CHR Equipment Ltd delivering profitable solutions to the UK Food Service Industry

01772 499774

Wellocks, The Perfect Ingredient

Nelson

Wellocks of Lomeshay, Lancashire is a well known quality supplier to the restaurant, pub and hotel trade of both fresh and dry ingredients sourced from all over the country and abroad, but mainly from local producers and farmers who take pride in what they produce.

The forward thinking company is on a mission to supply great quality food with traceability and superior taste, buying direct from the producers and taking the individual story direct to the chefs. “It gives us the edge – ‘the perfect ingredient’,” says Jonny Baron, Sales Director, Wellocks.

So it made perfect sense to install a cutting edge eco-kitchen as the next step in quality control to make sure these ‘perfect ingredients’ become ‘perfect dishes’. To this end, Wellocks appointed CHR Foodservice Equipment to deliver its new development kitchen at their warehouse HQ in Lomeshay.

Jonny explains: “The all electric, energy efficient eco-kitchen at Wellocks came about after talking with Paul Neville of CHR about my vision for a new state of the art development kitchen. We needed somebody who could really understand what I wanted to achieve and I was also keen to use a local company. At the same time I really wanted a ‘northern’ kitchen – for example we have used Cumbrian slate on the walls – and I liked the fact that CHR’s Eco-Chef range is manufactured here in Liverpool.

“We designed the kitchen to test produce and at the same time develop fillings for the pasta we make in our newly created adjoining specialist pasta-making facility.

Neville says: “It’s a perfect fit, both companies have an ethos of quality and both take sustainability and efficiency very seriously and this project reflects those values. The new development kitchen enables the team at Wellocks to have a state of the art testing and development kitchen that will ensure their chefs are as well prepared as the Michelin star kitchens they service.

“The kitchen uses the latest technology including whole surface induction cooking, combination ovens and multi-cookers. The centre piece of the kitchen is a British built architectural metal cooking suite, the Eco-Chef which is fitted with a smart meter will aid in understanding the whole production cost of the plate.

“In addition, the new development kitchen has access to all the latest chefs’ tools including sous vide equipment and Adande refrigeration.”

According to Jonny, “The Eco-Chef has proved a real eye-opener. It is 12 years since I actually worked as a chef (head chef at Lower Slaughter and Northcote Manor and time with the Roux Brothers, Marco Pierre White, Nico Landenis at the Waterside, The Canteen and Nico @ 90), having made the change over to sales. In that time technology has changed completely. When I looked at the final product, I began to have second thoughts and was concerned that there wasn’t enough equipment – but I needn’t have worried.

“Our kitchen allows us to make and cook fillings for the pasta using sous vide, which is then blast chilled ready for the pasta production run. With help from CHR and Alex Shannon of Sousvide Tools, we have thermal circulator attached to the Eco-Chef suite, and also to the sinks.

“At first I was really out of my comfort zone. With induction tops there is less pan work, the kitchen is cooler…how can this possibly be effective? Then I started playing with it and now I understand how it works, I am really enjoying it. Multi-point induction is in another league as far as controlled cooking is concerned.

“The speed and precision of induction cooking is amazing. And I mean real precision. For anybody who has been used to a gas ring, which is controllable up to a point, induction offers absolute micro control. Sea bass cooks perfectly – crispy skin, tender flesh and so quickly – and that precision even extends to making stocks.

“We held our first open day recently, starting work at 7am and we didn’t finish until around 4pm during which time we had served around 250 meals. As we wrapped up for the day, Scott from CHR looked at the energy meter on the Eco-Chef and said, ‘do you know how much electricity you have used? Just £1.43.’ That was over a nine hour day.

“The Eco-Chef is mind-blowing to cook on. Not only does it work really well, it also looks good, an important consideration in a development and training kitchen. Over the next 12 months we will be having Master Classes for our clients, run by the likes of Michael Wignall and Daniel Clifford to name just two. It’s a way of giving something back to our customers.”

The whole facility is fitted with CHR’s hygienic solution which ensures cleaning is made simple and effective. “It will be a great environment for chefs to work together and deliver perfect ingredients and on an eco note, this development ensures a minimal impact on the environment over the next 20 years,” says CHR’s Neville.

Top