturers and operators towards a more sustainable refrigeration future.

‘A+++’ represents the most efficient unit, ‘E’, the least. These ratings take into account factors such as energy consumption, storage volume, and whether or not the appliance has a freezer compartment etc.

Whilst these changes are important when making a purchase decision, Simon also advises that operators take into account the unit’s climate class:

“Climate class readings detail the conditions by which an appliance has been tested, with climate class 1 being the lowest and climate class 5 being the highest. In order to run efficiently in a hot and humid professional kitchen, operators should be looking at a minimum of climate class 4 tested appliances (30°c ambient temperature and 55% relative humidity) or ideally the top-level climate class 5 (40°c ambient temperature and 40% relative humidity). This indicates that in a virtually tropical environment of a busy kitchen, units will still operate efficiently.”

All Hoshizaki appliances are tested to climate class 4 or 5 meaning an operator can be confident that their refrigerator or ice machine will be able to withstand the demands of a commercial kitchen in an exceptionally energy efficient way.

For more information on Hoshizaki, please see www.hoshizaki-europe.com or call 01322 616 900.