When a chef finds a solution to a problem in the kitchen, it can feel better than bowling a strike on a packed Saturday night—without bumpers no less.
Chef John Lambe and his team at Bryant Lake Bowl and Theater provide elevated bar fare cooked from scratch for customers enjoying vintage bowling lanes and live shows.
While everything was fun and games in the front of house, Lambe had two storage problems in the kitchen that were a constant gutter ball.
1. Unstable, space-wasting food pan storage
Lambe and his team rely on 1/9 food pans to hold ingredients and prepped items. Previously, their shelving wasn’t able to securely hold the pans and when Lambe’s local Cambro sales rep saw their setup, he knew exactly what they needed.
The Camshelving® Ultimate Storage System transforms stacked pans and gaps of wasted space into easy-to-access, vertical storage using food pans, sheet pans, food boxes and dough boxes.
“We went from having two long pans full of nine pans teetering—especially with the wire racks it was hard to keep them from falling over—to fitting 72 nine pans; we used to fit half of that,” said Lambe.
With the ability to easily rotate and access pans as needed, Lambe and his team have found the Camshelving Ultimate Storage System instrumental in refilling their stations on the fly throughout service.
“[The Ultimate Storage System] is the best thing we’ve gotten out of this whole setup,” said Lambe.
To install the new system, Lambe used a foundation of Camshelving Elements XTRA Series, which is outfitted in both their walk-in and beer coolers.
“The [Camshelving Elements XTRA Series] is a lot more sturdy and having the removable plates has made it easier to keep things cleaned. I like that I can just pop off the shelves and keep the floor clean too,” said Lambe.
2. Flimsy, inefficient wall shelving
Walking into many kitchens, the most common method of wall storage was typically a simple metal shelf. We realized most chefs were underutilizing the spaces above their sinks and prep tables and created Camshelving Elevation Series Wall Shelving in response.
Lambe installed our Elevation Wall Shelving over their prep sink to use for drying and storage. Previously, they had a “flimsy little shelf” that only held a few things; other items had to be stored on the other side of the kitchen. Now, Lambe and his team are able to streamline their cleaning process and access what they need quickly.
“Everything gets used constantly. We don’t have much down time, so anything that makes it easier to clean is a big plus,” said Lambe. “[The Elevation Wall Shelving] was really easy to put up, it’s adjustable and it just so happened to fit perfectly in that little space we had there.”
If you’re tired of operating out of an inefficiently utilized kitchen, Camshelving and its accessories will be right up your alley.
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AUTHOR: ADRIANA COCHRAN IS THE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
