Milsom Installs Second Athanor Cook Suite
Whatever your line of work there are few better endorsements than having a client ask you to come back and do more work for them. On the basis that Salix and Grande Cuisine were invited to work on its newest refurbishment at Milsom’s, Dedham, we think it’s safe to say that the Milsom Group was delighted with the work that the two businesses had done previously at its Talbooth restaurant.
‘The challenge that Milsom laid down for us – to improve the capacity of the restaurant whilst saving on utility costs, improving the working environment for staff and creating a better flow through the kitchen – was formidable,’ says Salix Operations Director, Sally Smith. ‘And, just for good measure, the project needed to be completed within a three week window.’
‘To ensure that we stayed within this timeframe we managed all of the work on site which gave us complete control of the project and meant that we didn’t need to wait for third party contractors to become available when work needed to be done. This approach guaranteed that we always had installation professionals on hand to deal with the inevitable challenges that arise during a project of this type and helped to keep us on target.’
As the hotel was to remain open during the refurbishment Salix worked very closely with the team at Milsom to ensure that guests’ stays were not impacted by the work. Keeping them informed of when noisy work was likely to take place allowed the hotel to move guests to suitable rooms away from the site when necessary.
Although there will often be challenges during the course of installing a project the experienced Salix design team is able to successfully minimise the need for any mid-project variations by foreseeing any potential obstacles and ensuring that the design process includes all stakeholders from the chef to the M&E contractors. This ensures that the final design of the project has been agreed well before they start work on site.
The reduction in energy costs requested by Milsoms lead to Salix designing an electric based Athanor cook suite, similar to the one supplied at Talbooth House. At nearly 4m long the hand built wall suite includes two double Plaque Athanors, one single Plaque Athanor, a 1/1 GN multi cooker/pasta cooker, and two drop in single well twin basket fryers from Valentine. Set below the worktop are a pair of fryer filtration cupboards, a set of 3 1/1 GN hot holding drawers, and a pan storage cupboard. The suite was also supplied with a set of removable ribbed searing plates to be used on the Plaque Athanor for ‘char grill cooking’. Along with greater efficiency, the result is an improved workflow and reduced ambient temperature in the kitchen, creating a much more pleasant working environment for the staff.
‘Reliability is key to a busy kitchen like Milsoms, popular and open for food all day, every day, so we have provided equipment that is, above all, reliable. This goes hand in hand with great build quality. And, with over 30 years’ experience of specifying equipment for commercial kitchens, we have a shortlist of manufacturers we work with to ensure our clients are always supported should they need help with their equipment. Athanor, and Grande Cuisine, are such businesses.’
‘As mentioned, this is the second Athanor suite to be installed within the Milsom group, the other being at Talbooth Restaurant. The reliability of the suite installed at Talbooth some years ago gave the client total confidence in using this manufacturer again – and it looks amazing!’
‘The service levels we received from Grande Cuisine from beginning to end, and post installation are absolutely where they need to be for us. Salix prides itself on a high level of service and we can only do that with partners who do the same,’ concludes Sally Smith.