Partnering Lockhart - RH Hall

Partnering Lockhart Investing in a Fabs future Christmas opening times

UPDATE The RH Hall newsletter / Winter 2017

Simply Stainless extends range

WIN a luxury Christmas hamper

WELCOME FOODSERVICE SOLUTIONS RH Hall Hallco House Beacon Court Pitstone Green Business Park Pitstone Bedfordshire LU7 9GY Telephone:

01296 663 400 Email:

[email protected] Website:

www.rhhall.com Twitter:

@RHHallCatering

Welcome... Merry Christmas to all!

Another good year for foodservice? Well we certainly think so. The foodservice market continues to develop and grow... this year we have experienced even greater innovation and more food brands launching and expanding in the UK with bold ambitions and plans to build a large estate. Of course, there is a lot of competition, especially within the QSR market, but most continue to expand their estates year on year and many achieve strong financial success. We’re also seeing a lot of new food brands coming over from the USA and established brands pushing the boundaries with more creative food offerings. The choice and quality of ‘eat out’ or ‘eat in’ establishments we now have in the UK must be one of the best available anywhere in the World. The foodservice market has massively developed over the past 10 years and seems set to continue. All of which must be good news for all involved in the foodservice business and supply services. With the extra busy Christmas trade now firmly upon us we expect a good financial wrap up to the end of a successful 2017 and as a major UK supplier of equipment we are geared up to meet such demand in terms of robust customer support and extra stock holding of all our best sellers in anticipation of high demand. As a further incentive to grow the business we have our seasonal Christmas Promotion on song where our distributors and dealers can earn some great Christmas treats based on spend value. More information is detailed within. This should be a time of merriment, joy and happiness for all, so we therefore take this opportunity to thank all past, present and future customers for their continued valued custom and we wish you all a very happy, merry and fulfilling Christmas and here’s to a happy and successful New Year too! From all the team at RH Hall

Ray Hall Managing Director

We will be donating to the Hospice of St Francis in lieu of Christmas cards again this year.

UPDATE / Winter 2017

The latest news on products from our leading brands.

PRODUCT NEWS

The Essential Christmas Promotion Christmas is coming, so get into the festive spirit with our exclusive ‘Trade Only’ annual promotion – it’s a real cracker!

Running from 1st November to 31st December, we’ve got lots of festive treats to give away. Simply choose any mix of products with a value of £2,000+ to receive an indulgent luxury hamper or for exclusive brand orders over £6,000 we’re giving away the very latest Apple iPad.

All you need to do is include at least one item from each of our featured Key Brands… Sharp, Maestrowave, Smeg and Simply Stainless. Hurry, these gifts won’t hang around for very long! If you haven’t received your copy, contact our Sales Team!

Whirlpool’s new At your service new products feature in this spin on laundry! Two increasingly popular range. Two new additions have been made to the popular ‘American Style’ range of laundry products.

Both models feature huge 15kg capacities to make light work of the heaviest of cleaning needs. The new top loading washing machine has 21 programmes, hot or cold fill - plus deep fill option, 4 water temperatures and high efficiency agitator for excellent washing results. The complementary front loading tumble dryer features 13 programmes, 70 minute timer, 4 temperature settings and lint filter. See our website for more details.

The Waiters’ Station (SS40WS) is a fully mobile, stand alone cabinet, providing a useful worktop with two lockable drawers and storage below. The second is a Cleaners’ Sink (SS34CL) with a 400x450x250mm bowl, hinged grid rack over bowl and brackets for wall fixing.

New Smeg technology Moving forward from the electro mechanical oven developments that Smeg launched this year, we saw at HOST prototypes of the next generation of electronic ovens, with full touch-screen technology. Understanding key requirements for multi sited operators, these will now have USB connectivity for downloading of menus plus additional stage cooking capability for consistency of cook and an overall better performance. These exciting developments will be launched during 2018 and we will keep you updated as we approach launch.

