The sole purpose of a food display is, to highlight the business’s food & beverage offering and to the maintain the quality of the food on display. Edge capping, light fittings & wires, shelves and even the quality of the glass, can all impact on the sightlines, distracting customers from the product on display. The right choice of display won’t just make the food ‘pop’ it will draw customers in, guarantying sales.
Fundamentally a good food and beverage display should;
1- Maintain the quality of product on display by holding the temperature consistently at the optimum level for the product. Ice cream requires a different temperature to gelato and pastries require a different temperature to cakes. Cream cakes need a slow air flow, so they are not dried out. Hot pies require a dry heat while wet dishes require a moist heat.
2- Maximise the visibility, the customer has of the product on display, showing it in the best light. Glass quality, clear sight lines, discrete lighting and even the colour of the light, can impact on the customers visual experience.
3- Minimise running costs by minimising the energy consumed. Refrigeration is one of the few pieces of equipment, in a business, that runs 24 hours a day and 365 days a year so poor-quality displays can be a significant contributor to energy costs of a business. Glass is a poor insulator meaning the refrigeration has to work harder to replace any temperature loss and this SHOULD be front of mind when choosing the quality of the unit for the display.
The mechanics of refrigeration come in a broad range of qualities, and some simply push as much cold air as fast as possible into the display, to maintain the coldest temperature required. These systems are based on the same engineering as storage refrigeration but in storage refrigeration regulations would, require the food & beverages to be in containers or covered. Manufacturers like CIAM in Italy, engineer displays specifically as displays using or developing technologies precisely for displays.
At its heart refrigeration makes things cold by taking heat away and in this process produces both heat and cold. The cabinet is cold but the mechanical refrigeration components generate heat and heat, is energy. We want the cold but the heat, is an inconvenience. The heat costs money and clearly it is an indication of the amount of electricity being used but it also heats the area increasing the load on the air conditioning (meaning this will use more electricity) and adds to the discomfort of staff. In particularly hot conditions, topicalisation (basically a heavy-duty compressor) is a great solution, however tropicalised equipment run hotter and uses more electricity.
One cost effective way to reduce the heat in a business and decrease the running costs, is to remote the compressor externally.
Maintaining the quality of product
A compromise in cabinet climate could easily waste valuable product or worse, lower customer satisfaction levels. Different foods require cabinets that provide the correct conditions that guarantee the quality of your valuable product. Cabinet manufacturers like CIAM, come in many different temperature formats to avoid the need for compromise. Quality engineering will deliver the correct temperature evenly across the whole display in the volume and velocity required for the food type.
Serve over display counters:
Ventilated Refrigerated Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface,
Static Refrigerated Showcase with Coil – Refrigerated display surface, very precise temperature control with no blown air,
Refrigerated Showcase Gastronomy - Refrigerated blow air over the display surface,
Refrigerated Meat and Deli Showcase - Slow moving air to prevent dry out the meat on display,
Gelato and Ice Cream Showcases - Slow moving air to protect against the formation of unwanted ice crystals with optional flat display surface for cakes or desserts,
Hot Bain-marie Showcase – Heated pan containing hot water, producing a hot moist area,
Dry-hot Showcase - Heated display surface, producing a hot dry area with optional heat lamps over,
Bread Showcase – Dry ambient cabinets for bread with slated timber display surface with crumb collection drawer and
Ambient Showcase – Dry ambient cabinets.
Multi-tier serve over display cases:
Ventilated Refrigerated Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface,
Ventilated Negative temperature Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface,
Dry-hot Showcase - Heated display surface, producing a hot dry area,
Ambient Showcase – Dry ambient cabinets.
Ventilated Refrigerated Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface,
Refrigerated ventilated Refrigerated Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface as a draw and
Refrigerated Negative temperature Refrigerated Showcase – Refrigerated blow air and refrigerated display surface as a draw,
The availability of multiple cabinets allow a balancing between the performance of the display, sales and the needs of each venue.
Minimising running costs
Generally, refrigeration would be supplied with four preset defrost cycles and all the cabinets from a given manufacturer, would be set with the same defrost times. The defrost cycle generates heat which would impact on the surrounding environment and increasing the load on air-conditioning and increasing energy consumption. staggering the defrost cycles defrost cycles will reduce heat loads and peak energy consumption (and noise levels). Manufacturers like CIAM from Italy produce cabinets with simple to use controllers which make refining these setting, far easier. Touch screens and Wi-Fi connectivity are now available offering even easier customisability of settings. These high-tech controllers can also connect to the businesses monitoring systems.
