SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL CATERING
Moffat Versicarte Plus installation gets top marks from Southampton schools
Two of Southampton's largest primary schools have just had major kitchen and servery installations to bring all their school meals service in-house for the first time. And the head teachers are said to be 'over the moon' with the new facilities.
Southampton City Council's catering department (City Catering) says that key to the success of the installations was Moffat Catering Equipment's Versicarte Plus mobile servery counters.
Bassett Green Primary and St Mark's C of E Junior School had previously been dependent on remote kitchens at other schools, where the meals were prepared earlier in the morning and carried up to four miles using insulated containers.
Catering Client Liaison Officer Ray Loines says that while the new kitchens were conventional and straightforward, everything hinged around the serveries. The Versicarte Plus system allowed them to make maximum use of space and adjust for changing demand. Benefits include their ease of use, safe design (for instance, the hidden castors), ease of cleaning, and the ability to change and adapt to the schools' individual needs.
The schools are both using Versicarte Plus mobile serveries – one bain marie model and one ambient version. With these, Bassett Green is serving more than 200 meals a day, while St Mark's is serving over 150.
The Versicarte Plus was a major update of the mobile servery when introduced to the school catering market, featuring enhancements that made it ideal for school use. But the main reason for the installation's success, says Ray Loines, is Moffat's attitude in integrating its products with the school kitchens and dining room.
"Moffat was willing to join in and be supportive of us," he says. "For example, they realise that school caterers don't have the large equipment budgets of commercial caterers. So they took the trouble to amend the design for us, to ensure that models needed only a single standard 13-amp plug.
"Moffat's ability to work with us ensured a superbly successful installation."
Ray says that the new installation is expected to generate a much higher uptake of meals at the schools. "When we converted other schools we saw an increase in uptake of 20%, but I expect an even higher figure at the new sites – perhaps as much as 30%."
Southampton's Head of Services, Stephen Price, echoes Ray Loines' comments: "In helping to set up the new kitchens, Moffat not only listened to us, but to our customers too. Whenever we've had a request, they've fulfilled it."
Catering for around 76 schools and serving over eight thousand meals a day, Southampton City Council has made great strides in enhancing its catering facilities. Older kitchens and serveries are being updated, and some schools which had been using satellite kitchens - sharing remote kitchens with other schools - have for the first time had their own full installations.
E & R Moffat is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of quality foodservice equipment, designing and manufacturing in-house. Based in Bonnybridge, Scotland, the company manufactures standard and bespoke servery, regeneration and storage equipment with a full nationwide after-sales engineering team. E & R Moffat is accredited to ISO 9001:2000 and many of the products have gas approvals and are EMC tested. For more information on E & R Moffat visit the website on www.ermoffat.co.uk