Maestrowave developments

Lec & Burco update Festive specials GDPA has announced they are to concentrate solely on supplying their range of Water Boilers.

We’re extending extra special prices on best selling products from Gram and Blue Seal.

We still have a range of Lec Refrigeration and Burco Catering Equipment available for next day delivery, while stock lasts.

Valid during November and December in the lead up to Christmas – perfect for the busy festive season! Ask the Sales Team for details.

We also have a wide range of alternative products available – contact our Sales Office for further advice. Rest assured, products still within warranty will be covered in full – contact our Customer Service team for assistance.

Watch this space...

Distributor Price List The new price list will be launched in 2018. As always we will endeavour to hold 2017 prices for as long as possible. However, we approach the time of year where suppliers regularly increase their prices.

With the recently launched MW10 microwave flying off the shelves already, we’re now expecting more unique products from Maestrowave. Even more additions to the range of panini grills and pizza ovens are currently in development.

Don’t forget to check out www.maestrowave.com for all the latest news and updates and look out for the new Maestrowave product brochure coming to you online soon.

T: 01296 663 400 E: [email protected] W: www.rhhall.com

KRIS’ INDUSTRY UPDATE The last few months have flown by and despite the uncertainty over Brexit, business carries on and I’m glad to see that our industry seems to be pretty busy for all. We do however need to continue to seize the positives – whether it’s from UK manufacturing/export possibilities, the increase in tourists and visitor numbers or the opportunities from forecasted growth figures (according to AMA Research) for the demand for nondomestic catering equipment – 2% for 2017 and projected 2-3% per annum up to 2021 – all of these factors hopefully giving a much needed boost to our sector. On a very positive note, it’s been great to see our ‘working in partnership’ initiative with key distributors continuing to bring in some fantastic successes – with a number of additional well known High Street names now specifying our exclusive Key Brands as a result of this approach. It is a true recipe for success, working with you, your customer, our sector specialist account managers and our Food Solutions team - if you’ve not tried this approach or if there is anything more we can do to help drive our partnership please let us know. See the story (opposite) on our partnership with Lockhart for more details.

Our Key Brands continue to go from strength to strength too…the new Maestrowave MW10 Microwaves are flying out the door; there’s continued success for iWave hitting the spot in healthcare and retail sectors; Simply Stainless’ sales have rocketed and our factory is working flat-out to keep up with new orders, and our Food Solutions team is in constant demand. With the big run up to the festive season underway – we are ready to serve all your catering needs throughout this busy period, with increased stock holding ready for the Christmas rush – over £2M of best-selling lines are ready for free, nationwide, next day delivery! And with our new Christmas Promotion now in full swing, it’s set to be a cracker! And ‘wow’ what a response so far…thanks to free hampers and even the latest Apple iPads on offer, plus 100’s of quality exclusive products at amazing prices! Don’t miss out, free gifts are limited and the offer ends 31st December! Are we missing anything? Can we be doing things better? And if there is anything you’d like to point out that we do really well, then please feedback to me directly at [email protected].

We are always looking to improve and your input really is invaluable. Talking of invaluable input, Nick Sanders our ASM for Midlands and Wales region has left RH Hall to pursue a new business venture. I’d like to say farewell and thank him for his dedicated service. We all wish him the very best in his new career. That just leaves me to say a big thank you to all of our customers and supplier partners for your great support during 2017. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and here’s to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018 and beyond.

