Category Archives: News
30 Nov |
Christmas Opening Hours 2023 |
If we’re posting our monthly blog for November, it’s fewer than 30 days to Christmas. Almost time to start opening those advent calendars and to deck the premises with boughs of holly! As the busiest time of year, we’re aware that for many of you, the only thing you need to know from us is AC Services Christmas opening hours 2023.
Being Busy Bees
We know that you’ll probably only need these hours just in case the emergency happens that stops service. Like you, Christmas is one of our busiest times of the year as we assist catering colleagues with delayed Rational oven service requests and unfortunate repairs.
With Covid and cost of living crises, the cashflows of catering businesses have been hit hard. Delayed bookings for Christmas have increased uncertainty and the ability to plan effectively. Why not check now to see whether you’ll be running low on Rational cleaning materials? And take ten minutes today, to check your ovens’ servicing records and current niggles to reduce the risk of breakdown. If necessary, gives us a call on 01454 322222 so AC Services can help.
If you have a busy Christmas season planned after a quieter year, staffing might be a problem. This could either be in finding staff or ensuring that they are fully trained. Again, we know how you feel! This year from mid-December, one of our staff will be off to spend Christmas Down Under with her daughter.
Of course, we have a replacement ready to continue to deliver our recognised high levels of customer service. After all, we recognise that enabling colleagues to spend quality time with friends and family at Christmas is as important as doing business.
A C Services Christmas Opening Hours 2023
If you need to contact us about your Rational ovens, we will be available as follows:
- Friday 22ndDecember – Normal hours 8.15 am to 5.15 pm
- Saturday- Sunday 23rd – Engineer on Call for Emergencies
- Christmas Eve – Engineer on Call for Emergencies
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day – CLOSED
- Wednesday-Friday 27th-29th December – Engineers on call and office open 8.30-5.00pm
- Saturday 30th December – Engineer on Call for Emergencies
- New Years Eve – Engineer on Call for Emergencies
- New Years Day – CLOSED
- January 2nd 2024 – Open as normal – 8.15 am-5.15 pm
At AC Services Southern, we know how crucial this Christmas season will be for many in the catering businesses. May we take this chance to offer our best wishes for a successful Christmas and a prosperous 2024.
Published Date: 30th November 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News
Tags: AC Services, Rational Ovens
31 Oct |
Trick or Treat for Halloween |
Trick or treat is an appropriate question for us to ask when we’re posting so close to Halloween. Certainly, the last year has been full of tricks for UK catering businesses with only the occasional treat. And the fast-approaching Christmas season promises more of the same as parties hesitate to book knocking the trade’s planning.
All Hallows Even
There are those who of course bemoan the fact that Halloween has become so big as a newfangled Americanism. But is it? The 31st day of October is the day before 1st November. This in the Christian faith is All Souls Day. The day when Christians remember and celebrate the departed. The older name for All Souls is All Hallows and een is merely the eve of. It was always the night before a holy day.
In Mexico at the same time is the Dia Los Muertos, which runs for 2-3 days. Interestingly this predates the conquistadors, so was not the result of their European faith being imposed. Somewhat spooky that it occurs on exactly the same day and for the same purpose. Especially as there is no comparable day in other faiths.
Trick or Treat Questions
When the youngsters come round and knock on doors asking the question, do they ever expect the response to be trick? Most assume that it’s an opportunity to fill their bag with sweets. And heaven help the neighbour who puts in some interesting and usual flavours as a trick!
The question expects reward much like the order in the restaurant. But the latter doesn’t usually have 2 options for the server. Is the treat-giver at Halloween motivated by a genuine desire to please? Or by the fear of potential damage like fireworks exploding in drainpipes, when they were metal, as the trick? The equivalent restaurant question is perhaps “are you enjoying your meal” when the waiter always hopes for or assumes a positive answer?
Our Treat Question
Every year at Christmas we have a rush on cleaning supplies at the last minute, as clients suddenly realise they are short in the rush. This is just when we’re busy sorting out the last-minute maintenance calls or worse the breakdown stopping the client’s service.
