The George of Stamford: historic venue enlists energy-saving warewashers

Popular hotel takes advantage of Winterhalter’s ‘warewashers, chemicals plus service’ package

Winterhalter warewashing at The George HotelThe George of Stamford is one of the most beautiful and historic hotels in the UK.  It’s also one of the most popular, not only with customers but also employees: it’s constantly busy and its staff are passionate about their work – many of them have been there twenty years or more.  “People can’t believe how much business we do, or how jolly our staff are, even first thing in the morning!” says General Manager Chris Pitman, who started as a chef at the hotel 40 years ago.

The hotel has 47 beds, two restaurants, two busy bars and two private dining rooms.  In the morning it will serve 200 coffees (excluding breakfast), the informal Garden Room Restaurant is busy at lunch and dinner, while the 90-cover fine dining Oak Panel Restaurant is constantly booked.  Plus The George is a popular venue for weddings and other events. 

“Being so busy creates an enormous amount of crockery and glasses,” says Chris Pitman.  “We had a big rack conveyor dishwasher but we wanted to free up some space, so we looked for something more compact, but which could cope with the numbers.   After checking out a variety of options, we invested in a Winterhalter GS502 pass-through.”

Chris admits that initially staff were sceptical.  “They thought we’d need two of the Winterhalter units to cope with the work.  But they soon realised that it was very fast, very efficient and more than capable of handling our volumes.”

Along with its other duties, the GS502 looks after all the washing for the fine dining restaurant.  “Obviously quality wash results are vital, especially in the Oak Panelled Restaurant – it’s famous for the quality of its cuisine and service, and for its superb setting.”

Sustainability was another key issue when The George was selecting its warewashers. The GS502 pass-through is an Energy model, which uses heat exchangers to recycle energy from waste water vapour, using it to heat up the cold water supply. “It produces very little waste steam, which is great for kitchen staff, and it uses less energy – it was the best in terms of efficiency in our survey.”

For glasswashing, the hotel has two Winterhalter UC-M undercounter machines, fitted with the company’s RoMatik ROXS compact reverse osmosis water treatment system. The ROXS unit means there is no need for glasses to be polished by hand after washing – Winterhalter guarantees they can be used straight away. “The system is amazing – we didn’t believe it would be able to do what Winterhalter claimed, so we got them to take us to three busy sites already using it.  No one had a bad word for it.

“We save so much time – for example, before, if we had an afternoon wedding, then it would be all hands on deck to polish the glasses in time for the evening service. Now we don’t have to worry – we just put the glasses through the UC glasswashers and they come out sparkling.”

Chris Pitman is enthusiastic about the new warewashers. “The Winterhalters are great products.  They save energy, they’re easy to use, they give great results and they’re very economical – for example, we save a lot on chemicals, our old system used to eat them!

“We looked at three or four competitors and we found Winterhalter to be honest and professional – and the machines were ready and fitted on time and in budget.  They also helped us design the wash area, so that we have a very ergonomic traffic flow which works really well.

“We use Winterhalter for our chemicals and they service the machines, too.  If anything goes wrong, we know who to call!  I’ve been in situations where the machine supplier blames the chemicals and vice versa.  This way, we just leave it all to Winterhalter. That’s a big advantage for us.”

Winterhalter at The George of Stamford

The GS502 Energy pass-through or hood dishwasher can process up to 60 racks per hour.  Single-button control with colour coding ensures ultra-simple operation, so washing is always done correctly. High-power nozzles develop enormous washing force for the best results. The hygienic interior and automatic self-cleaning programme guarantee the highest standards of cleanliness. The Mediamat Cyclo filtration system cleans the wash water of floating particles, minimising water consumption – the machine uses only 2.4 litres per wash cycle. Ergonomic handles simplify and speed up the work.

The UC-M undercounter glasswasher has an elliptical washing field that ensures extra washing power. The fourfold wash water filtration system with soiled water sensor minimises consumption. VarioPower controls the water pressure in every washing programme, so that staff can adjust the wash for tough beer mugs or fine wine glasses.  The short programme, for light soiling, can process up to 77 racks per hour.   UC machines come in four sizes, small, medium, large and extra large – The George has the medium machines, which hold standard 500 x 500mm racks.

The RoMatik ROXS is a highly compact reverse-osmosis water treatment system, designed to work with undercounter glass and dishwashers.  It combines all the benefits of a full-size system with low running costs and long service intervals.  This mini-system measures just 469mm (h) x 142mm (w) x 515mm (d), small enough to fit beside or even on top of the warewasher and capable of processing up to 90 litres of water per hour, removing 98% of particles.

 

 

 

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