Keeping a professional kitchen in optimum working order is essential for any public sector organisation that offers a daily catering service.
Whether it’s a hospital or school canteen, catering staff need to be able to call out a reliable engineer quickly in the event of equipment failure as hungry patients or the school lunch service just won’t wait.
There are, of course, plenty of things to consider from the outset at the time of purchase to ensure you choose equipment that’s built to last. T and these include length of warranty, after-sales service, the product’s energy-efficiency credentials and, most importantly, the entire life-cycle cost of the piece of equipment.
The importance of appliance aftercare for kitchen appliances should not be understated; what happens if something goes wrong? Effective aftercare means having the right maintenance structure in place once the appliance’s warranty has expired so that repair costs can be kept toat a minimum and operational efficiency increased to prolong the lifespan of the item.
Currently,, many primary schools in the UK will be evaluating their own aftercare needs as the equipment they purchased to support the a government’s universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) initiative isare likely to be coming to the end of itstheir warrantyies.
When the government announced that from September 2014 all state- funded schools in England had to provide a free school meal for all children under eight, there was much panic initially as schools were unsure about as to how they it could cater for these extra hot meals – the school meals service in England suddenly nation’s dinner ladies faced having to feed an extra 1.55 million children.
T and to help schools prepare to meet this challenge, the government gave schools funds to refurbish their kitchens and extend their dining facilities where necessary.
Now, nearly three years on, with the warranties on new equipment purchased for the initiative set to expire, what should organisations be considering if they who need a responsive support service and maintenance contract to prolong the life of expensive kitchen equipment and are looking to consider before chooseing a provider?
Maintenance of food service equipment can become extremely costly if it is not managed properly. Schools and hospitals need a responsive service that they can rely on, and there are a number of key points that should be considered before entering into a contract.
Before entering into a comprehensive catering equipment service agreement, it’s important to check the prospective provider’s credentials to ensure they can offer a safe and efficient service.
Some equipment –,omplex gas combination ovens – may need a range of skills to effectively maintaino ensure your provider has the necessary qualifications. It is also important to check a provider’s accreditations and reputation for service delivery.
Check that the provider can offer good long-term support for maintenance, and a quick and efficient ongoing parts replacement service. Typically, customers can take advantage of their supplier’s online portal, which will offer a range of services including manned service desks, asset management and tailored reporting. Parts and training manuals can be accessed via the portal too.
Suppliers generally offer three types of service package, so it’s essential you choose which ever level best suits your needs:
- preventative maintenance contracts (mostly for schools)
- labour-inclusive contracts (includes labour and travelling costs for emergency calls and planned preventative maintenance)
- fully comprehensive contract (a fully inclusive labour and part service)
Don’t forget insurance – all customers are obligated to have gas safety checks on all of their appliances. If there is a serious issue with one of the gas appliances, and it causes an explosion or fire and the correct checks haven’t been carried out, then it’s highly likely that the insurance provider will not pay out.
Regular servicing will the life of the equipment, and all parts will be assessed or replaced as required. Alerts can also be raised on certain parts that are starting to wear and may cause future issues. It’s the same as owning a car; we all know that to keep it running at its best, you should have it serviced on a regular basis. Catering equipment needs maintaining in much the same way.
Check that as part of the service, the provider will clean the appliance and in particular remove limescale, which, if left to build up, will reduce the efficiency of the appliance.
Ultimately, if an appliance that fails , it can cause massive problems for the day-to-day running of a busy kitchen. A broken freezer could lead to thousands of pounds’ worth of food defrosting or a faulty cooker could mean that no hot meals can be served that day.
In addition to the inconvenience of sourcing a supplier and a replacement, a substantial amount of money needs to be found to cover the cost of spoiled food as well as a new appliance. The replacement and inconvenience costs are likely to be significantly higher than the cost of a comprehensive maintenance contract, so it can become a false economy to by trying to save money by not investing in one becomes false economy.
Consider using a supplier framework to source a provider. Service and maintenance frameworks provide access to a list of suppliers that have already been vetted by a public procurement team with all and costs in place from the outset. All the hard work in sourcing a provider has already been done.
A busy working kitchen needs to be able to quickly identify and resolve any technical issues it may experience quickly, and knowing that an engineer can come and resolve your problems within an pre- agreed time frame will give you peace of mind. Don’t risk keeping your hungry customers waiting, and make sure it’s business as usual in your kitchen every day.