Our treat for you is 10% off Detergent Tabs Active Green 150 (56.01.535), Detergent Red Tabs 100 (56.00.210) and Care Tabs 150 (56.00.562) when ordered by phone before 12 noon on 10th November 2023. This does not include shipping costs. The discount code is TREAT. And we can assure you, this is no trick! Happy Halloween!
Published Date: 31st October 2023
Category: Blog, Cleaning Products, News, Rational
Tags: AC Services, Cleaning Products, Rational Ovens
28 Sep |
Rational Service and Maintenance |
English is a difficult language to learn. Why? Because we repeatedly use the same word said in the same way to mean completely different things. Take the word ‘service’ for example. Or rather don’t; because when we did this around the office, colleagues were coming back the next day with even more meanings.
Generally, at A C Services Southern we talk about 3 main types of service. Of which service and maintenance of Rational ovens is the core of what we do. This doesn’t stop us having to clarify what others mean when they use the term service.
Food Service
We work with colleagues across the catering sector. For virtually everyone food and drink service is what they are about. Before service comes prep, but everyone knows when the rush will begin as customers come to the restaurant, bar, café or mass catering outlet.
Whether those rushes are greater than commuters using train and bus services is difficult to say. Some colleagues might even use a dinner service of crockery to highlight the formality of the meal and an older meaning of the word. What is simply true that without prepared food and drink there would be no business for the sector.
Good Service
Most are driven by the need to give and be recognised for giving good service; not just simply delivering the food to the counter or table. This service is about attending to the clients’ needs and surpassing their expectations. Is this why tips are often call service charges?
We, of course, in the last year have been recognised by Rational as being the best customer service partner in the UK. It means that we ensure we understand our clients’ needs and then fulfil them as effectively and professionally as possible.
Service and Maintenance
For us, this is another way of saying protection and prevention. Service and maintenance is all about the little things that prevent the bigger problems. Like using the appropriate tablets and cleaning materials for your Rational oven at the recommended times. Or the regular visit we have with many clients. Like a car service that fixes stuff or keeps an eye on things to advise on likely forthcoming issues.
What service is not, is repair. Repair is when disaster happens and the oven is broken. It requires an early fix, ideally today and is completely unplanned. The opposite is thinking now when to book your Rational service for the Christmas peak season and ordering your cleaning materials today.
As a company wit put it; not asking for service and maintenance is asking for the later emergency breakdown call for a broken oven. A repair means no food service, which is poor customer service adversely affecting the company’s debt service and probably leading to language not suitable for a religious service!
Talk to our team today, as we’re always at your service on 01454 322222!
Published Date: 28th September 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News, Ovens, Rational, Service plan
Tags: Cleaning, Maintenance, Servicing
30 Aug |
Getting Catering Business Ready for the New ‘Old Normal’ |
The news for catering business is not great. Even the county daily e-newsletter is regularly reporting restaurant closures of established and new venues. Locally a celebrity chef forged ahead with the building changes for a new pub-restaurant; only to cancel the project on the point of opening. It’s now time for everyone to recognise that the last 10 years have been an aberration of low interest rates and high expectations. For the foreseeable future the old normal is back.
Bleak Catering News
Creed Food Services have produced an excellent report based on a survey of 150 UK Directors, General Managers, Assistant Manager and Chefs of hotels, restaurants and pubs. It’s called Plates to Profits.
The findings are stark:
- 86% of catering business surveyed said they’d close in next 3 years, if business costs did not reduce and they didn’t increase prices. Half said in a year!
- 23% did not consult their own wholesalers for cost saving advice. An own goal given the mutual benefits this brings.
- 43% are operating with fewer staff. Half have changed the menu to simpler dishes to respond to this.
- 39% are buying more pre/semi-prepared dishes while a similar percentage have reduced opening times or food availability on certain days
Customer behaviour has changed
Consumers face a long-term reduction in disposable income. Two thirds of customers have reduced the amount that they spend to eat out. But they will pay for good quality (86%) and pay more for such (75%) according to a Lumina study.
