Commercial combination ovens are a common feature in many kitchens but for hotel restaurants, they are an essential piece of equipment. Whether it is for feeding hotel guests on a regular weeknight or for a busy function or wedding at the weekend; this oven will give you the results you need. In this article we dive into the benefits of a combi oven and how it can help boost the efficiency of your hotel restaurant.
Prep
Separating the food production element from the service period takes the pressure off the kitchen and reduces costs. For example, if you have a large wedding coming up at the weekend all of the dishes can be cooked earlier in the week and blast chilled. The plates can then be assembled and regenerated on the day of the wedding. A modern combi will make sure there are no liquids around the edge of the plate once regeneration has taken place. Simply place the plates onto a banqueting trolley and put them in the oven then use the finishing tool on your oven to bring the plates to temperature, and finally, cover them with a thermal blanket until you are ready to add the garnishes and serve. This way you can serve hundreds of people at a wedding in a short time as you will have done all the hard work in advance.
Using this same principle you could prepare a meal in advance for stray guests who are arriving at the hotel late in the evening (for some reason). They arrive after 10 pm but they want a meal even though the kitchen is officially closed and the chef has gone home. With a combi oven the chef can prepare and plate up the meals in advance so that a member of the bar or night staff can load the plates, press a button and serve a high-standard meal even late at night. Without any cheffing skills, that same night porter can provide room service just at the press of a button.
Programmes
With a modern, programmable combination oven, both time and energy can be saved by using a pre-set menu. Let’s say for example that you want to cook 10 trays of chicken breasts. These can be loaded in and cooked on the specific chicken breast programme that you have written yourself and since the oven heats up quickly, it only needs to be turned on when you need it. The oven will cook to your specifications allowing you to walk away and do something else. Once the chicken is cooked, the oven will sound an alarm and then hold the product until you are ready for it, without continuing to cook.
The production manager function is particularly good for preparing breakfasts – the oven will control the process while the chef continues to prep lunch. First, drag (from the menu) all the items that you want to cook and tell the oven what time you want breakfast to be served. It will then intelligently tell your staff when to load each item so that everything is ready, at the same time. They don’t even have to be similar items: these ovens can simultaneously cook anything, from brioches to banana toasts, along with tomatoes, bacon and sausages.
Energy
In these times of energy crisis and exploding energy costs, we at Kitchen Solutions are constantly being asked about the energy balance of combination oven cooking systems in comparison to traditional ovens. In fact, outdated kitchen technology with poor energy values is widespread and makes investment in modern technology necessary and even essential. According to ENGIE Impact, almost 80% of annual energy costs in the hospitality industry are due to energy-inefficient food preparation and storage; updating your kitchen equipment can make perfect sense. In addition to refrigerators and dishwashers, cooking appliances are the biggest energy guzzlers. It is therefore worth investigating this before considering making changes. The payback period for a combination oven is often shorter than you’d think when you consider the savings potential.
Commercial combination ovens are designed with cutting-edge technology that optimises energy usage without compromising performance. By utilising intelligent cooking processes, combi-steamers ensure precise temperature control, reduced cooking times, and minimal energy wastage. The combi oven will cook many different dishes at the same time meaning that you can cook everything in one appliance rather than having multiple ones running, each using many kilowatts to power.
Cost Efficiency
In addition to being energy efficient, you will also need fewer staff, and have less cleaning and food wastage. If staff can handle more tasks with one appliance it saves time for multiple chefs. If you are cooking pre-programmed menus, the staff can cook independently, which cuts down on monitoring and reduces labour costs.
With the self-cleaning function, you are also reducing dishwashing costs. Yes you will still be cleaning gastronorm containers throughout service but, apart from that, all you have to do is just clean the oven once at the end of the day, and that is automatic!
If you are using programmes to cook or cooking with a probe then you are going to get perfectly presented dishes with nothing spoiled or that needs to go in the bin. For meat products cooked on steam and convection mode with a probe, you will get less shrinkage, greater yield and, most importantly, money saved.
Variety
With the various cooking modes on a combination oven, you can cook nearly anything you can think of. In fact, if you had no other piece of equipment in your hotel restaurant kitchen, you could still cook everything in your combi oven (except perhaps sauces; making gravy without a hob would be hard, but then not impossible either). The oven can adapt to diverse menus so that you can do fine dining, banquets, breakfast buffets etc.
Conclusion
Global research already shows that the market for combination ovens continues to grow, even in Europe where the technology has been around for a while. By investing in a combination oven for your hotel restaurant kitchen you will improve workflow, enhance food quality and reduce operational costs.
If you are interested in commercial combi-ovens, please check our product pages where you will discover more information about each of the products we have available.
Image Source: Canva
