With incorporation of new acquisitions Stellar Steam and Eloma combi ovens now proceeding at full speed, Aga Foodservice Equipment is developing a new strategy that will more fully integrate products across the company's brand line-up to benefit end-users, specifiers and other channel partners.

"Victory Refrigeration, with its broad product line and established reputation, serves as the platform for our U.S. operations and is a key part of Aga Foodservice Group's global strategy," explained Mark Whalen, president of AFE and Victory. "Now that Infinity, Eloma and Stellar are all functioning within our division, our next task is to see how our products can work more effectively together according to our common principals of environmental consciousness, high energy efficiency, technical innovation and reliability."

Whalen added that operators and specifiers are becoming more aware of the program enhancements they can derive by pairing compatible pieces of refrigeration equipment, particularly blast chillers, with various types of cooking equipment. This places AFE in the position of being able to create an assortment of product synergies, both with its existing hot- and cold-side companies and with any future strategic acquisitions. "One natural cooking-chilling partnership we see now is between Victory blast chillers and Eloma's boilerless combi ovens," Whalen related. "We feel that one product helps to create demand for the other and improves our value proposition because we can match operators' program volume with blast chiller models that range from 35 lbs. undercounter units to full-sized roll-ins." Whalen emphasized that equal compatibility exists between Victory blast chillers and Stellar steamers, as the capabilities of cooking and rapidly cooling foods for inventory or gently retherming chilled products without quality degradation are mutually applicable.

"Using hot- and cold-side equipment as part of an integrated production system can help operators improve food safety, extend the shelf-life of cooked foods, reduce waste and shrinkage, and lower labor requirements via batch preparation and less product handling," Whalen pointed out. "Those are just some of the reasons cook-chill programs are gaining as much traction in North America as they've attained in Europe."

Specific markets in which hot and cold equipment tandems are being given the strongest reception include healthcare and education foodservices, hotel restaurants, private catering and banquet halls, country clubs and upscale fine-dining operations where typically high quality controls and labor requirements are encouraging the use of cook-chill systems. To help consultants, dealers and reps teach end-users the correct applications of their hot and cold AFE equipment, Whalen said that the company has begun planning education and training sessions that will be conducted by corporate and consulting chefs.

"We expect to begin offering these new education opportunities early in 2007, at which time we'll have the full lines of Eloma gas and electric boilerless combis available for sale in North America," he noted. "We think that operators' interest in purchasing hot and cold equipment designed specifically to work together from a single manufacturer is a long-term trend. If so, it will lead to a win-win situation for companies such as ours, our channel partners, customers and the environment. Down the road," he concluded, "we also expect this trend to drive our acquisition strategy and help us build our portfolio of innovative, technologically advanced equipment manufacturers."