Liberty Food Services (LFS), founded in 1999, is one of the largest professional catering businesses in Bulgaria and prides itself at being the most technologically advanced cooking facility in the Balkans. With their state-of-the-art production kitchen, they are able to produce over 20.000 meals per day, in addition to producing RTE (ready to eat) and frozen meals, as well as private label food products.

Vincent Rombaut, CEO, comments on their collaboration with Electrolux Professional. “While we are a supplier of Electrolux Professional most of our staff actually operates Electrolux Professional equipment on a daily basis.  This gives us a hands-on experience and we are able to demonstrate in detail how each machine operates and what particularities each piece of equipment has. Due to the large amount of equipment at our finger tips our clients do not only see a “show room model” but can see the actual machines in full operation, under heavy workloads. All our kitchens basically operate Electrolux equipment in Bulgaria.

The brand Electrolux means a continuous quality and especially service. The acquisition and use of a machine does not stop the day you buy the equipment, it continues on a day-to-day basis, where the service staff and backup is a very important fact. It is clear from our sales that our favorite equipment are the convection steamers or convection ovens. They are at the heart of every kitchen, but it is important that any potential user gets a good training in order to receive the full benefits of what these tools can provide you. Besides the range of ovens, I remain impressed with the performance of the thermaline high-pressure steam cookers. It is clear to me that the potential of air-o-steam combi ovens is tremendous and clearly, we are never using enough of its abilities.

As a chef the creative part is very important, but sometimes we just see that time to make such creations is very little so we often resort to more mainstream applications.

The equipment provided by Electrolux is high technology and extremely reliable. The success is to be able to rely on the product and knowing that it will perform under strenuous conditions. Before installing and buying Electrolux, we have used a lot of equipment. The main reason to decide on this equipment in this region is that we need reliable equipment and when the equipment breaks down we need spare parts that can be relied upon. With Electrolux we have such a reliable partner.”

Sustainability

Having taken the decision to ban PERC for use on its ships in 2012 due to its potentially hazardous effects, the purchasing department at Saga realised the need to introduce a more environmentally-friendly alternative to the traditional dry cleaning process

Terry Wiseman, Hotel Purchasing Manager at Saga Cruises, commented: “As the lagoon^® system uses water as a natural solvent, items are handled with the utmost care, and with no environmental consequences. Our staff also enjoy using lagoon^® as there is no longer a requirement for them to handle potentially hazardous solvents either before, during or after the cleaning process.”

Quality

With each member of staff required to wear one of a variety of different uniforms, lagoon^®’s status as the first and only professional fabric care system to be approved by The Woolmark Company meant the laundry staff could be assured of the technology’s ability to handle the most delicate of garments to the highest standards.

Terry adds: “We’re finding that the process is not only much cleaner than it was before, but that passengers are commenting on how pleasant their clothes smell after being treated by lagoon^®.”

Usability

From an operational point of view, the quality of the laundered garments is matched by lagoon^®’s ease of use for laundry staff. The transition from dry to wet-cleaning may have initially required a step change in behaviour, but this transition was made smoother thanks to a three day training programme, which allowed each operator to benefit from the experience and support of Electrolux’s B2C and lagoon^® Segment Manager.

Earl Gutierrez, Laundry Master on the Saga Sapphire, said: “Any challenges we’d anticipated before using the lagoon^® system were overcome very easily before we started using the equipment as part of our routine.

“Having now used Lagoon^® for a number of months, I can certainly say I’d never go back to using a system with a requirement for perchloroethylene. The wet-cleaning method has proved to us that it can clean garments to a higher standard without posing any risks to staff, guests, or the environment.”

In addition to its wet-cleaning-based valet service, the Saga Sapphire also boasts a main laundry comprising of six Electrolux W5240H commercial washing machines and five T5300S tumble dryers to process the ship’s linen. A combination of W555H commercial washing machines and T5130 tumble dryers in its smaller crew and passenger laundries meanwhile, complete the vessel’s overall offering.

GAI is a world leader in the production of equipment for the wine industry, olive oils, beer and spirits and, with its worldwide dealer network, is present in all 5 continents. For GAI, development must always be environmentally compatible, for this, they have a photovoltaic system of approximately 1,200 kW that produces more than 70% of its energy needs.

For the construction of the new kitchen in the canteen, the company turned to a leader in the market: Electrolux Professional. The two companies, in fact, share the same attention to eco-sustainability and energy saving, the founding values of the respective corporate cultures.

Astec Vercellone F.lli & C. Srl of Dario and Valter Vercellone and Raffaele Marchisio, the official Electrolux Professional agency, designed and manufactured the bespoke kitchen catering to the customer’s requirements: the result is a laboratory canteen, innovative and state of the art, which fully reflects GAI’s ideal company canteen.

The complexity of the installation required the use of a crane to bring the equipment to the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building for the canteen. The peculiarity of this kitchen is certainly the absence of real walls: in fact, on all 4 sides there are large windows which allow you to see the chefs at work at any time.

