Seafood Nation, located in Hillarys and Mandurah in Perth, opened in 2018. The two restaurants have amazing views overlooking their marinas. They focus on fresh, mouth-watering seafood in a casual, pub style atmosphere. Diners enjoy classic fish and chips through to their popular chilli mud crab, blue swimmer crab and BBQ king prawns.
David Walters is the General Manager of the Strzelecki Group, which includes Seafood Nation at Hillarys in Perth. Hillarys seats 550 people on a busy day and is a casual pub style operation, with customers ordering at the bar. Seafood Nation caters for families and has 200 staff across all venues, with eight chefs and 20 front of staff at Hillarys.
Seafood Nation’s biggest challenge was serving food quickly in such a large venue.
“Customers order, and they expect it out in a certain amount of time. That’s our biggest challenge,” says David.
They asked Comcater for the latest equipment to cook food quickly while streamlining their processes.
“Having the equipment that we’ve got now, and our chefs able to use it correctly has reduced our wait times massively.”
Seafood Nation decided to invest in the RATIONAL combi ovens to keep up with the fast paced service expected from their customers.
“We average 15 minute wait times for a 550 seat venue. That’s amazing.”
Comcater advised Seafood Nation on the best set-up for the size of their kitchen and service. They looked at the kitchen flow, so cooking and cleaning were efficient, minimising time wastage. Comcater also trained the staff in using the equipment at the venue with the meals they were serving.
Now, Seafood Nation uses six RATIONAL combi ovens to cook their meals timed to perfection. Red meats are vacuum packed using the Pure Vac system and placed in the RATIONAL combi oven at 52 degrees.
“They come out medium rare, and we flash them on the chargrill. They are the tenderest pieces of steak you’ve ever come across,” says David
“We’ve tried every other way of doing steak, and this by far has been the best way.”
The same oven can be used to steam mussels and cook pizza. The combi oven can be pre-programed, taking the guesswork out of wait time.
“We can hold mussels in these on 100 per cent steam for a good two hours. They come out perfect, nice and plump.”
The one piece of equipment that saved Seafood Nation the most money and time was their Comenda dishwasher.
“If we didn’t have that dishwasher, we’d have to have three people washing dishes for 12 hours a day.”
“So now I have one person who comes in and does dishes for 5 hours a day, saving thousands of man-hours and thousands of dollars. Just from that one piece of equipment.”
Another underrated piece of equipment that streamlined Seafood Nation’s commercial kitchen operation was the Antunes bun toaster. Before they invested in the toaster, garlic bread and hamburger buns were individually grilled. One person was stationed solely for that one task. Bread was burnt or served cold due to inefficient practice. The Antunes bun toaster gave them perfectly toasted bread in 22 seconds, every time.
“We have the garlic bread prepared and slide it straight through. Same with the burger buns. It just improves the speed of service. Not having to place a piece of garlic bread on the chargrill makes a massive difference.”
An inefficient kitchen during peak periods can result in wasted food, labour and time. If meals are served cold or wait times are too long, overall, it can affect your venue’s reputation. Investing in the right equipment can save you money in the long run. Ask Comcater about the right equipment for your commercial kitchen.