Two Fully-Electric Kitchens Installed at Conrad London St. James

Two new fully-electric kitchens were designed and delivered for Conrad London St James’ award-winning restaurants: The Pem, and The Blue Boar, courtesy of Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment and Gratte Brothers Building Services Maintenance.

 

 

Yesterday, Conrad London St. James’s award-winning restaurant, The Pem, reopened its doors following a summer recess to install a brand-new kitchen, complete with upgraded equipment. Promising to be Consultant Chef Sally Abé’s ‘most extraordinary menu yet’, the design and delivery of the updated facilities were courtesy of Gratte Brothers Catering Equipment Ltd (GBCEL).Gratte Brothers started working with Sally Abé and Michael Riordan, Executive Chef at The Conrad and The Blue Boar, which also operates out of the luxury hotel late last year. Key for Gratte Brothers’s approach on this project as with any undertaken was understanding the client’s priorities from the offset and then delivering a solution which matched the high level of quality expected from the hotel’s guests.

GBCEL’s Managing Director, Mark Kendall commented “We started with a full asset register followed by hours of observation, watching how both The Blue Boar and The Pem operated from preparation to delivery of their dishes. This allowed us to gain a 360-degree view of their operations and ultimately deliver on all of their requirements.”

It was then down to Gratte Brothers’ in-house design team to bring the project to life, which interestingly and crucially meant splitting what was originally one kitchen covering both The Blue Boar and The Pem’s operations into two distinct areas. With The Pem offering ‘exceptional dishes inspired by nostalgic flavours and historic British cuisine’ and the Blue Boar offering ‘a comfortable and relaxed modern take on the classic London pub’, each kitchen was designed to match the individual cooking style of the restaurant it serves. As a result, both teams are delighted with what is now ‘a more spacious and cooler environment’ and ultimately ‘allows for greater efficiency and room for creativity!’

Premium cooking equipment manufacturer MKN was selected as the dominant supplier for the project, with Kendall commenting: “We chose MKN because we were looking for a one-stop shop for high quality vertical and horizontal cooking equipment, as well as bespoke fabrication. We flew out to Germany in January 2023 and it was very clear to see the innovation and quality involved in MKN’s products, both for us and the team at The Conrad.”

Waste management and sustainability were also fundamental pillars of this project. A fully electric kitchen was chosen in favour of gas and the team worked with circular economy specialists to repurpose all of the original equipment, As part of Gratte Brothers Group, the team was also able to call upon its sister company, Gratte Brothers Building Services Maintenance Limited to deliver the full electrical upgrade so that all works on site for the client could be completed through one order within a 12-week programme.