Heavy Equipment

Food preparation equipment is the important stage between fresh food coming into the kitchen and being made ready for either cooking or direct service into the restaurant.

At 3663 Catering Equipment there is a wide range of food preparation equipment, but some are necessary items rather than nice-to-have items, depending on the style on food the kitchen wishes to offer.

While there is a temptation to buy in ready-prepared vegetables, the kitchen does not always get the best quality with ready-prepared vegetables, ready prepared is a very price driven business, so there is pressure to use older, cheaper potatoes and big woody carrots because they are quicker to peel than small sweeter carrots.

For high volume users of potatoes it can be more cost-effective to buy sacks of fresh potatoes and prepare them for boiling or frying using a vegetable preparation machine rather than to buy in chilled or frozen prepared chips or ready-peeled potatoes in gas-flushed bags. Fresh potatoes will always give a better flavour and buying by the sack gives the kitchen control over which variety of potato the customer is being offered.

You may think that you get a more consistent product when buying ready-turned carrots, but you don't - there is so much urgency to churn out the volume and meet a competitive price that buying ready-prepared vegetables can mean the kitchen does not know what is being bought.

Ready-sliced meats are never going to be as fresh tasting as that done freshly using a slicer and vegetable juice cannot match that of freshly squeezed. There is a very strong argument both on food quality and food cost for a kitchen preparing fruit and vegetables in-house.

A commercial refrigeration system can play a vital role in any professional kitchen, not only will it keep food fresh and help it last longer, it will also help ensure that food is kept safe whilst in storage.

A fridge is essentially an insulated cabinet with an electric pump or a compressor which moves a refrigerant liquid around the cooling bars located in domestic and commercial refrigeration systems. When the door is opened, cold air falls out to be replaced by warm air, triggering the pump to circulate the liquid to cool down the internal temperature and keep the food safe.

Why professional kitchens need to go commercial

Domestic and commercial refrigeration can often look similar, but there are key differences between them. With a domestic unit the power of the compressor is designed for the door to be opened a few times during a day, therefore a quiet modestly-powered compressor is suitable to cope with any loss of cold air. The construction of both the cabinet and motor in a domestic refrigeration system is only robust enough for light home use, and used in a busy commercial environment pose a food safety hazard as well as needing replacing far more often than commercial refrigeration units.

A professional busy working kitchen is generally far hotter than a home kitchen and a catering refrigeration system door is likely to be opened far more frequently requiring a regular flow of warm air to be cooled. A refrigeration system with commercial specifications is designed for use in these environments and will have a compressor powerful enough to rapidly pull down the internal temperature.

Commonly commercial fridges incorporate fans internally which help evenly spread cold air throughout the cabinet, a feature home fridges do not have. A commercial catering refrigeration system is better insulated than a home unit and some have the ability to electronically record temperatures which can be used as proof of due diligence in food safety procedures should a food poisoning claim be made.

Stainless steel for excellent durability

Catering refrigeration is generally constructed of a stainless steel exterior which makes them hard wearing and very easy to keep clean and hygienic. Commercial refrigeration constructed of stainless steel is more expensive to purchase than a commercial refrigerator made of PVC, although the long term benefits of a stainless steel construction improve the overall cost effectiveness.

Green and clean commercial refrigeration

 At 3663 we offer a range of catering refrigeration systems that are environmentally friendly and comply with current Carbon Trust standards. A commercial refrigeration system that is green and environment friendly generally has better insulation with some using environmentally friendly gasses as part of the cabinet insulation, as a result the fridges and freezers perform better using less energy than a conventional fridge or freezer.

Catering refrigeration is available in many forms, from freestanding fridges and freezers made of stainless steel to units that are designed to be built into a specific kitchen area to create walk in fridges or cold rooms.

To speak to a 3663 Catering Equipment sales member or to request more information about a commercial refrigeration system please call 0370 3663 960.

3663 Catering Equipment stock a wide range of commercial and industrial warewashing machines, from commercial Undercounter dishwashers/glasswashers to commercial pull-down hood/pass-through dishwashers from top brands including Electrolux, Winterhalter and Classeq.

Warewashing equipment is the collective industry name for dishwashers and glasswashers. It derives its name from glass ‘ware’ and table ‘ware’.

A common question from caterers is why can’t they use the same machine for both glasswashing and plate washing? The answer is you can and very small establishments cannot justify the cost of a dedicated commercial glasswasher and dishwasher. However glassware requires a shorter wash time than tableware and therefore using a dishwasher for this means wasting energy as the cycles are longer.

When buying a commercial dishwasher/glasswasher it is important to consider many factors including the space available, whether you will supply a hot or cold water feed, daily throughput and the number of covers your establishment has. The major types of dishwashers/glaswashers available these days include;

Front Loading Glasswasher – designed for small to moderate usage of glassware and normally placed in an Undercounter position in a preparation area or in a back of house cleaning area.
Cabinet Dishwashers – Small and compact machines designed to fit Undercounter in a back-of-house cleaning area, still-room or satellite kitchen.
Pull-down hood/Pass-through dishwashers – More powerful and quicker dishwashing of soiled tableware compared to the cabinet dishwashers. They are usually configured with stainless steel tabling either side of the dishwasher so while a basket of dirty tableware is being washed, another basket of dirty tableware is being loaded ready to go in.
Rack conveyor dishwashers –Work on a pass-through system where the baskets of soiled tableware are on a conveyor belt which pass through the washing machine, going through wash zones which start at pre-rinse, hot wash, then hot rinse.

To speak to one of our sales teams or to request more information about our range of commercial dishwashers please call 0370 3663 960.

3663 Catering Equipment have a great choice of cooking equipment, dishwashers, food preparation equipment, servery lines, refrigeration and beverage machines.

You can be confident that trading with 3663 Catering Equipment gives you the security of trading with part of the leading foodservice organisation in the UK as well providing big brand names that you can trust.

In addition you can be confident of receiving great service at a great price with 3663 Catering Equipment as we won’t be beaten on price with many products from our range available for next day delivery.

 As you would expect from 3663 Catering Equipment we also provide a comprehensive range of customer support services ranging from equipment installation through to a full kitchen planning design and installation service.

For more information on any of these services please contact us on 0370 3663 960 Also don’t forget our easy lease scheme provides a convenient option to acquire new equipment, again call us on 0370 3663 960 for more information.