The Many Uses Of Privacy Screens

We sell privacy screens online to many different businesses. The first thought when we look at privacy screens is for medical application for residential homes and clinics. We do indeed sell to many nursing residential homes, where privacy screens are invaluable for maintaining residents dignity. The privacy screens are also ideal for meeting Department of Health and local authority requirements for care homes standards of nursing. 

Our privacy screens are also popular with tattooists, body piercing shops and health and beauty specialists. They create a private area for treatments as and when required. Store the screens packed away and then open out to create a private area for treatments. Save space in your shop or clinical area but keep customers happy, too.
We have had a number of theatres buy our privacy screens for theatre plays - they  make great props for any drama group or can be used back stage for a quick change area. Privacy screens may also be used in schools, colleges and nursery pre-school groups and after school clubs for role play activities.

For clinical uses a privacy screen is great for industrial outlets or offices where a first aid room is a requirement - ensure a private area for treatments or occupational health screening. The privacy screens are easy to fold away and open out, can be moved from place to place and are easy to wipe down to keep clean. Workplace health and safety equipment will help you to maintain a professional and well planned health and safety practice at work. 

Catering Food Wastage - How To Reduce It

Food waste is a big issue in modern day living. We're always being told that we as consumers are wasting too much food in our every day lives. This is also an issue that is relevant to retailers and catering outlets. In fact targets have been set for businesses to rein in the waste and for real solutions to be raised for both catering and retail outlets. There are solutions to reduce catering food wastage but it will always be a big challenge due to the nature of these industries. 


Realistically food waste can be reduced, however with restaurants, canteens and cafes creating dishes everyday with no certainty to how many covers they will have, it is something that requires careful thought and planning. Catering equipment can be used to ensure that a professional and reliable method of producing dishes and meals is used from a business point of view. The professional catering equipment will ensure that food is produced, stored and displayed effectively. With good planning and effective food handling methods this use of professional equipment will be integral to reducing wastage.

Vacuum pack machines are a great way to reduce waste and create an effective waste management system. Foods can be sealed in special bags used in the vacuum pack machines to keep in nutrients. The food stuffs can then be  frozen, stored in a chiller and reheated in various ways to restore before serving. Food is protected from deterioration and this can be used to effectively store foods that may otherwise become wastage. 




Food Labels are another good way of instilling good food handling and food rotation systems. It is essential for catering companies and food handling outlets to exercise a good food rotation plan and for all staff to be trained on the importance of the solution. Food labels allow  food rotation to be easily recognisable on all foods and by all staff. Colour coded labels are placed onto stored food to ensure that best by dates and food freshness deadlines are met, hence avoiding the need for throwing away food. 

Food Storage For Catering Kitchens

Catering food storage that I have seen in use over the years covers many different vessels from old ice cream containers and buckets to professional GN stainless steel receptacles.  Food storage for industrial food handling kitchens and caterers should meet strict standards. The catering equipment used for storing food should be sealable, easy to store and easy to clean. It always looks better and maintains strict principles if food is stored in clean and professional looking containers (old ice cream containers and buckets are not covered by that!)

Food storage is not just ideal for keeping food safely stored to meet hygiene and handling requirements. It can also help in the control of cross contamination of food allergens within catering outlets. If you advertise vegetarian meals, nut free dishes or even gluten free foods you will need to give customers confidence in dining at your establishment by having strict handling and storage in place with labelling and no cross contamination possible.  Professional catering equipment can enable that containment of food allergens if handled properly.

Professional cooking calls for chef supplies that are up to the rigors of commercial handling. The equipment is used daily and repeatedly by lots of different staff in lots of different environments.  So the chef supplies specifically for food storage need to be rugged, able to cope with hot and chilled environments and be easily cleaned preferably in an industrial dishwasher.  

Commercial Refrigeration Catering Fridges

Commercial refrigeration or catering fridges offer so many choices when it comes to choosing refrigeration for a catering business.It may seem at first glance that refrigeration is just a storage cabinet or under counter unit that keeps food chilled until required. If you're a caterer or chef, however your requirements will be so much more diverse and demanding than just a standard domestic refrigerator or freezer.

