Foodservice on Ice

With freshness a menu watchword, ice takes on an even more important role

By Scott Hume, Executive Managing Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 4/15/2004

When you take fresh fish as seriously as does Shaw's Crab House, ice is no afterthought. It's crucial to continued success.

Last month, the Chicago restaurant—one of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises' many operations in the city—promoted Alaskan halibut as a special, meaning whole (headed and gutted) 20- to 30-pound fish arrived daily. having inadequate supplies of ice on which to keep the halibut properly chilled until Executive Chef Will Eudy and his kitchen staff were ready to grill was not an option. And having only one icemaker doesn't meet Shaw's needs.

"They're always running so they're always ready," Mark Palicki, divisional seafood buyer for the 680-seat restaurant, says of its two ice chippers, each capable of producing 2,800 pounds of pieces chipped from ice blocks daily. The equipment is located in an "ice room" (near the receiving dock) where fish are prepped and held.

Chipped ice is the choice for chilling fresh fish because it melts more quickly than cubes, and Shaw's doesn't want the fish to freeze. To further lessen the opportunity for damage to fish flesh, bellies are lined with cloth as a barrier before ice is packed in.

The chipped ice also is used in Shaw's main dining room and its Blue Crab Lounge as beds on which oysters and other menu items are displayed and served. Palicki says the restaurant may add another icemaker, just for oysters, that produces clearer ice shards, which make a better presentation.

For chilling beverages and kitchen prep tasks (such as rapidly cooling heated foods), longer-lasting cubes are preferable, and Shaw's 3,000-pound-output cuber also runs constantly. "It's more than we need," says Palicki, "but we can't come up short. With the amount of fish and other products we're bringing in each day, you can't send someone out for a couple hundred pounds of ice."

Because the icemakers are so large and so indispensable, Shaw's rents them, so most maintenance—including thorough cleaning and machinery adjustments every three months—is handled by an outside vendor. But restaurant staff oversees daily cleaning of exposed parts and inspections of water-filtration systems.

Ice Essentials
Most operations may not need three types of ice or daily output measured in tons, but ice is a nearly universal service element for foodservice. The tenets that guide Shaw's approach to ice apply to all foodservice operations: Know the kind of ice needed; know how much is needed; position icemakers where they most will be needed; keep equipment sanitary and regularly maintained.

Fresh-seafood menus or buffet service obviously have an impact on how much ice an operation may need, but Harry Stern, president of Chicago-based foodservice-equipment consultants Stern Associates Ltd., offers these benchmarks: For quick-service restaurants, figure on daily need of 0.9 pound per customer; full-service restaurants should figure on 1.7 pounds per customer; bars and lounges will need output of 3 pounds per customer.

Icemakers producing cubes are most common, although tube-shape or "cubelet" dispensers and chipper/flakers also are available. Stern notes that flaked ice often is preferred in school and healthcare operations because the smaller pieces eliminate risk of choking. Chips or flakes also cool beverages more quickly because they are smaller and melt quickly.

Because water can be a breeding ground for bacteria and because health departments consider ice a food, regular maintenance and sanitizing are musts for whatever ice-making equipment is purchased or leased.