Kris Brearley Sales Director

Investing for a ‘Fabs’ future! There’s no doubt that 2017 has been a great year for our Fabrications Division, with a number of new customers and exciting contracts won. This has resulted in increased orders and greater output required! Kevin Shepherd, Fabrications’ General Manager explains further… “To increase the capabilities, allow for further growth and keep the factory fully up to date to efficiently maximise upon current and future demands, we have recently invested more than £100K in the latest state-of-theart machinery. “A new high specification 2kW Laser Cutter, ideal for cutting stainless steel up to 6mm thick, increases our cutting ability and quality, making cuts from large sheets of material around 4 times faster


than our existing cutter – which will continue to be used for smaller production items and small sheet mild steel. Our current customers need large sheet stainless and mild steels – this new machine will give us the quality and capacity to cope with this increase in demand. “Market leading manufacturer, Amada, has supplied our new Press Brake – which doubles our bending capacity and removes any threat of a production bottleneck. We’ve now got two identical machines in place and CNC programmes that

can easily be shared between both by USB. “Going forward we will continue to streamline production and improve our operations, ensuring that we are constantly improving our service and capabilities. We’re adapting and investing to ensure that we cater for clients’ every need from design to manufacture, all under one roof.”

Off-the-shelf tailored to fit Our Fabs team can ‘tailor to fit’ any of the off-the-shelf Simply Stainless range of tabling and units to help clients fulfil their bespoke kitchen designs. All Simply products are fully BIM compatible and we can supply the files to designers

and specifiers, please contact [email protected]. Don’t forget the Simply Stainless kitchen designer tool that’s available for FREE at www.simplystainless.com.

KRIS’ INDUSTRY UPDATE

Staying Sharp with Lockhart RH Hall has a long-standing partnership with Bunzl Lockhart Catering Equipment, one of the UK’s leading specialist providers of catering equipment. Lockhart has enjoyed a huge amount of success in recent years with a number of major national account wins. Several of these have seen our RH Hall team closely involved in helping Lockhart to deliver a winning proposition. A perfect example of this has been our Food Solutions team’s ability to pre-programme and personalise the menu options of Sharp microwaves to match the specific requirements of key Lockhart customers, including Nandos, CDG (The Casual Dining Group) and Costa Coffee. This pre-delivery customisation, which can include food trials, menu development and bespoke branding, has enabled Lockhart’s customers to achieve higher levels of consistency and efficiency in their food preparation by ensuring that all their outlets were heating food using the same microwave

settings and not guessing at the correct cooking times on a day-by-day basis. Commenting on the strength of the partnership Paul Nieduszynski, Lockhart’s Managing Director said: “I have always been really impressed by the level of engagement and technical expertise we get from RH Hall. They really are experts at what they do and they’ve provided us with great support for all our events and sales training programmes over the last few years. This has enabled them to develop a really close working relationship with our sales people out in the field and has been instrumental in helping us to jointly win a number of very important National Account customers.”

Crown Verity steals the show What a year for Crown Verity…it’s been our best season on record. Sales got so hot at one point that we had to air freight additional stocks over from Canada! And despite the winter season coming upon us, we’re still enjoying a high level of interest, as demonstrated by the huge success of Crown Verity at the Showman’s Show in Newbury last month. A first for RH Hall, this outdoor event was the perfect place to show off Crown Verity’s power and versatility and highlight our Bespoke Solution design services, where we had further designed and developed the BBQ Station in which the Crown Verity is at the heart of.

The Sharp R1900M – a favourite of CDG, Costa Coffee and Nandos’

Exhibition and events…

A roundup of a very successful season out in the industry, showcasing and educating on all our Key Brands and Food Solutions.

Lunch! Excel

21-22 September

Cedabond Product Awareness Whittlebury Hall 26-27 September

Crown Verity ambassador and BBQ champion Ben Bartlett performed a number of Masterclasses throughout the 3-day show, ably assisted by Janet Caveney of our Food Solutions team. Crown Verity and BBQ Ben were also in action at various Punch Roadshow venues throughout September and October. Live demonstrations took place at Chester, Leeds and Bristol.

Cedabond 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner Congratulations for a great achievement.

ENSE Forum Manchester Midland Hotel 27-28 September

Catering Equipment Expo Olympia 2-4 October

Visitors at HOST Milano

We walked 24 halls of the latest catering equipment & technology!