Plates to Profits respondents reported customers:
- Visit less regularly – 45%
- Reduce the number of courses they order – 43%
- Choose more affordable dishes and reduce the number of sides – 40%
- Not order tea/coffee at the meal end – 29%
- Not order alcohol, but chose soft drinks or water – 19%
- Book earlier timeslots or take advantage of early bird offers – 33%
- Choose food share options – 45%
The Economist, in July, published an interesting report through a collaboration with Visa internationally comparing catering customer habits pre and post pandemic in cities. While weekday lunches have held up, weekday evening events have dropped by almost 3%. Conversely Saturday and Sunday lunches have increased in popularity. Saturday afternoon is now the spending peak not Friday night.
Catering Business Action
Now is the time to take positive action to ensure survival and future growth in your catering business. Consider what your answers would be to the Creed questions or Economist/Lumina studies.
This will help your responses to the new old normal based on your data. Those insights will help you respond to the menu selection, staffing and cost challenges. Also consider what menu choices offer the biggest margins; and how you could do more on food waste by rethinking could happen such as vegetable peelings/trimmings and fruit as toppings or side dishes.
Plates to Profits offered 5 suggestions to consider:
- Maximise covers to streamline operations for peak time. Relook at your space inside and out and how it could be used.
- Charge for quality bread and butter. Consumers will pay for the quality and the unsold is easily turned into alternatives.
- Offer 2 or 3 course set menus. This reduces ingredients, streamlines mains and gives perceived value for money.
- Offer sharing experiences through encouraging sharing options. The faff of the second plate is offset by the responsiveness to customer cost saving need.
- Offer higher priced specials of mains, sides and desserts. Change frequently to reflect seasonality to manage costs, streamline menus and meet the proven desire for sustainability.
Like all catering businesses, A C Services is reviewing its operations to ensure it can flexibly meet the needs of its current and prospective clients in this changed economy. After all, following our success this year, we’re aiming to be crowned the best Service Partner for Rational in the UK again next year. This will only come by working sensibly together.
Published Date: 30th August 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News
Tags: Catering business, Hotel, mass catering, Pubs, Restaurant
26 Jul |
Measuring Customer Service |
Following our last blog on customer service being the core of our business at AC Services; we’ve quite rightly been asked how we measure success. Sometimes this is put more crudely as “prove it”! Our year-round measure is customer feedback. Our once-a-year measure is the Service Partner awards with our fellow Rational Service Partners across the UK.
AC Services Wins UK Rational Service Partner 2023
ACS has always done well in the annual awards to be the best Service Partner amongst all 40 UK Rational Service providers. In Rational Ovens’ 50th year we’re delighted to report that we came first. Time for a dual celebration for both achievements!
Rational is a German company. It uses a rigorous audit system to determine who should be crowned as the best each year. This includes the number of post-service questionnaires returned and the comments and scores they provide. They supplement this with how we perform in dealing with warranty calls, availability of van stock, recalls, first time fix rates, and attendance within 24 hours. Obviously also taken into account are any customer complaints of whatever nature.
The results were announced on 13 July at the end of the annual Rational Service Partner meeting. Helen said “It was great to win and be 1st place in the Rational Service Partner of the year. This recognises that putting customer service at the core of our business pays off. It also demonstrates Rational’s commitment to high standards of support for those in catering businesses”.
Customer Feedback
If you look around the various review sites, you’ll see happy customers commenting in the service provided by ACS. We were delighted to see this one recently:
“Outstanding service. We needed a new Rational Oven converted from natural gas to LPG. We contacted them on Monday. Had a site survey carried out on Tuesday; and the conversion and commissioning on Wednesday. Helen and Denise in the office were very understanding. While engineer John told us what need to be done prior to commissioning…..The manager and chefs are over the moon” Druid Arms, Stanton Drew
Sometimes the feedback comes direct to us:
“All paid. We can’t thank you enough for coming out so quickly, it was a nightmare not having an oven. We’ve had such amazing service from you all. Thank you” read a recent email.