Defrost cycles would generally be preset in 6 hour intervals and in makes good business sense that these do NOT conflict with the peak service times and new easier, to use controllers, make this much simpler to change settings.
An extremely cost-effective way to reduce running costs and maximising the energy efficiency is simply cleaning the refrigeration components. Manufacturers like CIAM have air filters to minimise the build-up of dirt in the condenser and these filters should be cleaned monthly and deep cleans of the filters and the condensers themselves, should be done yearly.
Manufacturers like CIAM have long been on the path to sustainability by using eco-friendly gases such as R290 and R455a with very low environmental impact in addition to the use of CO2 refrigerant for connection to refrigeration units. In accordance with the increased efficiency and sustainability required by the European Energy Label 2019/2018 regulation, all CIAM refrigerated products are in compliance with Eco-Design and Eco-Labelling regulations and are equipped with the special label that defines their EEI (Energy Efficiency Index).
The balancing of engineering and quality of componentry will produce a balance between high performance and low energy consumption.
Maximising the visibility
Glass is manufactured in numerous qualities, all having variable levels transparencies. Visible heater wires can impact on the clarity of the glass. Manufacturers like CIAM integrate “No-fog” systems that are laser engraved and are all but invisible some manufactures even offer extra clear glass. Mirror finished side glasses can add to the customer impression of the food on display. Minimising condensation and maximising the cleaning of glass is one of the major factors impacting on displays. Condensation makes seeing the food difficult and water dripping from cabinets can represent a slipping hazard. Quality international manufacturers like CIAM have incorporated features in their design to deal with climactic conditions like ours and offer numerous styles of front opening glass to make cleaning simpler.
The perfect transparency of the glass is a key feature of the refrigerated showcases, all the processes to produce quality thermal glass are carried out internally by manufacturers like CIAM through the processes of screen printing, gluing, laser engraving, tempering, lamination and assembly in double or triple-glazed glass perfect transparency is achieved.
Front opening glass and access from the customer’s side will make cleaning easier and will save labour. Treatments like heated wires, laser etched heated wires and hot blown air over the front glass will all help to minimise condensation. Double glazed glass will reduce energy consumption while helping to minimising condensation.
Manufacturers like CIAM offer in house design to match the pallet of the overall design of the venue decor. From simple painted panels to custom timber, vinyl wraps, backlite acrylic, stone, steel or stone can all be combined to allow the designers imagination to run free. The dressing up of the cabinets isn’t just confined to the exterior finishes and can easily include the internal display surface, internal shelves and bottle racks can be finished in a variety of powder coasting, steel, stone and timber.
The balancing the needs of the display and the desire to highlight the food on display can now be perfectly achieved through the selection of the cabinet and the available options from each supplier.
Grab and Go merchandisers
The two major Australian supermarket operators, often include, a self-serve or Grab and Go component in their deli cabinet lineup, increasing potential (impulse) sales for waiting to be served. This is a simple and profitable addition to Grab and Go like hot chicken and beverages. Labour and staff are significant costs, and these options reduce costs while speeding up customer service.
Combination units that are both, serve-over for fresh products and self-serve for prepacked foods or beverages are a new innovative solution to maximise all space available.
Regardless of what food will be on display in the cabinet lineup manufacturers like CIAM would have a matching a self-serve or Grab and Go component. Including, a self-serve or Grab and Go component in the cabinet lineup can reduce the pressure on the severs without compromising add on sales.
In addition to the customisation of finishes, manufacturers like CIAM offer over one hundred standard options, that will make sure the cabinets supplied, are exactly what is required for the specific requirements of each venue and their specific operations.
About the AuthorThis article was penned by Mark Minnis, who is highly trained in culinary technologies and a representative of Unique Catering Products and Life Member Australian Culinary Federation (Qld.) Inc. Mark’s insights into modern kitchen operations, particularly in the area of refrigeration, stem from his extensive experience in the field. Unique Catering Products offers a range of culinary solutions, including the CIAM* and Stagionello ranges from Italy who are leaders in the design, engineering and manufacture of displays for food and beverage.
For further information on how these technologies can assist in your culinary operations, please contact Unique Catering Products, Unit 3 / 2 Tullamarine Park Road, Tullamarine, Victoria, 3043 (03) 9381-5061 info@ucp.net.au
*For more than 45 years, CIAM has been producing counters and showcases for the hospitality and food retail industry. Inside the headquarters of 23.000 sqm, located in Petrignano di Assisi, 200 employees contribute to the realization of about 300 installations per month satisfying the requests from all over the world. Thanks to a high self-sufficiency in production, CIAM is the only company in the industry to manage the entire production flow, guaranteeing the maximum performance in terms of quality and scheduled times.
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