Suite dream becomes reality for Restaurant Andrew Fairlie

Head chef Stevie McLaughlin was part of the original team at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie when the late chef first opened his eponymous restaurant 25 years ago. He was also there when Grande Cuisine installed the existing Athanor cook suite. And he was there again in 2024 to instigate some subtle modifications to the suite that have had a dramatic impact on the lives of Stevie and his brigade, both in and out of the kitchen.

“The installation of the Athanor suite back in 2010 was an absolute game changer because the switch from an all-gas cook suite to an electric one meant that we went from a working environment that was hot and uncomfortable, to one that was cooler, quieter and all-together more pleasant to work in, more or less overnight,” says Stevie. “But as with many things in life the way we work in the kitchen has evolved and so in more recent times I found myself asking members of the team why they did things in a certain way and they would nearly always reply that it was because that was how I had shown them to do it. Eventually this made me realise that we had reached a point where some small changes to the suite could help us work more efficiently, whilst simultaneously improving working conditions for the team – basically, we needed to work less with our backs and more with our heads, me included! However, once I started to look at making a few small changes to the kitchen, but it soon became apparent that we needed to make a lot more and so it was at this point that I contacted Clive Groom from CNG – Clive had worked with Andrew previously and was responsible for the design of the fourth reincarnation of the kitchen.

“Clive came to the restaurant, where he filmed a couple of prep days and a service, and whilst he was here we had an open and honest conversation about what we thought was no longer working, what we thought could be better, and the fact that we needed more cooking space because we had chefs queuing to use certain parts of the existing stove. The plaques take a little bit of time to heat up, but even with the radiant units which we can turn on and off, and take a relatively short period of time to come up to temperature, there were still queues of chefs from various sections waiting to get on to them which meant that there were some times of the day when there was a blockage. So, we asked Steve if we could get more cooking space by cutting more radiant burners into the stove, and he said yes, the space was there, so that’s what he has done for us. We’ve lost a little bit of workspace but gained more cooking space – we’ve lost a chauffant, but we’ve gained a radiant burner, and we have an integrated salamander as well.

During the day we are now working far more efficiently because we have the extra cook space. When it comes to service then on the front of the stove, we revert to the original set up where we have one burner for finishing sauces and the other two are off and cleaned – we don’t need them for service we only need them during the day. Meanwhile, the garnish chef, who is the busiest chef in the kitchen, has gained a radiant burner which not only makes him more efficient but also makes his job much more enjoyable. Now, he can be on one stove making soup and a new confit, whereas before he would have had to do one after the other. When it comes to the three burners at the front of the stove the sauce chef can make three sauces at one time instead of shuffling them on and off – he can have three sauces made, and off, within half an hour. The best thing of all is that it’s the same stove, the same piece of kit they love, it’s just evolved to give us a much more efficient way of working.

Everything we have changed is about efficiency. Not energy efficiency – which gets talked about a lot – but staff efficiency, which is every bit as important because it plays a massive part in creating a better working environment, and that has a very positive impact on staff retention. Working more efficiently not only makes the job easier it also allows us to bring the number of working hours down too. For example, because we don’t have chefs queuing up to use equipment we are able to get more done in less time, which means that instead of starting work at 9:30am for service at 6pm, the team starts at midday. And, although they are still doing 12-hour days, they are doing fewer of them each month which is also great for staff retention. Rather than dropping the hours in a day, we dropped the number of days per month, so everyone gets 10 days off every four weeks which gives them a great work/life balance.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the expert advice we had from Steve at Grande Cuisine and the team at Athanor. Steve understands kitchens, and chefs, he knows what they need and what they don’t need. But rather than telling you, he listens to what you have to say and then guides you to what you need. His service is as bespoke as the suite itself, but it never feels like it’s business. The whole experience has been fun, enjoyable and exciting, and we have also learned a lot along the way.