All this positive feedback gives ACS encouragement to continue to offer the highest possible customer service to all its clients. You’d expect nothing less from the Rational Service Partner of the Year 2023!
Published Date: 26th July 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News, Rational
Tags: AC Services, Rational Ovens, Servicing
28 Jun |
Our Essence is Customer Service |
Last month we suggested that one way for catering businesses to weather the current economic storm is to focus on the core or essence of their business. With the Bank of England increasing the interest rates to tackle more persistent inflation; it’s probably right for AC Services to explain ours. It’s customer service.
Customer service! An easy opt out, many may say. After all it’s all part of any front of house business. Let’s for a moment consider that. What we don’t mean by customer service is the waiter asking “Is everything alright” mid-stride heading away from the table. That is a complaints avoidance tick-the-box approach that ultimately pleases no-one.
The Why of Customer Service
Consider for a moment what ACS does. We repair and maintain Rational ovens in the South West of England and South Wales and supply cleaning materials for those machines. Good customer service means different things in each of those scenarios:
- Repair is an emergency. Something has broken or does not work. The impact of that could be large (stops service) or small (there’s a work-around) but it always starts with a crisis call.
- Maintenance is the scheduled servicing of an essential machine so that it continues to run at optimum performance. The when is dictated by its age and normal use patterns and by our mutual schedules for convenience. This might start with a reminder call, machine notification or email.
- Cleaning materials are supplied to aid in the reduction of the first two. They are optimised for Rational machines and are proven to assist in preventing breakdowns or increased maintenance cycles. This is an order to us by phone or on-line.
The Uniting What is Knowledge
What the scenarios have in common is knowledge. Foremost is technical knowledge gained through training with Rational, but also from experience of these ovens over time. Our engineers and technical teams have 60+ years of Rational experience between them. They understand and can cope with ovens of all ages, whether that is in the kitchen or with the remote servicing of newer models.
The second essential knowledge is of the demands of catering businesses. For maintenance visits we try to avoid the peak of service. Although for some clients, we know there is never really a lull during the normal working day.
Thirdly we know the area. Keeping costs down is an issue for all businesses so we schedule our engineer’s routes logically across their local patches. Because they work locally, they understand their clients. Equally importantly they’re able to respond quickly to the stop-service breakdowns by rejigging those routes.
Not Just the Engineers
But that knowledge does not just exist in the engineers, it also sits in our front of house aka our office-based team. With over 30 years of catering and Rational experience between them, they can diagnose and deal appropriately with all inbound and outbound communication.
Apart from our very short initial department selection, this is not an impersonal tele-service operation. We aim to know and understand our clients. The same issue for one clearly needs an immediate repair, while another sees it as something to pick up in the next maintenance booking. Or this time can’t wait, because tomorrow is a prestigious event. Lynne, Denise, Neil and Helen understand the impact it has on your catering business and look for solutions to minimise this.
True customer service is understanding the customer’s needs and efficiently solving their problem while minimising the downtime in their kitchen. This approach drives everything that AC Services does and explains why we have high levels of repeat business and happy customers.
Published Date: 28th June 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News, Rational
Tags: AC Services, Catering business, Rational Ovens
30 May |
Sensible Catering Forecast |
The third and final May Bank Holiday has passed. No more now until the end of August. Hopefully all catering businesses have seen a boost in trade and are well into preparation for the early summer months.
For many these are the traditional boom months as customers have better weather and longer days to enjoy.
It’s also normally when people have more to spend as they are spending less on power and heat. But the cost-of-living crisis is rolling on and the catering forecast is not good.
Bright spots
Last week the government announced the new Ofgem electricity price caps. These knock £426 off consumers’ typical annual electricity bills. No announcements yet or probable on business electricity. The better news is there could be more variability in the business electricity market, as suppliers begin to respond to generation cost reductions.
