New Cross Hospital future-proofs CPU with flexible FRIMA

The brand new central production kitchen (CPU) at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, is currently preparing up to 2,000 cook chill meals per day and has the potential to raise that to 6,000. A key issue in the kitchen’s specification was to ensure that the equipment was flexible, so that the investment in the CPU was as ‘future-proofed’ as possible. Once Martin Cantor, catering project manager, had seen the VarioCooking Center in action, he knew that the futuristic FRIMA unit would be an ideal choice.

“Originally we were looking at bratt pans, but I saw the VarioCooking Center demonstrated at a FRIMA cooking live demonstration at Aston Villa and realised it was the most flexible option,” he says. “Its not just about getting the best out of whatever food we are preparing, and having equipment that can easily adapt to changing menus, it’s also because we simply don’t know what we might be required to cook in five or ten years time.”

The VarioCooking Center is a multi-function unit combining a bratt pan, kettle, tilting pan, pressure cooker and a deep-fat fryer – all in one. This flexibility is important since the FRIMA units are one of only three methods of cooking used in the new CPU, the other two being SelfCooking Centers and boiling kettles. New Cross Hospital has three VarioCooking Centers, two of the large VarioCooking Center 311 units, each with a 150 litre pan, and one smaller, twin-pan VarioCooking Center 112 with 2 x 16 litre pans. “After the traditional equipment they had been used to, staff have been blown away by the FRIMA models,” says Martin Cantor.

The FRIMAs are used to cook meat, soups, stews and casseroles. In this busy CPU the fact that they are up to three times faster than traditional equipment is a big bonus. “They’re also incredibly controllable, whatever we’re cooking, even with the volumes we’re doing, and their 150 litre capacity is ideal,” adds Martin Cantor.

In terms of energy efficiency, Martin Cantor admits that his main focus was ensuring that the equipment could do what he wanted. However, he confirms that the hospital’s tech guys had ‘crawled all over’ all the kitchen equipment to check energy consumption figures. In fact, savings of up to 40% can be made with the VarioCooking Center, compared to conventional cooking appliances, thanks to its VarioBoost heating technology that uses a compact, network-like heating structure beneath the base of the pan. This transfers heat directly and evenly to the food while cutting down on overall power consumption.

“Despite its futuristic looks, staff find it very easy to operate,” says Martin Cantor. He also has praise for FRIMA’s back up support. “The Frima guys we deal with have been great. They’re happy to spend time with the staff and we’re working together on bespoke recipes for our menus.”

FRIMA is currently expanding its distributor network in the UK. For information and brochures, or to come to a free Cooking Live demonstration, call FRIMA UK on 0208 996 5102,
email info@frima-uk.co.uk or visit www.frima-uk.co.uk

The VarioCooking Center® from FRIMA is a brand new generation of cooking systems that will change the way chefs operate in the kitchen.

It makes many conventional cooking systems obsolete. It’s a multi-purpose cooking tool combining a tilting pan, a kettle and a deep-fat fryer, making a compact three-way system with a sophisticated and easy to use computerised control and monitoring system.

It not only cooks up to 50% faster than conventional appliances, but also delivers great savings – up to 40% lower energy and water consumption, less food shrinkage and lower fat consumption – leading to higher profitability on food sales.

FRIMA UK
Gable House
18-24 Turnham Green Terrace
London
W4 1QP

Press Enquiries:
Toni Turner or Alison Haynes at The Publicity Works
Tel: 01263 761000 Email: frima@publicityworks.biz
For more news about FRIMA visit the press office at www.publicityworks.biz
Benoît Gourgues, FRIMA International: +41 71 727 90 14

This release was published on openPR.