Choose Your Commercial Kitchen Wisely

Our colleagues form Food Service Magazine have raised a very good point when it comes to choosing the right catering equipment.

Energy efficiency is a major buying factor for operators these days and many manufacturers now boast huge improvements in this area following investments to make their equipment greener.

But what’s more important for a brand when measuring or promoting improvements in energy efficiency: comparing it against products sold by market competitors or comparing it against previous models they have developed?

Bill Downie, managing director of Meiko UK, says the most important element of energy efficiency is actually carrying out the measuring and comparison, rather than being sucked into reading or discussing over complicated hype about this or that technical feature.

“Some potential buyers forget to do the ‘basics’ when comparing warewashing equipment, such as a comparison of energy, water and chemicals consumption. It’s also worth noting that the claimed energy efficiency of any equipment will only be maintained if that equipment is properly serviced regularly and throughout its working life by properly trained engineers,” he adds.

Manufacturers acknowledge that when a new product is able to deliver noticeable energy against a previous model, it demonstrates their commitment to innovation and ongoing improvement, but they also admit that comparisons with competitors are important because energy consumption is one of the key buying triggers.

At Adande, chairman Nigel Bell says the size of the investment it has made in in-house and independent third party testing to establish the energy leadership of its products means it’s only logical for it to benchmark its new products against its existing range, rather than competitors’ products.

“We also believe that the wealth of historical test data we hold for Adande products provides us with accurate baseline information, against which we can measure improvements in energy efficiency and performance,” he comments.

We can only agree, over the years we hav helped numerous customers who have chosen their equipment based mainly on price. And of course on some occasions have been given poor advice.

Our recommendation is real simple, ask questions and get advice from people you trust. Ask for a site visit if you are unsure, at the very least it helps you build trust with your chosen supplier.

Avoid the suppliers are just to keen to sell you a box, in our experience they are less likely to help when you need it most. The internet is a great tool but you can`t beat knowledge and know how.

Give us a call, advice is always honest and always free.