Brisbane’s slice of Italy – Olive and Angelos
Olive and Angelos is an authentic Italian restaurant in the heart of sunny Brisbane. Parsley, rosemary and chillis grow in their garden courtyard amongst the 140 seated patrons. They rely on quality, fresh ingredients for their seasonal menu. Pizzas are cooked in the traditional Neapolitan style, with the dough aged for a minimum of 48 hours. Fresh, simple and quality food is at the essence of their philosophy.
Olive and Angelos have been serving Brisbanites for over three years. On a typical Saturday night, they have 240 covers, with 100 on weeknights. The nine kitchen staff are currently trialling their hearty winter menu including seared scallops for entree, Risotto Salsiccia Funghi Parmigiano and Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina.
Head chef and owner Angelo Leonforte paired with Comcater when planning his kitchen, and the partnership continues today. All desserts, pane, pasta and gnocchi are made fresh on the premises, and the Trueheat range was selected to efficiently deliver their menu.
“Te Trueheat range is fantastic. The heat is quite intense. You need that when cooking with pans,” says Angelo.
Olive and Angelos installed the Trueheat range, pasta boiler, chargrill, hotplate and 10 individual burners. As Trueheat is modular, the Comcater team helped customise their kitchen to maximise the available space while providing the equipment to suit their menu and staffing arrangements.
Olive and Angelos cook all their pasta fresh on-site. So the pasta boiler is indispensable to them.
“The pasta boiler boils within minutes. We cook our pasta fresh to order for each portion. So you need the water to be constantly boiling at a rapid rate.”
The pasta boiler maintains a boiling temperature to cook any pasta al dente. It also comes with six pasta baskets for individual portions. Made from stainless steel, it’s durable, and water is plumbed straight into the cooker. So, the risk of scalds from carrying pots of boiling water is significantly reduced.
The Trueheat cooktop is rugged enough to stand up to the daily pressures of any demanding restaurant. The powerful 24MJ burners create intense heat quickly, which is essential in any commercial kitchen. The cast iron trivets and burners are flush, so heavy pots can be dragged across the cooktop. Individual pilots and flame failure adds another level of safety in a busy kitchen.
Another essential piece of equipment Angelo relies on is the RATIONAL iCombi oven.
“RATIONAL is a fantastic piece of equipment. It cooks very precisely. It makes our life very easy and simple.”
Angelo steams potatoes overnight in the iCombi. So, in the morning, they’re ready to peel and use for 150kg of fresh gnocchi.
“We pull them out, start peeling them, and we’re away and running.”
Lamb shoulder is also slowly roasted for 12 hours in the iCombi.
“They come out spectacular.”
The iCombi roasts vegetables to compliment the meat and crisp up perfectly.
Comcater continues to partner with Olive and Angelos with after sales support including service. They provide free demonstrations in Brisbane for Angelo and his staff to get the most from their Trueheat and RATIONAL equipment.
Angelo says,” Listen to the experts. They know their equipment very well and can fit your need perfectly.”
Speak to Comcater about how we can help customise your kitchen to match your unique menu, clients and staff.
The three F’s to finding your perfect cafe fitout
So, you’ve got your café concept ready to go. What’s next?
You’ve sorted your premises, you’ve sorted your marketing, and you’ve got your budgets and finances in order. Being in the café biz, you will of course know what coffee machine you want to invest in.
The next step is perhaps the trickiest – getting your kitchen fitout right. Ensuring you have the correct fitout in order to fulfill your menu, meet safety regulations, and allow for a good workflow in your kitchen is increasingly difficult for café owners who may be well up-to-speed with coffee machines, but have never planned or designed a kitchen and food menu before.
Luckily for you, we at Comcater have 40 years’ experience fitting out commercial café kitchens and have compiled our three F’s to finding your perfect cafe fitout.
FOOD
Unsurprisingly, what food you intend on making plays an integral role in what fitout your kitchen requires. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of your entire menu, but knowing your cuisine type, anticipated covers and amounts of chefs you will be employing is crucial in getting the right fitout for your venue. You may not know every item you plan on serving, but knowing your “top sellers” or focal points if your menu will certainly help in ensuring your fitout is fully maximised, with areas being evenly utilised to avoid slower service times.
For example, if you plan on making protein your staple, your best to ensure your fitout contains a standalone charbroiler / barbecue whilst also including an additional grill in your range configuration. This means that if your barbecue is being completely utilised, you can still use the grill on your range whilst simultaneously serving up items prepared on those remaining burners and in the oven. Finding brands that offer flexible configuration types will ensure that you are fully utilising your fitout whilst saving space in your kitchen.
WATCH: The Trueheat RC Series offers mix and match configurations with range matched fryers, pasta cookers, barbecues and infill benches to ensure you get the right fitout for your unique needs
FINANCE
Once you know what pieces of equipment you are likely to require for your cafe fitout, the next question you need to ask is how much have to actually spend on your dream fitout. Unless you are a large operation pumping out 100+ covers per service, a light duty range would be most suited to a café operation. In addition to being the most affordable on the market, light duty ranges also come with lower gas / electricity ratings meaning you’ll save big when it comes to your ongoing utility costs.
Another tip for ensuring your finances matches up with your fitout requirements is to purchase all of your equipment from the one foodservice equipment dealer. This means they are able to bundle all of your commercial cooking equipment and deliver you the best possible price. This also means you have one point of contact for any questions regarding warranty, training, servicing or anything else you may need assistance with during the lifetime of your cafe.
FUTURE
Finally, it’s important to think about what the future may hold when it comes to planning your café fitout. Sure, a second-hand cooking lineup might seem like a good idea to get yourself off the ground and stay within budget, but what happens when it breaks down? How much will it cost your business if you have any service downtime when one of your commercial deep fryers stops working? Will your fitout not only support your needs for the first year of operation but what about in three? Will it cover your online delivery market as well as your anticipated in-store covers? Does your equipment come with a great warranty to ensure you aren’t stuck with unexpected costs if something does require servicing? These are all crucial questions to be asking to ensure that you won’t outgrow your fitout within the first year of operation.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
Australian owned and designed and backed by a one year parts and labour warranty, the Trueheat RC Series has been tailor made for smaller restaurants and cafes who want culinary muscle at an affordable price. To help ensure your fitout is correctly setup and performing at its best, Trueheat also offer free start up commissioning. You can learn more about the Trueheat RC Series at Trueheat.com.au or fill in the form on this page.
“When it comes to fitting out our new kitchen we needed a lineup that was durable, powerful yet affordable. The Trueheat RC Series is unbelievable value for money”.
James & Shelley Nelson, Jamieson Brewery & Grill, VIC.
