From hosting global superstars to retail therapy, Birmingham NEC is the UK’s number one venue destination, welcoming 6m visitors and holding over 500 events every year. At the NEC complex, sits Waters Restaurant – a jewel within the New World Resort that boasts a Michelin recommendation and is owned by respected chef, Andy Waters.
With over thirty years in the industry, Andy and his team treat diners to beautifully cooked, British classics – often with a twist – in opulent surroundings. With his name above the door and a busy kitchen to run, Andy is responsible for maintaining that coveted Michelin listing, as well as ensuring the service runs efficiently and safely for his talented brigade which includes the newly crowned UK Junior Chocolate Master and Bake-Off the Professionals finalists.
Andy comments: “It’s a team effort, it’s not just about the name above the door. Some of my chefs have been with me a long time and they’reir safety is important. My experience of cutterboxes is that they are a nightmare! They’re clumsy, you can never find the end and they don’t come out smoothly. When Cofresco approached me about trialling the new Wrapmaster 3000 I was interested to see what it could do.”
With a busy, compact kitchen, Andy was impressed with the dispensers’ smaller size – at just 30cm long – and its ability to keep up with high volume usage and a demanding service. In just two weeks the kitchen saved a whole roll of catering cling film – a significant saving for the kitchen.
“The Wrapmaster is just efficient, the smaller size is great for the kitchen. Being 30cm wide a sheet of foil or parchment fits the trays perfectly – so there’s no waste.”
17% lighter and 28% smaller than its predecessor, the Wrapmaster 3000 is portable and easier to use and reload. The dispenser proved popular with the team; providing tangle-free cuts there was now less time spent looking for the ends of the rolls and product ending up in the bin, Andy adds, “It’s really easy to feed through the rolls, you pull the end and cut.”
With the restaurant proudly displaying a hygiene score of five, food safety is a top priority for Andy, especially after a member of the team had to go to A&E after cutting their hand on a cutterbox.
“We were busy, she grabbed the box and sliced her hand on the blades. The injury needed stitches and she couldn’t work. Above anything the team’s safety is key to me – with the Wrapmaster people can’t cut themselves as it has a concealed blade, it’s a far safer unit to use in the kitchen.”
Along with safety, Andy takes cross-contamination very seriously and every step is taken to meet environmental health standards. Andy immediately noticed the benefit of using the professional kit when it came to minimising risks and keeping his kitchen hygienic.
“You can label the dispensers individually for raw meat, fish and veg – with cardboard cutter boxes you can’t identify what they’d been used for previously. The hygiene inspectors love to see the Wrapmaster and it helps with those scores, the fact the rolls are protected in the box means we’ve already got that tick. It can be put through the dishwasher, and be wiped down with sanitiser - from a hygiene point of view it’s the ultimate box of tricks!”
Andy adds, “Anything that can make a chef’s life easier has to be good, Wrapmaster is cost effective, good for the environment and safer for the team.”
The Wrapmaster 3000 was updated as part of Cofresco Foodservice’s ongoing commitment to chefs and is proven to have a big impact on kitchens using 20% less cling film, 25% less foil and 25% less parchment compared to a cardboard cutter box.
Wrapmaster is part of Cofresco Foodservice, a division of Melitta UK Ltd. The award-winning range includes the new Wrapmaster 3000, Wrapmaster 4500, the Wrapmaster Duo which dispenses two types of material, or can be used for large -volume users of one material and the Wrapmaster Compact, which is designed for kitchens with very limited space or mobile food operations.
For more information on Wrapmaster visit www.wrapmaster.global
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