Licensed to chill
When the International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa, advertised for staff before its opening 18 months ago, executive chef Markus Banziger knew there would be a lot of local interest. After all, he was opening Africa's biggest commercial banqueting operation in an area of high unemployment. But even he was taken aback by the response to the open day, when 6,500 people turned up.
The company's transformation after this challenging start has staggered many South Africans. Not only has Banziger trained a huge, unskilled workforce, he has also managed to educate and mould food and equipment suppliers to meet his needs.
Most meat was originally delivered in open lorries, but he persuaded the best suppliers to invest in refrigerated vehicles. And he decided early on to adopt UK hygiene standards in the centre's kitchens, and conduct frequent, unannounced inspections. Banziger introduced random tests using a protein detection swab to check staff washed their hands after going to the toilet.
"I carry a huge responsibility here, and you are only as good as your last banquet. If something went wrong, the implications would be enormous," he says.
Banziger aims to produce food to five-star, international standards. The centre has banqueting facilities for up to 3,500 people, with the biggest banquet so far serving 2,500 guests.
He is a great fan of cook-chill and feels it works particularly well because of the scale of the operation and the basic skill levels of most staff. Food is cooked in the main kitchen, where three large Rational ovens are pre-programmed for cooking all types of meal served. "Whether we are cooking for 20 or 2,000, we can produce food to an identical standard," says Banziger.
Once cooked, the food goes straight into one of two 280kg Foster blast chillers. The technology and hardware were imported from the UK, but the refrigeration unit was supplied locally to ensure it could be serviced. After chilling, food is plated, racked and put into a holding area at 0-3ºC for up to three days.
On the day of a banquet the food is taken to 12 regeneration pantries, eight of which surround the main hall. There are up to three Rational ClimaPlus combi-ovens in every pantry and each oven can take 62 plated meals on a single trolley.
Appetisers are removed from the holding fridges in the pantries as guests arrive, and are served once they sit down. While the appetisers are being cleared, a signal is sent to the pantries for the regeneration of the main course to begin. By this time all ovens should be preheated and all plate decorations and add-ons ready.
In five to seven minutes up to 2,500 meals in eight separate kitchens will be ready at exactly the same time. Once out of the ovens, it takes only 10 seconds to cover each trolley with an insulated blanket, which will keep food hot for up to 20 minutes, although the food should take less than five minutes to reach each table.
The beauty of the system, says Banziger, is that he can be flexible when banquets are running late. The point of no return is when the main course goes into the regeneration oven, which only happens when the appetiser is being cleared.
The whole operation is run by just 12 full-time staff, assisted by up to 65 casuals. Full-time staff include an executive sous chef, four production managers, four permanent line chefs (one baker, one Indian speciality chef and two junior chefs), a back of house manager and a deputy. The Indian chef is important because of the large ethnic Indian population in Durban.
Training the local workforce
Apart from Banziger and his sous chef, who are Swiss and German respectively, all the staff are South African. Banziger has also taken on two full-time trainees on an affirmative action programme, which aims to train disadvantaged South Africans in subjects ranging from kitchen skills to literacy.
To make the programme work properly, Banziger has designed a qualification in cook-chill, similar to the UK's NVQs, which students complete over two years.
As the relationship between the centre and its suppliers has grown, an increasing amount of meat and vegetables has been brought in ready-prepared. Initially, a lot of deliveries were rejected because they failed to come up to scratch, but that is now the exception.
Everything about the conference centre is organised with military precision, partly because of the scale of the operation, but also because of the basic skill levels of many of the staff. The plated system helps with speed and presentation - all meals have the meat placed in the middle of the plate, surrounded by the vegetables, so that the plates all look the same no matter which way round the waiting staff serve them.
Banziger has no regrets about moving from Asia, where he was a top hotel chef, to South Africa, and he recommends it as a place to work for other European chefs. Salaries for senior chefs are on a par with the rest of the world.
