Wire shelving has long been the standard in commercial kitchens, but for Chef Aaron Vagnini, it’s become a low standard he has no interest in returning to. As head chef for a growing family of restaurants in Wisconsin, including Hale House, The Local, Slow Buffalo and recently acquired The Liquor Room, Vagnini knows that every piece of equipment needs to stand up to the demands of a fast-paced kitchen. Serving what he describes as “elevated pub food,” his team is constantly finding new ways to reinvent familiar favorites while keeping operations running efficiently behind the scenes. That’s why they decided to replace traditional wire shelving with Cambro Camshelving®, a storage solution that’s easier to clean, built to last and designed to solve the everyday frustrations wire shelving simply can’t. We have five reasons Vagnini says he’ll never go back.
1. Camshelving Utilizes Every Inch of Storage Space
Growth is the goal for most restaurant owners, but typically an increase in customers doesn’t equate to an increase in kitchen space. At Hale House, what Vagnini needed on Day One was definitely different than what he needed a decade later.
At Hale House, sales had almost doubled, they added a patio and the restaurant was the busiest it had ever been. But behind-the-scenes, the walk-in was a constant source of chaos. In a twist of fate, a fire destroyed their kitchen, paving the way for a new organization to replace it.
“Before we had the [Cambro] shelves, you couldn’t even walk in there. We had crates on the floor, stacked up with products, and it was, honestly, it was a nightmare. It was awful. Just sort of stuff everywhere. There was no organization…can never find anything because there’s no room, but now we have the Cambro shelves in there; it’s the same walk-in,” said Vagnini.
“[Now], not a thing is on the floor; everything’s on the shelves. There’s room for it all, and it’s the same walk in. Using the space much better has been really nice.”
2. Camshelving Doesn’t Need to be Replaced Every Few Years
It’s a tale as old as time: buy wire shelving, watch wire shelving rust and bend, replace wire shelving. Repeat. Vagnini’s experience was no different.
“You get the cheap wire shelves and they’re fine, but then they bend or they snap or the wires start coming apart or rust or whatever, and eventually replace it anyways,” said Vagnini.
Camshelving is shelving for life. Constructed with strong composite plastic, Camshelving Elements XTRA Series is guaranteed against rust and corrosion and safely holds up to 2,400 lbs. (907,2 kg) per unit up to 60” (1525 mm). If a shelf plate does need replacing, simply replace that single piece rather than the entire shelf.
3. You Can Actually Clean Camshelving
Anyone who says you can effectively clean wire shelving is kidding themselves. Not only is Camshelving embedded with an antimicrobial protection called Camguard™, but it is also designed to be extremely easy to clean.
“In my eyes, I think the biggest benefit aside from the space utilization would be…if something gets dirty, take a little piece off, run it through the dishwasher. It’s done. You can’t do that with any other shelf that you can buy; you can’t easily run it through the dishwasher. You have an 8 foot shelving unit and the shelf is one big piece. What are you going to do? You got to wipe every single wire off. Sounds awful, and then it actually doesn’t sound awful, it is awful, I’ve done it,” said Vagnini.
”Being able to just pop one piece out, you don’t have to unclip anything, nothing like that. Just pop the piece out, run it through the dishwasher you already have and you’re done.”
4. Camshelving Fits Your Needs
Wire shelving is designed with vented shelves that essentially cannot be adjusted after they’ve been installed. With Camshelving, Cambro fixed two problems that arise with the nature of wire shelving. First, you have the choice of vented or solid shelves, with the latter accommodating smaller items that topple over easily. Solid shelves are also ideal for the bottom shelf to shield items from dirty mop water. Second, Camshelving can be adjusted at the drop of a hat. If you have a new item come in that doesn’t fit in the space you save, simply use a mallet to adjust the shelf to the correct height.
“[Camshelving] has been really versatile for anything, especially…the customization of talking through with [local Cambro rep] Brandon and saying, ‘okay, let’s make this one be a bigger slot for larger food boxes and this would be a smaller slot for smaller can seltzers and stuff like that. So, being able to kind of move those around,” said Vagnini.
5. Accessories Free Up Valuable Storage Space
When Vagnini looked at his shelving, he saw stacks of food pans—and the one he needed was never at the top.
“[The food pans were] all just kind of stacked up on those wire shelves, which always sucked when…of course, you want the bottom one, you got to de-stack five pans…but I can just slide it out of the rack that I have now,” said Vagnini.
The Camshelving GN Food Pan Trolley was created to take food pans off shelving and into an efficient, organized and easy-to-access piece of equipment instead.
“I love that thing; it’s great. All of our prepared food is on there, so everything that’s ready to go upstairs into the kitchen is on that shelf. One, it’s really nice. It’s easy for the cooks to find things because they know it’s going to be right there rather than scattered about the walk-in, but also…it’s perfectly made to fit the pans that we have already,” said Vagnini.
A Better Shelf Life
For Vagnini, choosing the right storage system comes down to more than simply keeping ingredients and equipment organized. After seeing how Camshelving® performs in the demanding environment of Hale House and Slow Buffalo, he has no plans to return to traditional wire shelving when they open The Liquor Room in the near future.
“I wouldn’t want to go with any other thing. There’s no reason that I’d want to even start with wire shelves because I would just end up changing them anyway,” said Vagnini.
