Microwaves Feature Casual Dining: December 2019

Please attribute any comments to Kris Brearley, Sales Director, R H Hall

What are the main benefits to a well-considered microwave choice?
To choose the right kind of microwave, consumers should look at their menu offering and decide what tasks the microwave oven should undertake. If the microwave is to be used mainly for simple reheating and defrosting of foods then a straight-forward commercial microwave will suffice. However, if you wish to reheat and cook food products then a combination microwave oven is well advised. Items such as pastry will become soggy if reheated in an ordinary microwave whereas using a combination microwave the crisp, golden brown and conventional finished result will be achieved in microwave time!
It is very important to choose the correct microwave oven wattage. You need to select an oven with sufficient power, but just as importantly, do not over specify. If too low, frustrations can be caused by delays, and if too high, it will be difficult for the user to judge the timing of small portions. Whilst it is common for caterers to choose speed (the higher the output the faster reheat times), it is also very important to understand that for some food products too much speed will destroy smaller portions of food or the delicate and sugary types of products. Many cheaper imports are flooding into the UK and it can be tempting to go down this route, but unknowingly to many, a lot of this equipment doesn’t have any product conformity standards and the back-up of a full warranty. Go for a well-known brand - guaranteed quality doesn't cost you more! Regardless of size or duty, sturdy manufacture is a ‘must’ and this is what you get by choosing a well-known brand - anything else won’t perform or last. Choose a leading brand with an established reputation for good quality, durability and reliability. These brands usually build in great operational features too, which should always be considered.

Please send an example of a restaurant operator you have worked with when supplying into their kitchens.
The following case studies have been featured in previous issues of ‘Update’ – The quarterly R H Hall Newsletter…

Sharp hits the right note for Marston’s
Marston’s is one of the country’s top pub businesses – a leading brewer of premium cask and bottles ales from its 5 Breweries, it also boasts a national estate of over 1,600 pubs. For many of their customers good value pub food is what they value above all else and the team at Marston’s have worked on a menu that is both traditional yet innovative to satisfy as many tastes as possible. 

Key to delivering these menus is a consistent quality in the dishes and the Sharp R24AT plays a vital role in achieving this. Andy Kershaw, Group Facilities Manager for Marston’s PLC, tells us more. “We have been using the Sharp microwaves for quite a long time now as they are very reliable and their durability is second to none. They are an excellent workhorse, through which we can accommodate large volumes and the pre-programmable settings mean we can achieve the high standard of consistency we want across all of our outlets. We edit and update our menus at certain points in the year and with the Sharp’s operational ease we have the ability to adapt our dishes to emerging customer trends. There are 1,000’s of Sharp microwaves across our estate, with up to 10 units in some sites. Andy continues, “A big percentage of our sales are food based and we need to know we can rely on our equipment and with Sharp we know we can. And if for any reason we need them, we have good access to spare parts, plus a great service and warranty back–up through RH Hall dealer, Albany Catering Equipment. Our programme of installing Sharp microwaves continues to roll-out across our estate and we are pleased to have just signed a further three year contract with RH Hall to deliver this”.
Bob Billingham of Albany Catering Equipment backs up Sharp’s reliability, having worked with this equipment across the Marston’s estate for a long time. His technical knowledge is extensive in this area and he comments
“I really like the Sharp units because they are so robust and work well under the heavy workload that Marston’s Pubs are used to. They are very easy to work with maintenance wise and if we ever need them, spare parts
are readily available so we can get sites up and running again without extensive delays”.

Staying Sharp with Lockhart
RH Hall has a long-standing partnership with Bunzl Lockhart Catering Equipment, one of the UK’s leading specialist providers of catering equipment. Lockhart has enjoyed a huge amount of success in recent years with a number of major national account wins. Several of these have seen our RH Hall team closely involved in helping Lockhart to deliver a winning proposition. A perfect example of this has been our Food Solutions team’s ability to pre-programme and personalise the menu options of Sharp microwaves to match the specific requirements of key Lockhart customers, including Nandos and CDG (The Casual Dining Group).

This pre-delivery customisation, which can include food trials, menu development and bespoke branding, has enabled Lockhart’s customers to achieve higher levels of consistency and efficiency in their food preparation by ensuring that all their outlets were heating food using the same microwave settings and not guessing at the correct cooking times on a day-by-day basis. 
Commenting on the strength of the partnership Paul Nieduszynski, Lockhart’s Managing Director said:
“I have always been really impressed by the level of engagement and technical expertise we get from RH Hall. They really are experts at what they do and they’ve provided us with great support for all our events and sales training programmes over the last few years. This has enabled them to develop a really close working relationship with our sales people out in the field and has been instrumental in helping us to jointly win a number of very important National Account customers.”

For more information, please visit:
www.rhhall.com - www.microwaveassociation.org.uk - www.maestrowave.com
FOR FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION CONTACT:
Emma Smith - 01296 663400 - emma.smith@rhhall.com

R H Hall, Hallco House, Beacon Court, Pitstone Green Business Park, Pitstone LU7 9FE

T: 01296 663 400 E: sales@rhhall.com W: www.rhhall.com