The additional costs and eventual lack of quality due to staff problems at week-ends and during holiday periods cause many kitchen managers a headache. The solution is the COOK & CHILL & VARIOVAC concept - the logical extension to the well-known COOK & CHILL system.

Menu components (soups, sauces, pasta, meat- and fish dishes, desserts etc.) are cooked in the usual fashion. The fresh hot dishes (up to 95° C) are then packed by means of a specific steam flash into heat-resistant film, followed by a shock chilling process from filling high temperature down to a core temperature of 7 - 10°C. By this method the most natural and hygienic preservation is reached, without loss of humidity or aroma and without any optical mutations or ugly dried out rims.
The cooled "VARIOVAC fresh packs" can be stored freshly in normal cool storage (0 - 3°C) during a period of 14 to 18 days. The sizes of those "VARIOVAC fresh packs" correspond to international gastronome-sizes (1/2 GastroNorm - max 4 kgs, 1/4 GastroNorm - max 1,5 kgs).

Besides the above described method of packaging with steam flush the VARIOVAC packaging machine is able to produce normal vacuum packages or packages with a gas flush, depending on the required process in every single kitchen.

At the time the menus are to be served, the closed "VARIOVAC fresh packs" are smoothly regenerated. That means that portioning and serving is completely independent of the cooking process and can therefore be performed more precisely and without any time pressure, because good planning will always guarantee that sufficient components are available for the menus to be served.

The kitchen manager doesn't need to worry anymore. The advantages of this concept are obvious:
Due to the splitting of the cooking and serving processes, the pre-cooking can be done at more suitable times. This means no more bottlenecks at weekends or during the particularly problematic holiday periods. You can also enlarge your profit by taking advantage of special market offers and seasonal price offers for your raw material.

Of course, the above advantages are also applicable for dietary dishes, which will - as usual - be prepared with the basic ingredients according to specific diet. Those cooked dishes are hot packed with VARIOVAC as single portions, quickly cooled down and cooled stored. Specially needed care for the diet menues is guaranteed by smooth pre-cooking, because the time-consuming preparing of single portions is history now ! The one-portion "VARIOVAC fresh-packs" are smoothly regenerated whenever they are needed.

With this pre-production concept you are gaining the chance to deliver your "VARIOVAC fresh-pack" - production to additional customers, e.g. canteens or restaurants. You can organise your kitchen more economically with the "VARIOVAC fresh-pack" system, using your existing cooking facilities. It allows you to offer constant or even better quality at lower costs.

Let us know what your requirements are and we can help you to reach this target. We can demonstrate customers' applications that are working successfully with this concept.