“If I were giving advice to anyone developing a catering operation right now, it would be to see what the iCombi Pro can do. I guarantee once you see it in action, you’ll want to install one in your kitchen. I’ve got complete confidence in the product and the RATIONAL team.”
- Gordon Halladay, Kiosk Manager, Hibernian Football Club.
Gordon Halladay, kiosk manager at Hibernian Football Club’s Easter Road stadium, oversees the fourteen kiosks that serve over 20,000 hungry fans on matchdays. “We offer an eclectic mix of food here,” says Gordon. “The traditional pies and Bovril, of course, but also hotdogs, fish and chips and artisan doughnuts to name but a few. As well as this we also have to provide for different dietary requirements. Obviously, Natasha’s Law requires us to produce allergen free food, and we’re also seeing growing numbers of people looking for meat- or gluten-free alternatives, so we have to be able to meet a wide range of needs.” This has led to Hello Hungry Hibees meat free kiosk.
Previously run by outside companies, the stadium kiosks were brought in-house ahead of the 2021/22 season. For them to meet the demands of match days, Gordon had each kiosk installed with an iCombi Pro cooking system from RATIONAL.
Meeting the pre-match and half time rush means you need to be able to produce and serve a lot of food in a very short space of time. Modern cooking systems, like those from RATIONAL, can make it easier to meet the challenges.
For any catering operation the real mark of success is whether customers like the food. “Providing the best for our supporters is the priority,” says Gordon. “Even without changing the recipes, the food we produce with the iCombi Pro is much fresher and more consistent, and we’ve seen that reflected in the feedback we’re getting. It’s made a huge difference!”
Industry: Catering
Core business: Football Stadium
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland.
“It’s all about speed of cooking and speed of service in a football stadium environment. As well as the speed of cooking, the iCombi Pro is also easy to use. Recipes can be programmed and adjusted via the touchscreen, or remotely through the ConnectedCooking app, allowing staff to quickly select the food they want to cook.
As well as managing recipes, ConnectedCooking can record HACCP data on all the iCombi Pros in use at Easter Road. “It’s a real boon,” continues Gordon. “It saves us hours of manually entering the data, and I can pull up the information instantly when I need it.”
With it's reduced cooking times the iCombi Pro allows to help to lower energy consumption, which was another crucial consideration for Gordon. “Hibernian F.C is aiming to be the greenest football club in Scotland, so improving our sustainability is a big priority for us,” he says. “Being able to cook 150 pies in 12 minutes is a huge advance.”
The ease of cleaning the iCombi Pro is a pivotal area where it excels in terms of reducing the environmental impact of Hibernian FC. RATIONAL’s specially developed Active Green cleaning chemicals are phosphorousand phosphate-free, while the iCombi Pro’s iCareSystem can reduce the amount of chemicals required by up to 50%. “Cleaning all the cooking systems in each kiosk at the end of a match used to take hours, but now we can set the iCareSystem and be confident that our iCombi Pros will be sparkling clean and ready to go next time,” Gordon explains.
The training and support provided by RATIONAL was another key factor in Hibernian’s decision to get iCombi Pros. “From the first presentation to the site visits helping us program our recipes and train staff, the support we receive has been second to none,” reveals Gordon. “The peace of mind we get knowing that if we have an issue or question, we can get it answered quickly online or over the phone is tremendous.”
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“Providing the best for our supporters is the priority,” stresses Gordon. “Even without changing the recipes, the food we produce with the iCombi Pro is much fresher and more consistent, and we’ve seen that reflected in the feedback we’re getting. It’s made a huge difference!”