Company Announcement - Restaurants, banquet halls, dining facilities and other food service businesses are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs without compromising on food quality. With the spiralling cost of food, continuous fuel price increases and annual staff salary bill growth they are forced to find creative ways to contain expenses. Keeping food fresh and free from contaminants is a constant challenge. Airborne pollutants as well as germs transferred from door handles during opening and closing operations can play havoc with ensuring a clean and hygienic environment. Added to the problem is the aggravation of maintaining a food-friendly temperature inside food preparation areas.

Wim Dessing, managing director of Apex Strip Curtains & Doors, says that the solution to cost containment and fresh dishes is an affordable and reliable Apex SCP Traffic Door. The double action door opens with a gentle pressure then slowly returns to the closed position, ensuring a hygienic and safe entry and exit for users.

In addition, the perimeter gaskets and an insulated panel on these doors allow them to be used where a temperature differential must be maintained between two areas. The design of the Apex Traffic Door furthermore helps to control air, moisture, as well as dust and dirt particulate movement from other areas. “This is particularly important to businesses where sensitive food items such as chicken, meat, fish and dairy products depend on a cooler ambient temperature to prevent the introduction of pathogens and bacteria,” Dessing points out.

While electrically, hydraulically or pneumatically operated doors are often beyond the budget of the food preparation industry, the Apex SCP impact traffic door provides an extremely cost effective and efficient alternative.

Further cost savings are introduced with the physical construction of the doors. The material used is selected to withstand knocks, bumps and scrapes and the hidden hinge system is engineered to provide smooth operation over many years of service. The hinge system allows the doors to swing in both an inwards and outwards motion, allowing for safe and easy passage for pedestrian traffic. The mounting system used on the Apex SCP Traffic Doors is designed to strengthen the door jamb and is offered in a range of attractive materials and décor options.

“Our team works closely with customers to devise a solution that works well for their specific application. We consider factors such as the location of the food preparation area and areas opening onto it. The volume of pedestrian and other traffic such as food trolleys is also accounted for and the visibility of the doorway from front end operations is factored in to ensure complementary aesthetics. The result is a double action impact traffic door that provides a superb return on investment,” Dessing concludes.