With 24 locations nationally and no signs of slowing soon, The Groove Train has exemplified the Quick Service Restaurant Scene in Australia.
Achieving store and menu consistency across multiple franchisees is a difficult operation; however, this is something that The Groove Train has managed to achieve and continues to deliver.
“Whilst the presentation of food can be easily standardised, keeping consistency across menu items is a much harder task,” said The Groove Train VIC Executive Chef Richard Lawrence. Equipment choices play a vital role in the kitchen. They can facilitate consistency, help reduce costs and speed up service – all the things that make for a successful franchise.
When it came to fitting out one of The Groove Train’s newest stores in Knox in Melbourne, Richard was once again happy to rely on Comcater’s range of brands and products.
“Groove Train is a fast paced environment, so we need equipment that is hard wearing and can handle 12-15 hour days of constant heat, pumping out at least 5000 meals a week. We generally always go with Comcater gear, the Garland GF Series hold up well. We’ve tried it for the last 15-16 years and it works really well.
“Obviously our fryers get slammed quite a bit, there’s a lot of friend food on The Groove Train menu Frymaster’s commercial fryers always hold up very well, and the recovery times generally work quite well. Some stores only have one fryer, and with the volume we do with fried food between chips, wedges and calamari, they get a fair workout. There’s been no issue so far with the fryers, so they stand up.”
Richard says that reliability is just one of the benefits he sees from investing in Comcater commercial cooking equipment.
“The Lincoln Impinger is great for toasting your focaccias, and very good for not burning your toast! I had a lot of issues in the past with salamanders where chefs would put toast in and before you know it, it’s burnt and the wastage was phenomenal…. [In the Lincoln] you just pop it in and away you go, so it’s convenient, it’s cost effective as you don’t waste product and during busy service you can put other items through it, so you save on labour too!”
Serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, The Groove Train is spreading right across the country with no signs of slowing soon.
