Restaurant Chain Triples Sales Thanks to Equipment Partnership
Drake & Morgan has outlined the difference that innovative foodservice equipment can make to a fast-growing restaurant operation after it was forced to bring in extra kit to cope with a seasonal spike in demand.
Over the recent Christmas period, the volume of covers that the chain served almost tripled, leading it to call on supplier Thermodyne for help.
It has been procuring Thermodyne food warmers through distributor Advance Group for a number of years in order to solve capacity management issues and this time was no different as it sought to increase capacity and table turns.
“We go from achieving net sales on food prior to December of around $ 613,845 per month to around $1.9m during the festive season,” revealed Rob Mitchell, executive chef at Drake & Morgan. “To facilitate the increased footfall, we have a lot of pre-booked packages which take more of a banqueting style. Christmas for us is huge – we go from 400-500 covers a day to around 1,500.”
The Thermodyne solution allowed Drake & Morgan’s chefs to prepare dishes before peak service and increase kitchen efficiency in the process. Through gentle conduction, patented ‘FluidShelf’ technology maintains each shelf to temperatures within 1°F, preserving textures, color, natural juices, and nutrients. Product yield greatly improves with high volumes of food suspended at serving temperature without any drying, shrinkage or quality issues.
Mitchell said: “To be able to efficiently service these numbers and run a smooth operation, we need an intelligent capacity management solution, which is Thermodyne. It is a lot safer too because food is at the right temperature. We cooked lamb overnight, which was deliciously succulent in the morning ready for the day’s service. Thermodyne is also a great holding cabinet and we need less resource than we would if we didn’t have it – up to three staff members less.”
Mitchell claims that without the Thermodyne solution, the quality of its offering would have suffered during that busy period. “It is important for me and my team that we are able to get ahead and Thermodyne allows us to do this. Without it, we would have issues with cold food and customer satisfaction would fall.”
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*Featured in the Foodservice Equipment Journal, January 28, 2016, by Andrew Seymour
Posted in: Innovation