Headline inflation is now below 10%. Consumers everywhere can now start to breathe a sigh of relief because that is seen as progress. And 8.7% annual inflation must be good?
Cloud 1: Inflation explained
Inflation measures the annual change in prices. Overall prices this April are 8.7% higher than last April. That is still a massive increase. Since 2004 the official target has been 2% with the Bank of England required to write to the Government explaining why it was above this figure- “Good news PM we’re only 4 times target in April rather than 5!”. 2% means reasonable growth. The plus is, 8% is less scary so may encourage consumers to spend.
Unfortunately, that is the headline rate. The core rate that bankers and economists look at is now 6.8%. This is worryingly high. It means that interest rates on loans will remain high for years rather than months. For businesses, reducing borrowings now will increase profitability and longer term cashflow.
Cloud 2: War
There is an even bigger inflation rate to worry about for catering companies. This is food inflation currently at an average of 19.1%. But some core products are even larger: milk 33%, potatoes 28%, butter 20%. Avian flu, grain prices and electricity costs have pushed chicken 23% higher. Ukraine was a major exporter of grains, oils and fertilisers. The war is a big cause of this inflation.
Cloud 3: Climate
The forecast on olive oil is perhaps the worst and currently 46% higher. Drought in Spain meant the harvest was halved last year. Italy’s harvest was 40% down and was overtaken in volume by Greece. Given production cycles, it’s predicted that by the last quarter of 2023 there will be a serious availability crisis. Already the cost of alternative oils is 26% higher, and where is the major oil sunflower crop- yes the Ukraine.
But climate also affects the UK. Extreme weather last winter hit sugar beet pushing sugar 47% higher. Want to use honey as an alternative? The week-long sub-zero temperatures in December took out many hives. British agriculture will be short of many pollinators and a less sweet autumn is projected. Agriculture also has the wettest March for 40 years to cope with after the driest February.
What can catering businesses do?
Let’s be aware of the clouds, but use the sun to prepare in order to improve your catering forecast. Consider:
- Food is a basic need and an easy treat. First, think inside, yes inside the box. What is the essence or core of your catering business? This is what most people come for.
- Without reducing that core what ingredients could you swap and change for others? Could you shorten supply chains by sourcing locally and more seasonally?
- What key messages do you need to consistently communicate over the coming months to your customers so as their cost-of-living crisis eases, they come back for more or for that first treat.
- How can you reduce other costs without increasing the risks. For example, cutting back on oven maintenance and cleaning is a short-term saving; but increases the risk of failure during service. That would be a much bigger loss of direct and future custom.
Above all make the most of this summer to increase cashflow and profit to make the end of 2023 easier; when the catering forecast might be sunnier.
Published Date: 30th May 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News
Tags: Catering business
24 Apr |
Celebrating the Coronation? |
Back in January when we scheduled our blogs for the first half of 2023, we thought it would be timely to help those preparing events to celebrate the Coronation of Charles III. But with just over a week to go, it all seems a little flat.
Or is it the traditional British reserve that means we leave to the last-minute, preparations for celebrations? And what can catering trades do about it?
A Changing Monarchy
Perhaps we are taking our cue from the King himself. He has requested a more low-cost approach overall. This includes inviting 2000 guests down, from his mother’s 8,000. And something like a quarter of those guests are people recognised as being worthy in their communities; not simply the traditional great and good.
Certainly, the way we celebrate has changed since 1953. With 4 monarchs in the first 50 years of the twentieth century and Elizabeth as the fifth, more people knew what to expect and perhaps their role! One of the often-stated big pluses from the Big Lunch to celebrate the Queen’s 70th Jubilee; was the simple chatting to neighbours, something we have lost in our busy digital lives.
Changing Cuisine
The last coronation gave the nation poulet reine Elizabeth. More commonly known as Coronation Chicken. It was designed for versality for a salad or sandwich. So, all could enjoy at their garden or street party.
More interestingly it included an Indian-inspired curry sauce. This somehow seems to look backwards to the former empire and forwards to the opening up of cuisine to the masses. That opening gathered pace in the 70’s and 80’s to lead to a £4B Indian restaurant market in the UK today.
