Cinderhill Farm - St Briavels, Lydney
Production Kitchen Design Helps Cinderhill Farm's Pie House Double Output
After a year of acclaimed success supplying Cinderhill Farm ‘Foggy’ pasties, pies and sausage rolls, to the M5 Gloucester Northbound motorway services, and with the iminent opening of the new M5 Gloucester Southbound motorway services approaching, the strain on their exisiting production kitchen was becoming apparent. As a result, Cinderhill Farm Owners Deborah and Neil Flint decided a new production kitchen was needed to enable them to double production at Cinderhill Farm's Pie House.
Deborah and Neil contacted local catering equipment company Target Catering Equipment in order to help them come up with a production kitchen design that would allow them to cope with increasing demand and utilise the exisiting footprint at their Pie House based on their working farm in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
With the project came an added pressure in that production had to continue whilst the refurbishment was to be carried out. Luckily Target was able to assist with this, as a temporary production kitchen was able to be set up in Target’s fully operational demonstration kitchen, perfectly located just off the M5, junction 12.
Target’s commercial kitchen designers worked together with Deborah and Neil to prepare a suitable production kitchen design that would meet their current and future needs.
With the existing ovens unable to cope with increased demand, Target suggested a Rational SelfCooking Center combination oven to increase output, improve consistency and reduce cleaning time. The old gas range cooking facility was replaced with a VarioCooking Center 211 and commercial induction hob cookline. With all equipment featuring HACCP software to record and control the cooking process thus ensuring consistent perfect results every time.
Potwashing and utensil washing by hand and domestic dishwasher was replaced with a energy efficient Granuldisk bead blasting utensil washer. Saving on space, minimising water consumption, removing the need for cleaning chemicals and speeding up cleaning processes.
New refrigerated prep counters and large chopping boards were introduced to speed up preparation and hand forming of the products. Blast chilling before packaging and distribution and storage was improved with a "roll-in-roll-out" trolley system which allowed chilling to be processed direct from the oven. This reduced handling, utensil and baking tray use.
All new Altro Xpresslay adhesive-free vinyl floors and White Rock hygienic finished walls were installed along with a completely new electrical distribution system upgraded to a 3 Phase supply and emergency generator supplies to provide back-up power ensuring production would not be interupted in the event of mains power shortages.
Target designed and project managed the complete fit-out working alongside local tradesmen and builders preparing groundworks and new drainage systems ready for the new kitchen equipment installation.
"The whole project went really well and was made so much easier with the availability and use of the Target demo kitchen" said Deborah. “Whilst utilising the temporary production facility at Target, pie production increased and The Pie House team were able to meet demands of both the north-bound and south-bound Gloucester motorway services. The new kitchen offers so much more space for us to expand, so a fantastic result all round.”