REGIONAL & SECTOR UPDATE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

THE NORTH

NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER Contact: [email protected] / 07966 232 982

AREA SALES MANAGER - NORTH Contact: [email protected] / 07855 818 380

Jerry Dutton

The last few months have continued to be positive with lots of opportunities for the National Account Division to get our teeth into. Since our last review we have absorbed some major customers including Lockharts and Marstons into the fold which have brought new directives and challenges to work on! Our existing clients have continued to provide us with a variety of challenges resulting in some sizeable multiple item

orders for our Fabrication Division, who have been working flat out at times to meet demand! As ever we continue to seek further opportunities. And with the new Smeg professional ovens hitting the market, we expect to be busy in discussions with multiple operators, in connection with these, in the coming months. So if you feel we can assist you in any way at all, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Tom Caine

A close working relationship with dealers continues to gain substantial business, only recently resulting in two kitchen refits. Getting dealers to work together where each brings the necessary skill needed, has brought benefits to both parties and given a better understanding of RH Hall. The two completed kitchen refits included refurbishment using Simply Stainless for the fabrication needs – and we have another

three in progress, with the results speaking for themselves. Moving forward, my focus remains on building and strengthening those relationships and increasing awareness of working together to the benefit of both companies, with Key Brand sales remaining paramount. Thank you for your continued support – here’s to a great 2018. Merry Christmas to all!

THE MIDLANDS & WALES

THE SOUTH

AREA SALES MANAGER - MIDLANDS Contact: [email protected] / 07377 726806

AREA SALES MANAGER - SOUTH Contact: [email protected] / 07973 163 294

Simon Parry

Following a whirlwind tour of RH Hall distributors across the area and meeting briefly many of the key customers, I have not stopped! From Anglesey and Pembroke Dock on the West to Grimsby and Lowestoft on the East I have been welcomed by all – thank you! It has been so pleasing to hear great things, with customers stressing the great level of service they get from our Sales and Customer Service teams.

Focusing on our Key Brands, I have been working with distributors to promote Sharp Microwaves and seen sales increase. In September a distributor in North Wales fitted out a kitchen in a range of Simply Stainless products to provide fantastic workspace and ample storage. I have also attended several regional trade shows with the area’s distributors, showing how RH Hall is keen to support the distributor network.

Derek Poole

I think it’s fair to say the last 3 months have been challenging for us all but also very rewarding. Trading has gone from strength to strength with both Cedabond and ENSE groups and I’m working closer with members of both organisations developing sales of our Key Brands across a variety of market sectors. Indeed this collaboration between myself, the rest of the RH Hall team and you, the dealer, is developing well

and we have been involved in a number of installations that have been completed or will be completed soon, with others in the pipeline. Thank you to the dealers so far who have given us this opportunity. As we head towards the end of the year our Christmas Promotion is upon us, so take advantage of the offers available on our Key Brands. Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

BESPOKE SOLUTIONS

FOOD SOLUTIONS

Contact: [email protected] / 07725 087879 [email protected] / 07904 637778

Contact: [email protected] / 07791 316820 [email protected] / 07951 498146

Adam Hall & Kevin Shepherd

Exciting times at Fabrications, we have many changes taking place. We have invested in new machinery: a press brake that doubles our bending capacity and a 2kW laser to work alongside our current laser. We have brought a new local customer on board with a large revenue contract to the factory and we continue to see exciting growth within our existing customer base. Greater emphasis on improving efficiency and staff training is our focus going forward into 2018.


We are also very busy in Bespoke Solutions, working more and more on kitchen designs alongside dealers to create a complete solution for their customers. Simply Stainless sales are hitting an all time high with a greater number of people seeing the benefits of the system. The FREE online kitchen design tool is proving very popular - it shows no prices just the kitchen design and can be completed in front of a customer to give them a quick view on their new kitchen.