Catering fridges have to be reliable and robust if they are going to meet the demands of a full on day to day catering kitchen or food handling outlet. Doors are opened and closed constantly during food prep or service  and so cooling down processes need to be able to meet with this constant change from external air rushing in. Forced air or fan assisted cooling will help to keep temperatures more stable more efficiently.

It is essential that the commercial refrigeration fridges and commercial freezers for catering also accept GN containers as these are widely used in professional kitchens. It is easier to store the same containers that you cook with or use at service to refrigerate ingredients or dishes. This saves time, washing up and improves staff efficiency.

Chest freezers are suitable for storing frozen ingredients or meats as they offer large capacity without racking or specific spaces for allocated dishes. Although this may also work as a negative as the space inside the freezer is vast and you may find meat and frozen produce gets forgotten if left without tidying for a long period. They can also be less organised than the cabinets or under counter units which have shelves for more control.

Catering fridges can come in all sizes to suit the space you have available and also the food handling tasks you carry out each day. Restaurant freezers can also come in different sizes and layouts to best suit your kitchen. For catering kitchens or food handling outlets that have lots of refrigerated or frozen produce you may also wish to consider  walk in cold rooms.  These are vast rooms size refrigerated units that can have shelving to store goods effectively. They can be offered in many different configurations and sizes to suit any business needs. The walk in cold rooms offer a commercial refrigeration solution that can also offer catering fridges and catering freezers combined in one room.

Food Prep Machines Commercial Appliances For Easy And Quick Food Preparation

Food prep machines are a boon to the busy catering kitchen. These kitchen machines offer a simplified and industrial way of preparing dishes prior to service. Food service industries such as catering and food service outlets need help with all the various preparation tasks that are required for a professional hospitality outlet. It's not just important to have quick food preparation it has to also be skilled and done correctly.


Commercial Catering appliances are made to be used in professional catering kitchens. The food prep machines will make light work of the mundane day to day tasks that take place in the kitchen before dishes are even created. These include vegetable preparation and spice preparation or juice extraction ready for a busy service. Commercial food prep machines are made with a busy catering kitchen in mind they can handle the day to day preparations with ease and are made to be robust to cope with the harsh environment of the professional catering kitchen.


Food prep machines includes kitchen machines that will prepare vegetables at speed and to the specification of the chef. These can be used by less qualified staff to create all the vegetables and fruit to suit the specific dishes that chef will create at lunch or dinner service. vegetables may be cut to julienne style for stylish presentation or grated for salads and coleslaw or even diced for inclusion in casseroles, pies and oven baked dishes. There are also specialised kitchen machines that assist with potato preparation such as peeling or chipping. These are great for fish and chip shops, takeaway outlets, restaurants, canteens and also care homes where a large capacity of potatoes are required for food service. 


Food prep machines such as ice cream machines allow homemade ice cream or sorbets to be made on the premises allowing chefs to add a twist to desserts and customers appreciate the home made authenticity of the dishes made. With the emphasis on diners wanting to know the provenance of their dishes food prep machines are ideal for caterers wanting to promote locally sourced or healthy dishes on the menu. Create homemade burgers, sausages, ice cream, freshly prepared meat dishes using the kitchen machines that will make light work of preparing meat, vegetables and fruits.


Spice grinders make light work of producing large quantities of spices, pods and herbs for inclusion in chefs dishes.These are particularly suited to Indian or Chinese restaurants where spices need to be handled carefully but take a lot of the chefs time if it all needs to be done manually.


Other kitchen machines or food prep machines that can be used by the professional caterer are slicers and mixers to create finished dishes from raw ingredients. Mixers obviously are able to create a whole array of prepared dishes from scratch saving time and stress for the busy kitchen. Juice extractors are also great for creating a whole range of refreshing drinks these are ideal for breakfast service but are also great for juice bars, leisure spas and sandwich shops.


