Barchester Healthcare is one of the UK's leading care providers, operating more than 220 care homes across the country. At Farley Gardens in Bracknell, a purpose-built care home providing residential, dementia and short stay care, Rational iCombi Pro combi ovens and iVario cooking systems are helping the kitchen team deliver high-quality meals while meeting a wide range of dietary and nutritional needs.
For care home residents, mealtimes are an important part of daily life and wellbeing. Creating enjoyable dining experiences while catering for individual preferences and modified diets requires both skilled staff and reliable equipment. According to Mervyn Knights, Hospitality Commissioning and Academy Manager at Barchester Healthcare, "The dining experience is very important for us as a part of our offering." He adds: "we want to make sure that the food is homemade and it's always the best quality we provide for our residents."
At Farley Gardens, the catering team prepares breakfast, three course lunches, afternoon tea and three course evening meals, with snacks and refreshments available throughout the day. The kitchen must also cater for a variety of tastes and dietary requirements. As Peter Nash, Head Chef at Farley Gardens, explains: "Everyone's tastes are different. Everyone's diets can be different."
Providing nutritious meals is a key priority across the organisation. Szymon Siewniak, Senior Head Chef at Barchester Healthcare, says: "In Barchester we need to provide nutritional meals. The biggest challenges in care sector we face is the modified diets."
To support chefs in meeting these demands, Barchester Healthcare has equipped its kitchens with Rational cooking technology. According to Mervyn Knights, "To get good quality food, you need to have good equipment and ensuring that the chef is well equipped." He adds: "Rational equipment is some of the best equipment I've worked with."
At Farley Gardens, the kitchen operates with an iVario technologically advanced bratt pan and two iCombi Pro combi-ovens. According to Peter Nash, the equipment has significantly improved efficiency and flexibility. "The iVario gives you the ability to do multiple dishes where you've got the two pans. you can boil your pasta in one side and make the sauce in the other side, and then they can both be ready together." He adds: "So within 15 minutes you can go from your raw ingredients to having a completed dish, which really helps the speed of cooking and the service time."
The kitchen team has also seen improvements in cooking consistency and food quality. Szymon Siewniak explains: "Back in the day, with our gas oven, one side was burnt and one side was uncooked. With Rational, we have that consistency across everything we make"
For staff, the benefits extend beyond food production. Peter Nash comments: "They've cut down the time for preparation and cooking, probably by about 30%." He adds: "It makes your day-to-day work a lot easier and a lot faster. The end result is a lot better as well"
The technology is also helping teams deliver a consistently high standard of dining across care homes. Mervyn Knights explains: "the consistency has been phenomenal we're able to deliver good quality dining experience to our residents. across our sites."
Resident feedback reflects the impact of this approach. According to Simona Cioinac, Senior General Manager at Farley Gardens, "I'm very proud the feedback about our food is very positive."
Looking ahead, maintaining these standards remains a key focus. As Simona Cioinac explains, "The hope and ambition from the future of Farley Gardens is to maintain the high-quality care and a fantastic dining experience."
Experience the iCombi and iVario cooking systems live at a free product demo near you:
https://www.rational-online.com/en_gb/see-for-yourself/rational-live-events/ 
