Two new fully-electric kitchens were designed and delivered for Conrad London St James’ award-winning restaurants: The Pem, and The Blue Boar, courtesy of Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment and Gratte Brothers Building Services Maintenance.
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[Upbeat music playing]
Mark Kendall, Managing Director, Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment Ltd: Hello, my name’s Mark Kendall, and I’m the Managing Director of Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment Ltd. We first engaged with the hotel back in December 2022 when we met with Sally, with Michael. Sally Abe is the Consultant Chef here with Conrad for The Pem, and Michael is the Executive Head Chef for Hilton. When we arrived at The Conrad, there was just one kitchen, and one kitchen was serving two restaurants. So, the challenge was to try and create two separate areas for The Pem restaurant and for the Blue Boar. It was a multi-M&E kitchen, so it was using gas and it was using electric. We looked at that and we thought, we’ve got a real opportunity here to turn that kitchen into an all-electric kitchen. On quite complex hotel projects, it’s very very common to have lots and lots of protagonists within the project; mechanical, electrical, architect, designer, and the list goes on. Fortunately, through the services that Gratte Brothers as Group provide, we were able to provide the client a true one-stop shop. That’s one order, they gave us the keys, in 12 weeks we gave them back, and now they’re operating two new kitchens – The Pem, and The Blue Boar here at The Conrad, London St James. Gratte Brothers Foodservice Solutions chose MKN particularly for their horizontal and vertical cooking appliances. We’ve delivered a kitchen with most of the products from the portfolio, MKN were the product of choice for the majority of the equipment in the kitchen. Partnerships are key – we’ve been around since 1948, and guess what, so have MKN! We’re a family business, and they are, and the fit is just right for us.
Gilbert Genelazo: Blue Boar Pub is a modern and relaxed take on the classic pub. Gratte Brothers’ experience is an amazing experience for us in the kitchen team – from the first meeting all the way to seeing the plan, seeing the schematics of the plan, guiding us through to all the stages. The team is very happy, it helps with the morale of the team to have that new kitchen feeling. The MKN FlexiChef is, for me, a godsend. For example, when we’re braising say a lamb or a beef that would normally take us 3 to 4 hours, we’ve done one a couple of days ago and it took us 30 minutes. And that for us is efficiency in a nutshell.
[Logo on screen: Gratte Brothers | Serving up Quality Since 1948.]
Yesterday, Conrad London St. James’s award-winning restaurant, The Pem, reopened its doors following a summer recess to install a brand-new kitchen, complete with upgraded equipment. Promising to be Consultant Chef Sally Abé’s ‘most extraordinary menu yet’, the design and delivery of the updated facilities were courtesy of Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment Ltd (GBCEL).Gratte Brothers started working with Sally Abé and Michael Riordan, Executive Chef at The Conrad and The Blue Boar, which also operates out of the luxury hotel late last year. Key for Gratte Brothers’s approach on this project as with any undertaken was understanding the client’s priorities from the offset and then delivering a solution which matched the high level of quality expected from the hotel’s guests.
GBCEL’s Managing Director, Mark Kendall commented “We started with a full asset register followed by hours of observation, watching how both The Blue Boar and The Pem operated from preparation to delivery of their dishes. This allowed us to gain a 360-degree view of their operations and ultimately deliver on all of their requirements.”
It was then down to Gratte Brothers’ in-house design team to bring the project to life, which interestingly and crucially meant splitting what was originally one kitchen covering both The Blue Boar and The Pem’s operations into two distinct areas. With The Pem offering ‘exceptional dishes inspired by nostalgic flavours and historic British cuisine’ and the Blue Boar offering ‘a comfortable and relaxed modern take on the classic London pub’, each kitchen was designed to match the individual cooking style of the restaurant it serves. As a result, both teams are delighted with what is now ‘a more spacious and cooler environment’ and ultimately ‘allows for greater efficiency and room for creativity!’
Premium cooking equipment manufacturer MKN was selected as the dominant supplier for the project, with Kendall commenting: “We chose MKN because we were looking for a one-stop shop for high quality vertical and horizontal cooking equipment, as well as bespoke fabrication. We flew out to Germany in January 2023 and it was very clear to see the innovation and quality involved in MKN’s products, both for us and the team at The Conrad.”
Waste management and sustainability were also fundamental pillars of this project. A fully electric kitchen was chosen in favour of gas and the team worked with circular economy specialists to repurpose all of the original equipment, As part of Gratte Brothers Group, the team was also able to call upon its sister company, Gratte Brothers Building Services Maintenance Limited to deliver the full electrical upgrade so that all works on site for the client could be completed through one order within a 12-week programme.
