Santa Monica, Brisbane

SKOPE Refrigeration Hailed as Bulletproof

Santa Monica Group are no strangers to premium contemporary dining. With five successful waterfront dining destinations already under the belt of Giuseppe Petroccitto and his family, it was time to conquer the city. 

Located on Ann Street in the heart of Brisbane CBD are the Petroccitto family’s three latest concepts – Espresso Emporium, Metropole Bar and Eatery and Santa Monica Pizza and Burger Bar. Together they cater for everything from your morning coffee hit, lunch or dinner on the go, through to relaxed evening dining.

For such a large scale project and a diverse trio of fit outs, Santa Monica Group tapped into the combined experience of Australia’s leading supplier of commercial kitchen equipment, Reward Hospitality, and the highly skilled and exceptional workmanship of builders at SPN Projects. Equipment and Project Manager, Nathan Young, from Reward Hospitality and Sam Ibrahim, Director of SPN Projects worked very closely with Giuseppe Petroccitto and together with SKOPE Refrigeration they were instrumental in the success of this project.

Across the three fit outs a total of 16 fridges were required for both food service and bar display. With SKOPE’s wide range of quality, high performing products it was the only choice for Ibrahim and Young. Santa Monica Group’s brief required the refrigeration solution to be from a reputable brand, reliable and well supported and SKOPE fit the bill on all accounts.

Santa Monica Group were confident SKOPE would provide the highest level of customer service support and superior warranty protection. "We always knew that all three establishments were going to be busy and the refrigeration solution needed to be able to keep up with the fast pace," says Ibrahim

"What Santa Monica Group really needed was bullet proof refrigeration."

SKOPE’s Pegasus range of premium underbench food storage fridges were chosen because they are built to last. Their heavy-duty construction and gastronorm design makes them ideal for meeting the demands of a busy commercial kitchen. The convenience of a Pegasus gastronorm fridge improves kitchen flow and maximises valuable fridge space.

Designed to be highly efficient and reliable, Pegasus underbench fridges will continue to be food safe, even in high ambient temperatures. At the heart of food safety is tight temperature control. All SKOPE fridges maintain a stable temperature which reduces temperature fluctuations inside the fridge. Chilled air is pushed directly onto the product keeping it cool when the fridge door is opened. This prevents the spread of bacteria, oxidation and evaporation and keeps food safe.

But not all fridges are created equal when it comes to food safety. For example, it would be natural to see a rise in temperature when the fridge door is opened because warm air from outside will begin spilling into the fridge. However, some cheaper imported fridges don’t display this. This is probably down to the placement of the temperature probes and where the temperature is being logged from inside the fridge. If the sensor or probe is placed where the cold air is spilling out, rather than where the returned air is circulating inside the fridge, you will see a decrease on the temperature display when the door is opened.

For the display to show a decrease in temperature when the fridge door is opened is not only impossible, it is misleading and dangerous. Customers can easily be fooled into believing their fridge is working because the temperature reading on the controller is moving up and down, yet it’s impossible to know actual temperature of the food inside and whether it’s still food safe.

The last thing Management wanted was to lose beverage sales because customers couldn’t see what drinks were on offer. By providing tropical glass doors, SKOPE ensures condensation protection and efficiency regardless of high ambient temperatures. SKOPE tropical doors have a heated film on the front of the glass panel so the door remains clear of condensation and beverage sales can be maximised.

To complement the high end finish of all three establishments Santa Monica Group also needed their bar display fridges to be stylish as well as functional. SKOPE are experts at combining form with function and their attractive range of Backbar display fridges were the perfect solution for front of house at Metropole and Santa Monica. SKOPE’s range of Backbar fridges are designed with a unique airflow system for a quick temperature pull down. Beverages are chilled to below 5°C quickly and evenly throughout the fridge and kept icy cold. This is ideal for busy establishments like Metropole and Santa Monica because when it gets busy they can get the drinks out faster.