GAIA Zoo’s Acacia restaurant features a special, electric Florigo frying range. During high season the restaurant is completely full with about six hundred guests at a time. The kitchen quickly serves tasty fries and snacks to hungry customers.
“We were eager to switch to an electric baking wall,” says Etienne America, catering mananager at GAIA Zoo in Kerkrade. “Before this we had a Florigo range for fifteen years and we were always very satisfied. So when it was time for a replacement, the choice for Florigo was an asy one. This is the 3.0 version of the frying range we had before.” In addition, Etienne is satisfied with the service. “If there any issue, we can always call and it will be resolved quickly.”
Dual work areas
Acacia’s electric Florigo has a total of six frying pans, divided into two groups. The inner four pans are for chips, the outer two are for snacks. Each frying pan features two baskets. The center of the frying range features an Afinox refrigerated cabinet with five drawers. On busy days – such as weekends and holidays – the kitchen at Acacia restaurant prepares about 280 kilos of chips per day.
Speed during peak hours
During peak hours, the kitchen doesn’t prepare to order. Because when the restaurant is full, the team needs to work quickly. “We can’t make guests wait for their order in our restaurant”, says Etienne.Employees working the fryers make sure the bain-marie stays filled with chips and snacks. Employees at the bain-marie only have to take the order and serve food to the guests.”
Safe oil filtration system
The filtration system consists of two separate filter trays that separately filter the oil for chips and the oil for snacks. “That way, we can keep everything separate for people with food allergies. Also, there are two the pipes: one for used and one for new oil. We also like that the new filtertration system is automated in such a way that the frying pans cannot be emptied while they’re still on. That’s a lot safer.”
