As more and more restaurants are seeing the need for gluten-free dishes on their menus, it’s not just about the flours they use but also the equipment.
According to Glenn Coutts, “In order to truly market Gluten-Free dishes, the items need to be prepared using the proper equipment to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen.”
The vice president of sales at Allied Metal Spinning Corp. says that, to meet this requirement, the company now offers new deep-dish pans, Sicilian Pans, disc, screens, peels and trays, and has expanded its line into cookware for preparing Latino and Asian dishes. This includes hard-to-find accessories, such as cazuela bowls, 21 different sizes of carbon steel paella pans and steel woks made in its factory.
Allied will showcase many of these products at the North American Food Equipment Manufacturers Show in Anaheim in February.
“The fact that we manufacture products in our Bronx, N.Y., factory lends itself to shorter lead times, greater quality control and the opportunity to custom-manufacture aluminum and steel products to our customers’ specifications,” says Coutts. “We work closely with our customers R&D and operations team — from concept to testing to rollout – to make sure that the finished product exceeds our customers’ expectations.”
Coutts attributes a lot of the company’s success to Arlene Saunders, Allied’s CEO. “She has a deep knowledge and passion for this industry. Since we are a ‘factory,’ her understanding of the manufacturing process gives her insight that minimizes repeated sampling and allows our customers to implement new menu items faster,” he says. “If re-tooling or minor tweaks are needed, we do it in our factory, not 8,000 miles away. Shorter lead times, quick turn-around and USA-made quality are why chains continue to turn to Allied. We appreciate their support and work hard to earn their trust every day,” he adds.
Sustainability is not just a concept but one solution the company uses when dealing with limited resources. “Consumers understand that buying and using ‘local’ products and services results in higher quality and is better for the environment. The foodservice industry knows this and caters to customers’ wants,” he says. “This happens in both front-of-the-house as well as in the kitchen. Allied offers solutions using high- quality materials that make our products last longer, resulting in lower replacement cost. Since we manufacture domestically, there are no additional resources needed to be imported from far away. Front-of-the-house solutions include metal serving dishes and trays rather than porcelain, plastic or paper products, materials that are recyclable.”
For more information, go to http://www.alliedmetalusa.comhttp://www.alliedmetalusa.com/
