Catering Scotland

ScoMac Catering Equipment has been working closely with Azure at Ibrox since 2007, to help upgrade the catering facilities and revolutionise the way they serve fans on match days.

Joint Managing Director, Iain Munro, explains how they changed the original concept to suit the club’s diverse requirements: ‘Previously, Azure used combi ovens to heat up the pies, burgers, hot dogs and other snack foods at the kiosks throughout the stadium, but these consumed large amounts of energy and required waste gates and drainage, which made them inefficient for their purpose,’ he says.

‘Reviewing the whole catering operation, we came up with the concept of a small central production kitchen on each concourse which would then serve the individual kiosks throughout the stadium, and each of these kiosks would have special ovens for regenerating the food.’

Manufactured by Chefline Solutions – sponsors of the Pie League – the ovens feature increased capacity, no water supply or drainage requirements, and low power consumption: ‘The Moduline range of ovens have capacity for up to 300 baked products per unit, and effectively do the same job as the old combi ovens, only with reduced ancillary requirements and lower running costs, continues Iain.

‘Additionally, on top of greater capacity, the new ovens also provide a similar 18-20-minute regeneration cycle and heightened food safety, as the food is always reheated and maintained at the correct temperature.’

Meanwhile, long-term ScoMac supplier, Marco Beverage Systems, supplied Azure with Ecoboiler under-counter water boilers, which were specifically chosen for their performance, reliability and energy-saving properties.

However, with 48 kiosks in total to refit, ScoMac have a challenge to complete the refurbishment on time: ‘We are working according to the fixture lists, so it’s only possible to do so between matches.

That said, we’ve completed the whole of the Govan stand so far and some of the corporate hospitality kitchen areas, so everything is on course to be completed by the end of March.’

www.scomaccateringequipment.com