Cooking Up Increased Performance

The commercial catering industry, including the education sector, is challenged with reducing its carbon consumption by over 25% by 2020, yet uses currently in excess of 21,600 million kWh a year. That is a huge amount of energy, and cost. LEA budgets are under more pressure than ever, making it even harder- in theory- for schools and colleges to invest in strategies to help achieve targets. Yet thinking ‘outside the box’ could deliver a better kitchen, improve student take-up and thus enhance turnover and cash generation-, and cut catering energy bills and carbon consumption by up to half!

This is not just talk….Having refurbished and upgraded its student café area, The Engine Room, Birmingham Metropolitan College’s James Watt Campus has seen turnover increase by over 45%, a reduction in energy usage, enhanced efficiency in the kitchen, and a growth in the number of students staying on campus. Re-using £1/4m of existing equipment in a major new catering facility saved St Helens College enough money to secure funding for phase II of the development. And although not an educational environment, Cadbury World is saving some 30% on its fuel bills by using more efficient equipment in its visitor attraction restaurant serving 900 cooked meals/week, plus cold dishes and platters.

Creating a kitchen that fulfills all the objectives can be quite simple, if a different attitude is adopted- that of lifetime costs, whereby instead of looking at expenditure for one, isolated year, one takes into account the cost over the lifetime of the facility.

In our experience, too often we are asked for specific equipment because “that’s what we’ve always had…”. Kitchen equipment, like any technology, evolves. Inevitably, like anything new, it can be more expensive, but the ‘outside the box’ approach could enable students and catering staff- and the establishment’s budgets- to benefit, for years to come. Specialist contractors in any sector are employed because they know best the issues and solutions: that applies to school kitchens as anywhere else, so benefit from their advice.

The average, gas-fuelled school kitchen can as a rule be up to 50% cheaper to purchase on your capital budget. Purchasing eco cooking technology such as induction will require a bigger capital cost, but the payback can be achieved a very short period of time- and deliver ongoing savings of £000’s p.a. on fuel bills, for up to 15 years. Thus it literally stops you burning money, and potentially releases funds for other projects. You turn energy wastage into capital investment.

There are further issues of budget allocation: capital cost versus running costs. .A fryer, for example, may be cheaper, but how much oil does it use? That cost alone could justify opting for a more efficient unit. A gas hob wastes about 50% of the energy you burn ,induction uses 90% of the energy in the pan .

In Austrialia there is now a tax levy of £15/tun of carbon £ 15.00 a year. You can see why it’s important to think about long term solutions. An average walk-in freezer produces around15 tons of carbon a year, whereas draw refrigeration units can reduce energy by 30%. Think about CO₂ refrigeration on large scale catering establishments- a feasibility study for a five-star hotel showed switching to this type of system would save over 600 tonnes of carbon emissions year on year. Invest literally a few £ on a water softener-1mm of limescale buildup on equipment (which can occur in less than a year!) increases energy costs by 7.5%.

Application of good planning has similar considerations. Creating a kitchen that delivers the quality of training for students, and/or the quantity and quality of meals for pupils, requires practical thought. If a refurbishment, what equipment is still ‘fit for purpose’? What range and number of meals are to be provided? What type of equipment will students be using in a commercial environment that could be practically included in their learning environment? How are meals going to be delivered- from receipt of ingredients through to service…Effort at this stage creates a seamless flow from one section to another, increasing efficiency and helping reduce risk of accidents! Strategies such as cooking all in one focused section has added benefits in reducing ventilation/extraction considerations- and associated services and build costs.

The old adage ‘you have to spend money to make money’ still rings true today, but careful planning and execution of a kitchen refurbishment can make the money spent have a real, tangible and positive impact on your bottom line, creating a revenue stream for other tools wanted or needed…..