What’s Old Is New Again
Talk about traffic cleanup — the massive dishroom at the legendary Hotel Hershey in its namesake Pennsylvania town underwent a major redesign to improve dish flow and support the 230-room operation.
By Lisa White, Contributing Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
At first glance, one might compare The Hotel Hershey's new dishroom to a Los Angeles freeway. Both are notorious for the high volumes they process each day and each seems to wind through its own space. But that's where the similarities end as the Hershey, Pa., hotel's dishroom has become a model of efficiency in more ways than one, using separate conveyors to smoothly transport as many as 11,000 plates and accompanying glassware per hour to their respective warewashing machines. In contrast, the Los Angeles freeways remain known for their traffic congestion.
The development of this design and the dishroom at the 100- year-old upscale hotel was nothing short of incredible, according to Rick Snyder, account representative for Singer Equipment Co., Elverson, Pa.
Located in the hotel's central kitchen, the dishroom serves four restaurants that average 700 to 800 covers per day. The project was about five years in the making.
"We needed to replace an old flight machine that was rebuilt four or five years ago," says Mark Perrin, the hotel's director of engineering. "It was basically getting us through until we had the capital to replace the entire dishmachine area."
Michael Stempkowski, vice president of Philadelphia-based NEMA Associates, an independent manufacturers' representative, along with the design team and engineers from one of the lines he reps, worked closely with Perrin and key hotel personnel to develop the unique setup. From its inception to installation, the project took five months.
The goal of hotel management was a high-volume, easy-to-clean dishroom with easily maintained equipment that offers better water and energy efficiencies. The need to improve employee morale and working conditions also played a role in developing this project.
Those involved in the renovation say anything would have been an improvement over the old system and setup. "Basically, the hotel had old, outdated and leaking equipment that needed a lot of heavy maintenance," Stempkowski says.
For example, pipes that ran along the floor made cleanup a challenge for employees. And the system's layout made it increasingly difficult to keep dishware and glassware separated. With the old layout, the glassware was on a path parallel to the flight dishmachine. The system required manual loading with a hip switch. Staff directed dishes to the left and glassware to the right, with no consistency or continuity of flow. According to Stempkowski, this created a constant logjam.
"In an upscale hotel, one of the benchmarks is not to mix glassware with dishware that has come in contact with meat solids. It is impossible to get the desired cleaning results if the two are mixed," Stempkowski says.
The Challenges
Although the team spent a lot of time configuring the plans to make it work to the historic hotel's confines, there were a host of challenges to overcome. For example, the size of the space represented a big factor. "At first we thought more room would be necessary, but we were able to work with the space," Stempkowski says.
Because the kitchen and dishroom reside in the building's basement, the design team had to work with a dumbwaiter that transported dishware to the ballroom two levels up.
There also were drain and drainage issues to contend with due to old plumbing. "We tore out all of the old equipment and replaced all of the cast-iron piping with insulated Schedule 80 piping," Perrin says.
In addition, new venting and steam systems were installed, along with a new flight machine and a dedicated glassware washer. New drains, a grease trap and pulper also were added. "We adapted the take-off belt system to a new conveyor system," Perrin says.
There were other issues that popped up during the renovation. "For instance, when we put in a new grease trap, we discovered that it was bigger than the old one, so we had to drop it in further. When we did this, it didn't line up with the old trap outlet, so we had to tap into another outlet," Perrin says. "Also, the steam line wasn't draining properly or providing the necessary steam and hot water. We worked with the contractors to re-engineer this system and now it works well."
With the entire dishroom being demolished and renovated, a temporary area for warewashing was set up in the main kitchen. "This was a challenge, because we did without a large-capacity machine for five weeks," says Steven Turchin, the hotel's executive steward. "Even though this was being done in January and business was slower, we still had to kick items out with the same efficiency and speed. We couldn't compromise on the cleanliness."
There was a great deal of coordination in making employees and guests aware of when there would be excess noise or water would be temporarily shut down. "People worked at night or in split shifts to minimize the inconveniences for others," Perrin says.
The Results
Despite the difficulties along the way, the team achieved the sought-after results.
Now, the glassware conveyor sits up-top, and the dishware conveyor below. The upper conveyor transports glassware using motorized rollers until it is about two-thirds of the way around and then a gravity feed kicks in for the rest of the way. The lower-level dishware conveyor is belt-fed and has a controllable speed feature.
With the new conveyor design, staff take dishes off the dumbwaiter and pass them right into the scrap area. In this area, staff prewash, sort and pass along wares for washing and drying.
The new dishroom also includes a self-loading, dedicated glasswashing system, in addition to a break-down area with an upracking section. According to Stempkowski, staff place all glassware on a slanted cantilevered overshelf. "The cantilever area is hinged, so when the shelf is full, employees simply lift the shelf edge and slide the glassware onto the conveyor. From here, the load is fed automatically into the glass-washing area," he says.
Turchin describes the setup as a "military style," with three employees sliding trays onto a main work conveyor. "We have more workstations than before, and glassware and dishware are kept separate. We can kick out 19,000 plates an hour, but it typically averages 11,000 plates," he says.
An interesting aspect of this setup, the automatic electric eyes sense the presence of dishware and automatically dispense water to hose off dishes.
The Benefits
With its state-of-the-art technology, The Hotel Hershey dishroom has more than doubled its capacity to process and clean wares, Turchin says. "It doesn't require as much manpower and we are enjoying tremendous energy savings. We're also not using as much water or chemicals as before," he says.
In fact, the new machines use half the water of the old unit, even with the additional dishmachine, Stempkowski says. "I was told the warewashing time was cut in half, taking just an hour and 45 minutes as opposed to three hours or more." He adds that as far as separating the dishware and glassware, systems seldom get as dedicated as this.
Employee morale also received a boost as a result of the new dishroom operations. "We told employees from the beginning that a lot of the changes we were making would make their job easier. They bought into the program, despite a little bit of a learning curve after the renovation was completed," Stempkowski says. "We were there to explain the new equipment and process. Now, employees can have both hands free to do their job, which helps a lot."
Turchin echoes this statement, saying that the reliability of the new system sets the tone for the staff manning this area. "The old machine broke down a lot. This new dishroom has set the pace for happier employees because now they have the tools to do the job as they're expected to do it," he says.
This project also allows the hotel to make more efficient use of its labor. While the previous setup required four or five employees for warewashing, the new system requires only three. "This means I can devote more employees to other cleaning assignments," Turchin says.
The new flow is more economical and ergonomical, Perrin says, because there is minimal transporting of glasses and dishware. "And just from the standpoint of insulated pipes and the upgraded machines, we have saved between 2 percent and 3 percent on our water, sewage and electrical bills," he says.
When all was said and done, Snyder says the total equipment package totaled $300,000 and construction costs were about $500,000. The dishwasher, conveyor dishwasher and waste handling system came in at $146,000, with the slat-belt tray return conveyor system costing $120,000. There also was additional fabrication and installation work, in addition to mechanicals, costing $30,000.
Looking back at this project as a whole, Snyder admits this was one of the more challenging dishrooms he's been involved with. "We went from an area that was old and disorganized to one that is extremely organized and very efficient," he says.
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