Red Roosters is an Australian institution. The fast-food chain has been serving roast chicken and chips for over 50 years. These days, they have 360 franchises and stores in every state except Tasmania.
Over the years Red Rooster has progressively changed up the menu to keep up with changing Aussie palate.
“As the brand comes into 2022 we need to make sure we have menu offerings that are a treat, indulgent and fun,” says Clint Ault, chief executive officer for Red Rooster.
The latest transformation has been the introduction of crunchy fried chicken. Now alongside the traditional roast, you can order fried chicken piece packs or combine fried with roast to make an even bigger feast. Try a Spicy Burger with succulent, fried tenders coated in spicy sauce, mayonnaise and lettuce on a bun. Add a side of buttery corn wheels, crispy sweet potato wedges or a juicy pineapple fritter.
Red Roosters have been trialing Merco holding units as part of their transformation.
“The feedback from the franchises has been exceptional,” says Clint.
After cooking chicken nuggets or fried chicken for burgers, the meat is placed in the Merco holding unit, ready for prep. Red Roosters have doubled their holding time by using Merco.
“We’re getting a much longer extension on holding time. The product quality is far more superior,” he says.
Red Roosters has a large workforce across the nation. Many of their employees are casual or part-time and are young. Simplifying the cooking process makes consistency achievable, even with inexperienced staff.
RATIONAL ovens have been a staple piece of commercial equipment in Red Rooster kitchens for over 25 years.
“Our entire fleet are RATIONAL ovens. We love RATIONAL. They’re the Rolls Royce of ovens.”
All menu options for Red Roosters across the country are pre-programmed into RATIONAL ovens. This means menu items are consistent from Sydney Airport to Alice Springs. Food is cooked safely and to a high quality. Each restaurant collects data in the cloud for quality assurance.
Toasting Red Rooster burger buns is quicker now. The Antunes vertical toaster produces consistently toasted buns in 12 seconds. Perfect for fast, hot food. As the toaster is vertical, it saves space, too.
“It freshens up the rolls and gets them nice and toasty on one side. They’ve really improved our product quality of burger.”
Chicken wouldn’t be the same without crispy chips. Red Roosters rely on Frymaster deep fryers for a quality product and consistent results.
“Frymaster fryers are a terrific product. The filtration helps with product quality.”
In the past, hot oil was a major safety issue for the QSR industry. Especially with so many young and inexperienced staff.
“They’re also really safe. Removing things like polishing bowls out of the stores have stopped things like slips and falls.”
Fast oil heat recovery saves time, and the filtration system saves on oil. Oil stays in the deep fryer and doesn’t need to be carried by staff.
Red Rooster’s success has come down to using great brands and partnering with Comcater. Over the years, the restaurant has varied its menu items. Comcater has been there to help them deliver a quality product.
“The Comcater team are great. We often have them in our test kitchen doing product development. We’ve done some work around different chickens or products where we’ve struggled to get the settings right. They send out a chef, and we get it mastered very quickly.”
Comcater assists Red Rooster with nationwide after sales service support including ensuring original equipment manufacture parts are on hand, significantly reducing downtime. Chefs are available to help with pre-programming RATIONAL ovens to be in sync throughout the country. This is extremely important when rolling out a new menu range.
Clint says, “What’s important is the partnership with the supplier. The ability to give you product development, aftercare support, and really great brands.”
When planning your next kitchen renovation, speak to Comcater about how we can improve the consistency, safety and speed in your commercial kitchen
Call us on 1300 309 262 or fill out the form for more information.
