Spend less time cleaning and more time with customers
Like all food operations, supermarkets are held to a high standard when it comes to food safety. Work surfaces and foodservice equipment must be cleaned on a regular basis to ensure a safe environment. Keeping these areas clean, while a requirement, can be a drain on productivity. If staff is constantly cleaning equipment, they aren't spending time helping customers.
Dorothy Lane Market, located in Dayton, Ohio, wanted to reduce the time its employees spent cleaning equipment, while still maintaining the highest foodservice safety standards. Jack Gridley, Dorothy Lane Market's meat and seafood director, decided to install a self-cleaning rotisserie to reduce cleaning time and allow customers to see the fresh food choices available at the market's meat department.
Dorothy Lane Market is one of the country's leading gourmet supermarkets. Opened in Dayton in 1948, it offers in-store chef demonstrations and an extraordinary selection of healthy foods, organic produce, artisan breads, wines and cheeses, and antibiotic- and hormone-free meats. The grocery is committed to cultivating passion for the history and flavor of great food from around the world. Its reputation has attracted visiting grocers from around the country and as far away as Europe, Japan and Australia.
One-touch Cleaning
Gridley found a solution in Hobart's KA7E Self-cleaning Rotisserie, which boasts one-button cooking and one-button cleaning for simplified operation. The press-and-go feature meant his foodservice employees could literally press a button and walk away while the rotisserie self-cleaned.
Hobart's rotisseries offered more than a self-cleaning option. The KA7E cooks up to 20 percent faster than traditional rotisseries and is designed to accommodate today's big birds, which are cooked to perfection—moist, succulent and delicious
Gridley has been a long-time Hobart customer and was impressed with the company's reliable products and service in the past, but he was skeptical when it came to the one-touch-cleaning claim.
"I was very skeptical when I heard about Hobart's self-cleaning rotisserie because our rotisseries get very greasy after a hard day's use," he says. "I didn't think it was possible to clean the rotisserie without a lot of hard scrubbing, but Hobart made me a believer."
Save Time and Increase Sales
Gridley replaced his existing rotisserie with Hobart's self-cleaning model. The staff prepares turkey breast, rack of lamb, leg of lamb and pork roast in the rotisserie for display in the hot case. They cook and display whole chickens in the rotisserie during peak hours.
Gridley says the rotisserie has made a tremendous difference in improving staff productivity and increasing food sales. He estimates Hobart's rotisserie reduces cleaning time and labor by 40 minutes compared to traditional rotisseries.
"Cleaning our previous rotisseries took 45 minutes. Each unit had to be completely disassembled and scrubbed," he says. "Staff can clean the Hobart self-cleaning rotisserie in five minutes by simply pressing a button."
Dorothy Lane Market employees can also prepare more products more quickly in the Hobart rotisserie than in a conventional rotisserie or oven. The KA7E cooks approximately 20 percent faster than competitive rotisseries, which converts directly to energy saving. It's also simple to use. Foodservice employees don't have to undergo extensive training to operate the rotisserie. They can select the proper recipe and cook to perfection with the touch of a button.
"We're selling more chickens because they are cooked right in front of customers and are displayed in a way that is hard to pass up," he says.
The Hobart KA7E Self-cleaning Rotisserie is a tremendous time and money saver. On average, self-cleaning can save about an hour of labor every day. Add up the savings, and that's not chicken feed.
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