Fun and fabulous fish and chips from Drayton Manor Park and Hewigo
Drayton Manor Park is one of Britain’s most popular visitor attractions welcoming over 1.5 million guests annually and voted the UK’s best children’s attraction in three of the last five years.
An essential ingredient to keep visitors coming back for more is the abundance of excellent catering outlets; 22 in total, offering great variety from doughnut bars to full menu restaurants. The fish and chip operation was recently moved to a more prominent position and expanded. At the heart of this new development is a 6-pan Hewigo High Efficiency Island range.
The man behind the move, Drayton Manor Park’s Development Chef Kevin Price, explains, “We could see even greater potential for fish and chips so this was an important move for us. State-of-the-art equipment was needed, that was easy to operate, reliable and had the speed and versatility to cope with high levels of demand. Other options were considered but the Hewigo range was a clear winner with its excellent value of money, the amount of support including training on the job and its factory in the West Midlands as we always support local suppliers when we can.”
The range boasts computerised controls, two automatic twin-pipe filtration systems, a full length display cabinet with high light/low heat jacketed lamps and finished with curved stainless steel panels with LED lighting. For most of the time two people are required on frying and four on serving and tills to cope with visitors’ appetite for over 500 portions per day, which is increasing all the time.
Kevin Price adds, “Now it is situated at a main entrance/exit. So as well as its popularity during the day we are also picking up custom from guests leaving the park who think they might as well have fish and chips to eat now rather than having to prepare something at home.”
Phillip Purkiss, General Manager of Hewigo UK comments, “We are exceptionally pleased to be chosen by such a prominent and popular leisure venue. Any catering outlet at Drayton has to really earn its keep. With the right equipment, delivering fast excellent food, fish and chips will always hold its own against any of the alternatives.”