Winterhalter Energy+ machine keeps match day service sparkling clean at Old Trafford

Winterhalter – a new Manchester United signing

At Manchester United’s ‘Theatre of Dreams’, hospitality plays an important off-pitch role both financially and in prestige value. While the great names of football are warming up in the dressing rooms and plotting match strategy, the hospitality services are busy with match-day catering making sure those who have booked into the Hospitality suites for pre-match meals are getting served.

Such a high-volume catering operation relies on an efficient warewashing system to keep the kitchen staff and diners furnished with a continuous supply of sparkling clean dishes. But as well cleanliness, warewashing is an area where facilities’ managers look to save energy in order to cut costs.

"Manchester United operates a Green Policy," says Mohamed Benhacene, back of house hospitality manager at Old Trafford. "So when we started looking into replacing the old dishwashers we had strict criteria to meet.

"We choose the Winterhalter Energy+ because we felt confident that it could reach our energy targets and would also be able to cope with the heavy demand we place on the machine during match days."

The Energy+ has to service two restaurants in the Stretford and Trafford suites, which means processing about 500 four-course meals during the tight three-hour window before kick-off. There is additional hospitality for about an hour after the match and at events and conferencing on non-match days.

"The Winterhalter Energy+ has really eased the situation," says Benhacene. "We can now be certain that the quality of washing is the same at the end of the day as at the beginning. With the previous machines we often had to re-wash items because the wash water got so dirty. But with the Energy+ the standard is consistent from start to finish."

On the energy front the Winterhalter machine has dramatically reduced consumption. In the past the stadium has had problems with the load placed on the electrical supply in the South stand when the restaurants are running at full capacity. With the lower demand from Energy+ the load does not now reach a critical level.

Energy usage has been cut by at least half during the warming-up cycle of the machine and by a third for each subsequent hour of operation. Over a ten-hour day this is a considerable saving. Energy+ also cuts out the steam emitted to the kitchen when the hood of the machine is opened, which makes further energy savings on the running of extractor fans.

"For the same throughput the Energy+ is only using 35kW instead of the 64kW the two old dishwashers used," explains Benhacene. "We are also saving on labour as we no longer need to rewash items, and our detergent and rinse aid consumption has gone down as well.

"Winterhalter was really the only manufacturer that we could be sure would meet our energy targets. We not only liked the appearance of the Winterhalter machines but we found they could do a lot more than their competitors."

Winterhalter provides a total solution for warewashing, from pre-sales advice to after-sales service, training and maintenance. Alongside its market-leading dish and glasswashers, the company’s range includes utensil washers, advanced water treatment machines, cleaning chemicals and detergents. For further details, call Winterhalter on 01908 359000, see www.winterhalter.co.uk, or email info@winterhalter.co.uk.

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Editors notes:
Winterhalter’s Energy+ is designed for use with the GS500 Series of pass through dishwashers. Energy+ recycles exhaust heat from the steam and hot wastewater and returns it to heat the incoming cold water. This not only slashes heating costs, but by condensing the steam to remove its heat, it also removes the need for a separate extractor hood, and makes wash area working conditions much easier.  
Inside the Energy+ is an air-to-water heat exchanger that takes the waste steam from a GS 500 pass through dishwasher and uses it to heat the incoming fresh water. An additional water-to-water heat exchanger recycles the heat from the wastewater and uses it to further heat the incoming fresh water.
The Energy+ system reduces the total connected load by up to 6 kW.