With a project of this type comes a series of inevitable design adaptations: the refrigerated and neutral tables are customized, with unique work tops and electrical sockets hidden in the upstand. All refrigerators have glass doors, synonymous with style and great work organization. At the center of the kitchen stands the thermaline modular cooking suite, the top of the Electrolux Professional ranges. Even the hood is in line with the above: the channels in fact are hidden, not in plain sight a usual, it appears just like a designed box.

Very interesting, in the end, it is that the energy used to power the equipment is the same produced by the company itself, renewable and sustainable energy.

The Wirtgen kitchen has been equipped with the latest Electrolux solutions, namely, a cooking range, boiling pan, dynamic preparation, dishwashers and even exhaust hoods.

Gireesh Ghaatge, Director, Skyone Ventures, speaks proudly about his installation at Wirtgen:

“We serve a wide range of clientele- Restaurants, Hotels, Flight Kitchens, Hospitals and more. The Wirtgen kitchen is especially commendable as it includes a complete line from Electrolux (i.e. tables, sink unit, exhaust hoods, boiling pan and a separate dishwashing area). Our client relationships are greatly valued, and the Wirtgen Project Team supported us by providing seamless coordination of services. The Wirtgen kitchen is truly state-of-art with no visible service lines.”

Mr. Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, and Mrs. Maithili Bhojwani – Administration, who have been instrumental in initiating this state of art kitchen for their staff canteen, share their experience with Electrolux equipment:

“We are very lucky to be working with world class equipment (by Electrolux) which has not just given us the comfort and feel of a luxury space, but we are also able to maintain international standards of cleanliness and hygiene, in our kitchens. We are very proud to be associated with a world class company like Electrolux.”

Chef Deepak adds:

“This has also increased the efficiency of our staff and cut down our energy costs substantially, further exposing them to new standards in commercial cooking.”

Skyone Ventures have expertise in setting up turnkey commercial kitchens for the hospitality industry. They have many ties with reputed manufacturers, such as Electrolux Professional, that provide state of the art equipment for the commercial kitchen industry.

Woodhey Dairy supplies over 6 million litres of fresh milk a year to one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains. With a herd of over 600 cows to milk each day, the team at Woodhey Dairy uses a 64 point rapid exit milking system, which automates a significant proportion of the milking process. Prior to milking, the key requirement is to ensure hygiene by efficiently cleaning each cow’s teats, which requires a cleaning process to minimise the risk of high bacterial counts and Mastitis – a disease causing inflammation of the mammary gland and udder tissue. The farm’s ability to reduce the incidence of Mastitis and high cell counts, ensures it is able to maximise the price it receives for its milk.

The dairy farm milks its herd three times a day, which means the turnover of clean cloths is extremely high. With the farm using as many as 500 disposable cloths for each milking session, this was not only costing over £800 a month, but was also producing significant quantities of unnecessary waste.

During a visit to America, Woodhey Dairy’s owner, Paul Robinson, saw how the agricultural sector utilises re-usable cloths to clean their herd’s teats prior to milking. This led to staff at Woodhey Dairy Farm tasking GEA Farm Technologies; a worldwide leading manufacturer of technical innovations for cost-efficient milk production, with the design and implementation of an equally sustainable system as those used across the Atlantic. It was through GEA Farm Technologies that Paul was made aware of the range of commercial laundry equipment offered by Electrolux Professional, which would enable the dairy to make significant cost savings through the use of reusable cloths, without compromising on the condition or cleanliness of its cows’ teats.

The winery has been in operation since 1700. Property of the Pistoni family for centuries, in 2008 it was transferred to Alex Maccan, who was able to bring it to the highest level of quality, transforming it into a reference model for the entire Grave region, one of the most quoted Italian regions for the production of quality wines.

Today, Le Monde is a new generation winery both in terms of technology as well as for what concerns the processing stages. In addition, 70% of the total energy needs of the winery are produced by solar panels.

However, if on one side the new property is focused on innovation, on the other it’s remained faithful to its history because “wine culture is tradition”. The contrast tradition-technology, present throughout the structure, is especially highlighted in the kitchen where the protagonist is a beautiful Molteni cooking island, shiny black enamelled with brass finishings. A made-to-measure block: size, cooking functions, finishings, nothing has been overlooked. Just like a tailored suit, the kitchen was designed and built according to the requirements of the Maccan family, adapted to the aesthetic and functional needs of the surrounding spaces.

The same care and attention to detail was also placed on the surrounding equipment: unique seamless worktops with elevated thickness, wall and base units organized for maximum storage space, recalling the color and finish of the Molteni island. Behind the Molteni block is an Electrolux Cook&Chill solution presenting the innovative air-o-steam Touchline combi oven. For the washing area, 4 Electrolux green&clean undercounter dishwashers were chosen, of which 2 wine-line models: the ideal solution for washing crystal glasses, thanks to the correct wash temperature (50-55°C), the inclined wire basket and the ideal combination of detergent and water treatment.

Not only tradition and technology, but also sustainability: the other common element between Electrolux Professional, the Maccan family and the winery. The sustainable approach, which in Electrolux Professional involves each phase of the product life cycle, from design to manufacturing, from installation to disposal, also characterizes Le Monde in its entire supply chain.