So whatever the food preparation task you have in mind there should be a food prep machine to help with the task. Make sure you choose from catering equipment commercial appliances to ensure they can match the pace and requirements of your catering or food service outlet.

Drinks - Hot Or Cold? - Using Drinks Dispensers

Beverage machines cover a whole range of drink dispensers equipment. Drink dispensers are available for all businesses not just restaurants but also for conference centres, rest rooms, staff rooms, care homes and hotels. Juice bars will benefit from a chilled drink dispenser and outdoor caterers will find hot water boilers invaluable for drinks and washing up. A coffee machine will enable you to offer your customers a range of coffees, from espresso to lattes.

Hot water boilers are available in LPG or gas versions and prove invaluable for outdoor caterers. Not only can they be used for making hot drinks and cooking tasks but also for washing up tasks,too. Gas hot water boilers are great when mains electricity may not be available such as camping with Scouts, Guides or youth groups. Plug in hot water boilers are very much valued by church groups, WI and fund raising groups where constant hot water is required. Plumbed in hot water boilers are increasingly popular in staff rooms or rest rooms in busy local authority departments where staff are constantly coming and going and the use of a kettle is inefficient.

A chilled drink dispenser will keep cold drinks at optimum temperature for dispensing. It will also serve as a merchandiser so customers will see the cold drinks ready to serve and be tempted to buy, thus increasing sales.

A coffee machine can be a simple jug and hotplate filter coffee machine in a pub or a shiny espresso machine in a high street coffee outlet. A filter coffee machine will ensure you have a ready supply of hot coffee or fresh brewed tea on the go ideal for after meals in pub diners or smaller sandwich shops and cafes. These are really easy to use and jugs of coffee can be taken direct to the table for refills.

A coffee machine or espresso machine can be used to create many different styles of coffee, from cappucinos with the frothy milk topping to lattes. These machines normally have a steam wand and a frothing wand, dependent upon style and make, which allows for the creation of many hot beverages. Hot beverages look great served in special coffee glasses or specifically designed crockery cups.

Choosing A Till For Your New SME Business

Choosing cash handling equipment for small businesses can seem daunting. You need to know that your cash register or EPoS systems will be easy to use whilst the business is in it's infancy. An important factor is also that the tills will be able to grow with your business in the future. It's no good having to buy new tills as your business develops. EPoS terminals offer point of sale for retail or hospitality businesses. They can be simple cash tills or more complex touch screen versions.

EPoS terminals are cash tills that are 'backed up' by PC technology. EPoS stands for Electronic Point Of Sale. We've all seen these EPoS tills in action at checkouts in supermarket outlets or in our local restaurant as a touch screen till. They are basically a computer system with an easy to use interface for the business this may be a scanner and monitor screen for retail outlets or a touch screen for restaurants and bars. These EPoS terminals are increasingly more affordable as the technology has become more popular and available. So for a new small business costs are not prohibitive and yet the control and management of your business will be much enhanced by using a reliable and future proof EPoS system.

It is prudent for small businesses to buy a reliable and easy to use cash register even if you decide to go for one of the simpler cash tills on the market. Cash registers will give you a safe and easy way of taking payments from customers. Any cash register will enable you to record your sales for accounting purposes. The more complex tills will allow you to keep an eye on sales of particular products, track stock and give receipts to customers. Receipts are also a good marketing tool allowing your company and any sales/advertising message to be promoted to customers. For cash handling you may also want to consider security devices such as note detectors or under counter safes.

EPoS systems and many of the more complex tills will give you greater control in your business. They will help you with stock control and stock auditing, sales data, wastage, managing promotions and offers and keeping an eye on staff sales / voids. EPoS terminals can even be linked to credit card payments, hand held electronic order pads, advertising screens and cash and carry warehouse ordering systems.

Make sure you get advice and build a good relationship with your cash register salesperson. Ensure sure you ask about after sales support and training and that you buy a system,which is future proof. Buy the best solution that you can afford but take into account your future business needs, too.