Coronation Quiche will have to go some to match that. But it does reflect our current times worried about the costs of living and reducing risks rather than celebrating.
Last-Minute Prep
It’s not too late to join in and share the positives provided by the Coronation to celebrate our communities and nation. The official timetable:
- Saturday May 6th, the Coronation itself. The procession starts at 11am to Westminster Abbey; the service might last up to 3 hours and then back. For those wanting to view the procession in person queuing starts at 6am and not before.
- Sunday May 7th, the Big Lunch. Over 7,000 street parties have signed up to be part of the Big Lunch with over 1M participants
- Monday May 8th the bank holiday. This celebrates volunteering and public service but not just on the one day as explained on the website
If you’ve prepared an event, AC Services knows it will be a success and you have everything in hand including anything to do with your oven maintenance/cleaning. If you haven’t got an event and:
- it seems quiet in your community; think what you might do and promote to create some buzz for those who will want to join in at the last minute.
- there’s something planned by others; consider how you could link in to promote their event or add to it.
After all coronations don’t happen very often and it will be 25 years to the next jubilee; so a shame not to take the chance to put out the flags and celebrate!
Published Date: 24th April 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, Events, Local food, News
Tags: Catering business, Events, farm shop, Hotel, Pubs, Restaurant
29 Mar |
Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Show |
For the last 87 years the place to be in March, has been the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Show. For anyone in catering businesses there’s always some nugget to find in the UK’s largest gathering of the food, drink and hospitality sector. In 2022, it got even better when HRC joined forces with the Pub Show. It now includes all sectors and the entire supply chain for food and beverages.
Everything under One Roof
The Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Show is the destination to experience product innovation. Over three days visitors have the chance to meet and reconnect with over 1500 suppliers. These are from across food & drink, professional catering equipment, design & decor & hospitality tech. Anyone from the trade can discover, taste and test the latest products created specifically for hotels, restaurant & catering professionals.
The Show is organised into five main sections for food service, professional kitchens, design and décor, hospitality technology and the Pub Show. As a trade-only show there are opportunities to network (facilitated as well as freestyle); to hear noted speakers discuss the latest trend; and to get business advice directly from experts. Alongside this runs the UK’s most prestigious cooking competition – International Salon Culinaire.
Rational Attendance
At AC Services Southern, we recommend that anyone in catering attends HRC. If you missed this year’s put it in the diary for next year, now. When we attend, we always learn a lot about what is happening today that will affect our clients tomorrow. We need also to admit that we might be a little biased, as Rational always has a stand.
This year Rational demonstrated its iKitchen approach with its latest generation of cooking systems, the iVario and iCombi Pro. These combined cover 95% of all conventional cooking applications; at the same time achieving space savings of up to 40%.The cooking systems are made for cooperation, and when combined with the ConnectedCooking network solution, the intelligent kitchen is complete.
Seminar Variety
The seminars genuinely cater for all. For example, Hospitality 2023 a Global View in which IGD Insight and Economy specialists Nicola Knight and James Walton shared their predictions for 2023 on the impact of global pressures on the hospitality sector in the UK. It was followed by Successfully Interpreting Future Trends to Unlock New Revenue for Your Business. This had the subtitle of Ever Attended a Trends Talk and Thought There Was No Way Your Business Could Relate? The solution was a panel of hospitality champions discussing how they managed to interpret future trend predictions.
And they don’t avoid the basic new challenges such as Making Sense of Fat, Oil and Grease Management Responsibilities. This focused on the recent launch of an important guide to fat, oil and grease management in foodservice kitchen wastewater. This report brings together all that a site needs to know to make an effective evaluation of how it should manage its FOG disposal to prevent sewer blockages.
International Salon Culinaire
International Salon Culinaire has been regarded as one of the world’s top competitions for chefs for over a century. Over 100 live and static competitions across the three days provide a platform for chefs of all levels to go on to greater success in the industry.
