Scenario summary
You operate a restaurant-group central kitchen feeding 30–80 downstream outlets. Daily production: 8,000–20,000 meal-equivalent units. Mixed container fleet: GN1/1, GN1/2, GN1/3 hotel pans, Cambro storage tubs, 18×26 inch sheet pans for bakery items, 45L dough bins for fresh-bread programs. Peak return window: 14:00–18:00 daily, all containers back at once.
The cleaning challenge
Variety of containers and soils in a compressed time window. The wash bay must process protein-soiled GN pans (denatured cooked meat, sticky sauce), starch-soiled trays (rice, pasta, potato), dough-coated tubs, and oxidative-color-stained containers (tomato, turmeric) within the same shift, without cross-contamination, with documented allergen reset between production runs.
Recommended PTW-1900 setup
Chamber: Standard 750 × 1000 × 1900 mm.
Heating: Electric 70 kW (new-build commissaries typically lack steam infrastructure).
PLC profiles:
- Standard 6-min — daily mixed-soil
- Heavy 9-min — heavy protein / sticky sauce
- Allergen Reset 8-min — sanitization-only between allergen-class production runs
- Acid Cycle 12-min — monthly mineral scale removal
Detergent: Dual chemical dispensing — alkaline detergent (pH 11.5) for wash, food-grade acid rinse (peroxyacetic) for color-stain rinse.
Throughput: 4–6 trolleys per hour × 8 active hours = 32–48 trolleys per day, covering 1,500–2,500 containers daily. One PTW-1900 sufficient for commissaries up to 60 outlets; larger commissaries deploy 2 machines in parallel.
Accessories: Multi-profile PLC, filtered recirculation, USB log export, optional barcode reader for trolley ID traceability.
Expected ROI
- Labour savings: replaces 4 wash workers across two shifts → ~$120,000 annual saving
- Electricity: ~$4,800/year
- Net annual savings: ~$110,000
- Machine cost: ~$52,000
- Payback: ~6 months
Central kitchen FAQ
Q: Can the same machine handle 45L dough bins and small GN1/3 pans in the same cycle? A: Yes. Dough bins load on the bottom tier (inverted), small GN1/3 pans on upper tiers. The 360° rotating chamber reaches both.
Q: How is allergen reset documented for our SQF audit? A: Run the stored Allergen Reset PLC profile. The CSV cycle log shows: timestamp, profile = Allergen Reset, temperature 82°C, duration 8 min, no detergent dose. This becomes the SQF allergen-reset evidence.
Q: Can two PTW-1900s share a single booster tank for parallel installation? A: Yes — V-TAI offers a shared booster configuration that cuts incremental cost on the second machine by ~15%.