Beach Hotel Glucksburg

As an icon of German Spa culture, the Beach Hotel Glucksburg offers luxurious accommodation and home comforts combined with award-winning fine dining to attract guests all year round.

THE BRIEF – TECHNICAL ART
The superior four star “White Castle by the Sea” provides guests with a unique, sophisticated experience on the beautiful Baltic coast. Its food offer, which continually changes with the seasons and new chef innovations includes, Hotel Restaurant Felix, the beach terrace – Bistro Sandwig, the beer garden and the Ballroom, which caters for culinary events. Exquisite cooking combined with seasonal menus and a la carte dishes with regional North German and international ingredients has earned the hotel a host of accolades including 14 points in the gourmet guide Gault Millau and three diamonds in the Varta guide.

Reliable equipment that speeds up the cooking process and enhances the workflow in the kitchen plays a vital role in the delivery of the hotel’s guest experience. Andre Schneider, head chef of the 18-man kitchen crew explains: “We cannot cook creatively without well-fitting and practical cooking technology.  Of course, as chefs, we tend to see ourselves as artists in the kitchen but without the right technical support, we can’t be as creative as we like to be.” 
When the hotel’s gas cooker needed replacing after 15 years of service, an efficient horizontal cooking platform was required to enable both the chef team and the hotel to create its acclaimed food.

THE PROJECT –  FIRST CLASS SERVICE  
State-of-the-art equipment was needed for the hotel restaurant Felix to fulfil the diverse, all year round workload at the hotel. With minimal space for the cooking block, preliminary talks with specialist retailer Winkler and Krefft – the exclusive dealer of Mareno brand in Germany –  were all about organising and developing the cooking area to maximise efficiencies.
The Mareno block was selected for its finish, quality and design as well as the support of a specialist dealer that could offer the hotel all the help and advice they needed.
One of the biggest impacts the equipment has had on the day-to-day operation is the switch from gas to induction cooking, which was a change specified by Head chef Andrew Schneider.  He explains: “Cooking takes almost no time at all now.  Heating up liquids in large pots to boiling point only takes 20 minutes.  We have so much time, it’s unbelievable and the temperature in the kitchen is cooler, which makes for a better working environment.”

Whilst maintaining the same footprint, both the cooker surface and the assembly of equipment have been altered in the new arrangement.  The previous electric oven has been replaced with a reheating and holding device from Lainox which has been integrated into the cooking block.  This solution enables rest periods for fish, meat and other produce and decreases the amount of time for regenerating and serving of dishes.
At chef’s request, the block has been furnished with hygienic H2 base units equipped with doors. The smooth surfaces and rounded corners allow for easy cleaning, reducing cleaning time by 50%. 

The switchover from gas to induction was a big step in terms of installation. Due to a number of events scheduled at the hotel, the entire dismantling, installation, wiring, tiling and fitting had to be completed in just five days. This was made possible by Lars Winkler who co-ordinated operations with all the specialist companies involved.
The new equipment has had a significant impact on the kitchen and has led the head chef to review workflow and procedures within the team to achieve even better results.

THE RESULTS – IMPROVED CREATIVITY
HEAD CHEF SAYS:
“We can work much faster and with better concentration thanks to the lower temperature in the kitchen.  The new cooker has really made our lives much easier.”