Gold Medal Winners this year ranged from James and Alan Dougan of NHS Scotland GGRC in the NHS 4 Nations Chef Challenge to those beginning their careers, like Boe Trowbridge of City of Portsmouth College Monday’s winner of Butcher a Whole Chicken for Saute.
The 2023 HRC Chef Ambassador for HRC and International Salon Culinaire was Monica Galetti. She shares our view that:
“Now, more than ever, it’s so important for hospitality professionals and chefs to come together, network, learn and continue growing this fantastic industry. There’s nowhere better do to this than at the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Show.”
Published Date: 29th March 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, Events, News, Rational
Tags: Care homes, Catering business, farm shop, Hotel, mass catering, Pubs, Rational Ovens, Show report
26 Feb |
A Day in the Life of an AC Services Engineer |
AC Services Southern’s business is all about keeping catering’s Rational ovens going through maintenance and repair. We have a group of trained engineers out on the road for almost 365 days a year. We’re often asked what do they do? So, here’s Jon’s day on a Monday at the end of January.
Monday Morning
Preparations for the first calls of the week are always done on a Friday with phone calls to confirm it’s still ok to attend. (The rest of the week, it’s the afternoon before.) This allowed Jon to collect late on Friday afternoon, the required spare parts for his first two jobs. These had both previously been estimated.
Jon lives in Weston. So a 40-mile drive to JD Wetherspoons William Dampier to complete 2 different estimates at the same time. One had been made in December and a second fault occurred in January. Combining reduces the inconvenience and interruptions on the kitchen; as it typically continues to work around our engineer. It’s also more cost effective given third party maintenance contractors often need a visit to fault find and a second to repair. Having arrived at 9.30, Jon was away by 11.45 with both ovens fully back in service.
His next job was in South Petherton some 9 miles away at the Lopen Raj. They had become a customer of ACS in September 2022, when they called us to service one of their ovens. At the beginning of January in a deep clean, they had moved the oven. Unfortunately they caught the dial and pulse generator, which had snapped off. We’d called the next day to repair only to discover after calling Rational to confirm, that the Raj had a unique pulse generator. This needed to be ordered. With the proximity to the William Dampier it was convenient for all to slot this job in next. Jon completed the job by 12.30; not bad given the travelling time.
Monday Afternoon
At the start of the day, Monday afternoon was clear of appointments; but Jon has been an ACS engineer for 24 years and knows that will never be the case. Overnight Wagamama Trowbridge had placed a service call via their app requiring an urgent visit on Monday. Two of their ovens, a combi duo stack and another oven, had no function. Jon headed 50 miles North to thoroughly test the ovens. As a result, he upgraded their software to the latest settings and identified that the cause of the issue was an electrical supply fault. This required an electrician to correctly rate the circuit breaker in the fuse box.
Day over you might think as gone 3.00, but no. We’d had a call from a school with a report that the oven was not getting hot enough. The visit needed to be after the lunch break. Sadly, the cause of the fault was operator error, with oven temperatures set to Fahrenheit not Centigrade. On the plus side Jon also resolved a software update problem on the same machine.
Only Half the Story
With Jon home by 6.00, you might think that was a busy day, but it doesn’t explain the half of it. Engineers have to:
- Do a mental health and safety risk assessment when on site particularly with other staff working around them in small spaces
- Write out job sheets and explain them to chefs or maintenance contractors about what they’ve done or found
- Take HACCP and service data from the ovens, ensure software is up to date and upload new software where appropriate from the Rational portal.
- Fill out mileage forms and ensure vans have fuel. Then there’s the part numbers for the estimates and job sheets. And reporting on parts fitted for the bill.
We could go on, because added to all of this is the customer service and back-office staff that get the engineers efficiently to our catering colleagues in need. But we’ll leave that to another time, while we thank Jon and our other engineers for their greatly appreciated hard work.
Published Date: 26th February 2023
Category: Blog, News, Rational, Service plan
Tags: AC Services, Maintenance, Rational Ovens, Servicing