equiping a new banquet kitchen

[Moxiefan]

Hello --

I have to oportunity to build and equip a new kitchen. The kitchen will service parties of 300 or so, plated. I need to generate a wishlist of equipment, which will doubtlessly be negociated down based on price and space restraints. I think I've got a fair idea of what I'd like for standard stuff: convection ovens, steamers, fryers, grill, range, tilt skillet, hot boxes and I'll really push for a second walk-in for storage of speedracks distinct from the storage of received whole products. That said, I think there's products out there that I haven't even heard of yet. Has anyone worked, for example, anywhere where food is plated cold, racked and heated for service on the plate? How did it work? What equipment did you use? Does anyone have any suggestions for stuff they've found invaluable beyond the basics? conveyor belts? Combi 0vens? (I've personally never seen one that worked) Broasters? Thoughts?

cheers,
P

[foodpump]

The piece of magic you're looking for is called a Rational combi oven. You can push in a rack of dressed plates, press a button, and 10 minutes later pull out the rack of perfectly heated dinners. You will pay for this technology, but the benifits are enormous--the oven is multi-purpose, not a dedicated fancy hot-box, and with sit-downs of around 300, you could pay off the oven inless than a year. Conveyor belts are a nice compliment to any high-volume place, combi-ovens or not.

Check out the local factory rep for Rational, get him/her to show you a similar institution where the oven/system is in use, they also have some very nice training videos. I repeat, these ovens are expensive, but the benefits far outweigh the price.

[lum0]

I can only agree with the other comment. The Rational combi ovens are a must for increased speed in preparation and pefect finishing. They have a handbook espically for this kind of stuff on the website.