Chris O’Neill & Janet Caveney

Our work with Ginsters continues, with them securing the main sponsorship with the English Football league to supply their food to around 94 leading clubs. We have started supplying our range of Smeg ovens, Parry pie warmers and various upright freezers. Development work on cook times for the Big Al’s range of frozen prepared meat items, from Kepak, have been completed. These items are popular on pub menus, in takeaways and also served up in bulk quantities at

sports events and stadia. Cooking guides are provided for all foods on the menus for the Maestrowave 1000W microwave, the Sharp 1900W microwave, the Maestrowave Combi Chef 7 and the Smeg ALFA convection ovens. The iWave® system has had an upturn in sales within healthcare and the B&I sector. We’re now partnering with several large vending companies to offer an out-ofhours hot food solution for hospitals and offices.

REGIONAL & SECTOR UPDATE SERVICE & SPARES

Awards finalist!

Ray Copper & Francesca Jeavons

Contact: [email protected] / [email protected]

We are now looking after both Key Accounts and Trade Dealers with our dedicated Customer Service and Service Administration team, continually striving to provide our customers with the best customer service experience. We’ve a closer working relationship with our Service and Spares colleagues and are currently reviewing our processes, in addition to PPM hospital maintenance contracts for 2018.

Service is continuing on from a successful year of PPM. We’re also working on installations with Pret-aManger to kit out new stores, as well as completing monthly oven refurbishments in our workshop, which has been well supported by our spares team. With constant monitoring of suppliers and stock checks we continue to ensure genuine parts are available at all times, on both warranty and nonwarranty basis.

We are very pleased to announce that we are one of five finalists vying to win the Catering Insight Business Development Award In the organisers words, the Award “recognises manufacturers or suppliers that have significantly developed their marketing or sales channels, establishing and progressing strong relationships with dealers, as well as providing added support or market development initiatives”.

Winners will be announced 23rd November – just after we go to press! Follow us on social media for results!

Tried & tested yet?

MARKETING Emma Smith

MARKETING & SYSTEMS MANAGER Contact: [email protected]

The last few months have kept the Marketing team exceptionally busy, particularly with exhibitions galore in September and October! Our first ever stand at The Showman’s Show was a particular highlight, taking Crown Verity Barbecues on tour yet again, with BBQ Ben at the helm as always. The quality and versatility of the system really did heat things up, with interest very high for next season.

It was also great to be able to get to HOST Milan as a visitor, another first for me – and what an immense show, both in size and quality! Looking forward, as we approach quarter 4, planning begins for the new financial year – supplier reviews are just around the corner and we have many new exciting brochures and updates planned for our customers in 2018. Watch this space!

With all our Key Brands under one roof, you can get hands on with the equipment. Open to all our customers and dealers. If you would like to arrange a visit, call 01296 663 400 or email [email protected] to book. We look forward to welcoming you.

SALES

Duncan Vipas

SALES & PURCHASING MANAGER Contact: [email protected]

With challenging market conditions it has been a period to work even harder and closer with our dealer network and find those new opportunities, we have recently attended Cedabond and ENSE Forums to promote our exclusive Key Brands and where margins are squeezed see how we can add that all important added value to their customers. We hope to build on the relationship and growth in 2017 with both groups for next year where we’ll have more activity planned.

Have you visited our Development Kitchen yet? It’s an amazing facility... unique in the industry.

As always we encourage the use of our Food Development Team and facility here to really tie the equipment and food offering, we have had a number of recent dealer visits that have demonstrated the strength of this offering and also the ability to be impartial with the specification of the right solution for them. Finally Christmas is approaching and we are geared up for this busy period, ensuring increased stock levels of all our key lines, all for next day delivery.

Competition time!

We have a luxury Hamper for the first reader pulled from the hat, with delivery for Christmas. To win, simply correctly answer the following: 1. What two new products does Maestrowave have in the pipeline? 2. Which Key Brand did we feature at the Showman’s Show? 3. Name the two new machines the Fabrications Division has just invested in. Email: [email protected] to enter. Closing date: 8th December 2017. Congratulations to our summer Update competition winner: Peter Baren of JLA


NEWSBITES STAFF IN THE SPOTLIGHT

STAFF NEWS

Simon Parry

Children in Need The team will be raising money for this cause on 17th November - check out our social media pages for news of our fun activities and fundraising total.

