Mareno turns down the heat at The Alice Hawthorn
When John Topham, chef/patron at country pub The Alice Hawthorn in Nun Monkton, decided to refurbish part of his kitchen, he turned to local kitchen design house, Crosby’s for help.
“The key objective of the refurbishment was to renew the central cooking suite and replace the flooring,” says Ben Crosby, who led the refurbishment project. “The existing cook suite had developed numerous issues and was rapidly approaching the end of its life. It was also contributing to an uncomfortably hot environment for those working in the kitchen.
“With a tried and tested way of cooking, John was looking for evolution, rather than revolution,” says Ben. “He wanted a more modern looking island suite with a one-piece top that was easy to clean, energy efficient, and would lead to a cooler working environment. The MARENO M1 90 series was the ideal solution, fell within his budget and, as a bonus, gave him more cooking options, all within the same footprint as the original suite. Despite being little more than 2m² the back-to-back M1 90 suite packs a real punch with two electric planchas, two gas solid tops with oven under, pasta cooker, twin electric fryer and a lava stone gas chargrill. Pretty amazing given the overall size of the suite!
“From an installation perspective the suite was very straightforward to install which meant that we were able to start the removal of the old unit on a Sunday afternoon and have the new one up and running by Thursday morning. With the venue closed on a Monday and Tuesday the downtime was minimal ensuring that as little trading time as possible was lost.
“I think it’s fair to say that John is very happy with the overall result, we visit site monthly to check that all is as it should be and are now talking to him about installing some other pieces of new equipment. With the addition of the cooler, more modern M1 90 suite and the new brighter flooring, the kitchen is a more pleasant place to work.”
Happily, for Ben, John agrees. “Although the new suite is similar in layout to our previous set-up – and therefore fits the bill well – it has two big advantages over its predecessor. Firstly, it is much easier to clean during the day and at the end service. Secondly, the addition of the two planchas is a real gamechanger because it gives us the option for both direct and indirect cooking and, as a result, we are using far fewer pans. Fewer pans mean less clutter and less washing up!
“I would also add that one of the often-overlooked benefits of a refurbishment like this is the positive effect that is has on the kitchen staff. My team are delighted to have a suite that is easy to clean at the end of service, one where everything works as it should, and a cooler environment in which to work.”