No fuss warewashing at National Liberal Club

Winterhalter’s MTR fits the bill

The National Liberal Club was founded in 1882 to provide top-class hospitality to its members and the same ethos remains true today. Luncheon and dinner facilities are available throughout the week as well as special functions and weddings at the weekend. The main dining room that overlooks the Thames is said to have “one of the most splendid terraces in London.”

In February the club replaced its ageing, and increasingly unreliable, dishwasher with a state-of-the-art Winterhalter MTR2 130. The MTR is a compact two- tank rack conveyor dishwasher designed to take care of all the dishwashing needs of a high volume catering kitchen.

“The Winterhalter was the best option on the market,” says Ken Milne Head Chef at The National Liberal Club. “It was important to us to choose a reliable machine from a company that offered a good after sales service as we can’t afford for it to be out of action.”

Sited in the main kitchen, the new Winterhalter is working from 8am till 10.30pm. On a busy day it needs to process about 250 covers, plus glasses and sundry items from the bar. The physical size of the machine versus though-put was another deciding factor in favour of the MTR2, as space in the kitchen at the Club is limited.

“English is not the first language of some of the kitchen staff so we needed a machine that is easy to use. The MTR fits the bill as all staff need to do is push a button to start and stop the machine,” Ken Milne explains.

“As a chef it’s the speed and the quality of the wash that is important and the MTR delivers both of these.  Its built-in cleaning programme is another bonus and routine maintenance is simple. The staff want to look after the machine, because if it breaks down then it’s more work for them!”

The MTR 2 automatically cleans itself, adjusts the rinse temperature, adjusts the wash pressure, turns itself off when empty and gets itself ready for the next shift. To save water, electricity and detergent the MTR 2 uses Winterhalter’s Mediamat wash water filtration system that continuously filters out floating particles from the water in the main wash zone to keep the wash water cleaner for longer.

It can wash from 115 to 130 (500 x 500mm) racks per hour. The generous clear entry height of 460mm and pass-through width of 500mm allows large serving and preparation dishes to be cleaned. An exhaust air heat recovery system uses the energy of the machine’s warm exhaust air to pre-heat incoming water. To further reduce energy costs Winterhalter has also equipped the MTR 2 with contents-controlled zone activation so that pumps and fans in each zone only operate if dishes are actually present.

“The back-up we have had from Winterhalter has been fantastic. The installation was painless and if we had a query they responded right away. The MTR is doing just what a dishwasher should, keeping us supplied with sparkling clean dishes.”