We recently welcomed Simon Parry to the Area Sales Management team, replacing Nick Sanders, to cover the Midlands and Wales region. Update caught up with him to find out more about his previous positions and what he hopes to bring to his new role. “I’ve worked within commercial catering for many years looking after both commercial catering equipment clients but also hygiene too, with companies like Ecolab and Meiko. Whilst working for Ecolab I looked after several projects which did include spending a month living at holiday parks around the UK – sadly this was in February without the summer sunshine! More recently I spent just over eight years with BBCS Ltd, a Midlands based commercial catering engineering company where, through ENSE, RH Hall had become a big supplier. “I really do enjoy dealing with customer enquiries and providing solutions to customers as reflected in my past roles and since joining RH Hall, I have been immersed in doing just that… in fact, I’ve already helped to design a kitchen using the innovative Simply Stainless online designer tool! I have been out and about too – supporting the

Good Luck

Buying Group, ENSE, with a great networking and showcase event in Manchester and I’m still drying out and warming up following two days at the Showman’s Show in Newbury, demonstrating the Crown Verity BBQ range and the BBQ Station with Ben Bartlett.

“What I have come to appreciate already is the great strength in the service and support from every department in RH Hall, ensuring that the customer is the focus and endeavouring to meet customer expectations, be that a quote, delivery or after sales customer service.

“I’ve also been calling on dealers in my new area and I am hoping to strengthen the great relationships that are in place and not only increase the business but also help to promote the RH Hall Key Brands such as Sharp Commercial Microwaves, Simply Stainless (an absolutely fantastic product), Smeg bake off ovens – which I will be touring across the region alongside Janet Caveney of the Food Solutions Team, and the products that I love the most, which are from the Maestrowave range – some great countertop items that are easy to demonstrate, have great durability within the foodservice environment and offer great value.

“Our Marketing department have worked tirelessly on several promotional flyers as well as supporting Distributor Sales teams targeting the RH Hall best selling lines including the Maestrowave Conveyor Toaster. It’s great to be able to sell the benefits of a product to a dealer or distributor and watch the sales of a brand increase. “I am looking forward to making the new relationships and helping to drive the area’s sales forward and I would like to thank the distributors and dealers within the Midland and Wales for welcoming me to the area and the internal team at RH Hall who really do support the sales process.”

Best wishes to Nick Sanders following his departure to pursue a new business venture.

Apprentice news We have successfully mentored a number of staff through our apprenticeship programmes and are always looking for fresh talent to join the team. If you know of anyone, please get them to contact [email protected].

Congratulations Ray Hall and Jerry Dutton both became grand parents for the first time.

Season to be jolly! The RH Hall staff Christmas Party will be on Friday 15th December.

CHRISTMAS 2017 DELIVERY ARRANGEMENTS We will close on Friday 22nd December and re-open Tuesday 2nd January at 8:30am.

EMERGENCY COVER

Last collection for standard delivery will be 2pm Thursday 21st December for Friday 22nd December.

We will be offering emergency customer service cover over the Christmas period. To book an emergency call, please contact 07971 951590 or email [email protected]

It’s obviously best to plan ahead to avoid any last minute panics, but if the unlikely happens, please liaise with our Sales team for information on premium delivery services and stock availability.

As always, we will be ably supported by our network of RH Hall agents and selected manufacturers who are also covering their own warranties over this period.

Festive best wishes to all of our valued customers and suppliers for a very Merry Christmas!

Important information: Please have your invoice number, date of purchase, make, model and serial number along with details of the fault, the full address and contact numbers of your equipment’s location. This will enable us to place your call with the appropriate service provider and avoid any unnecessary delays.
