There’s a winning tradition at The University of Alabama, and it’s time that attitude extended beyond the playing field. Constructed in 2006, the University’s Lakeside Dining Hall is the largest all-you-can-eat dining hall on campus. With its 20,000 square-foot space, the dining hall’s current layout was not efficient. Food stations were placed in scattered service-style arrangements with staff having to travel all over the dining hall which resulted in slower production rates than the facility would have liked.

One way to improve production and efficiency is to produce larger quantities of food items in less time. For this reason, The University of Alabama turned to Empire Bakery Equipment for equipment that would help them increase productivity while allowing them to use their time more efficiently. With the help of local equipment dealer Dixie Store Fixtures in Tuscaloosa, The University Bakery received all new equipment in order to support other campus venues in addition to Lakeside Dining Hall. The addition of this equipment helps the culinary team produce large quantities of mini muffins, powdered sugar donut bites, coffee cake, cupcakes, brownies and cookies in a short period of time.

“The dollar savings we’re realizing by having large equipment that can make large quantities of dough and divide it quickly is amazing,” says Bruce McVeagh, Resident District Manager for Aramark, Bama Dining. “We wanted this area, and all the concepts, to look like all-inclusive retail concepts.”

The equipment brought in to help make University Bakery more efficient were Empire Bakery Equipment’s Tilt-Over Spiral Arm Mixer, French Bread Moulder, Grid Ready Dough Divider, Table Top Reversible Dough Sheeter and SUPREMA Cookie Depositor.

Empire’s Tilt-Over Spiral Arm Mixer’s large 220 qt. bowl and hydraulic lift system gave University Bakery maximum versatility, higher output and faster mixing time, all while providing reliable and safe operation.

The Empire French Bread Moulder allowed the University to increase its bread efficiency with its ability to produce 1,200 pieces per hour! Its foldaway delivery tray and space-saving design made it a convenient addition to the school’s kitchen.

Empire’s SQ Dough Divider with Interchangeable Grid allows the University Bakery to produce a wide variety of products all on one machine using its extensive selection of interchangeable sturdy steel cutting and shaping grids. With its maximum dough capacity of 44lbs per divide, this divider gave Bama a much needed increase in efficiency and production.

The use of Empire’s Table Top Reversible Dough Sheeter gave Alabama the ultimate multi-tasking tool for its bakery. Large diameter rollers and significant dough capacity provide consistent, high quality production ideal for laminated dough, pie crusts, cookies and everything else the bakery needed.

And last but certainly not least, Empire’s SUPREMA Cookie Depositor’s 200-recipe memory capacity and  capability of producing 180 trays of consistent and high-quality cookies per hour gave the bakery the ability to produce mass amounts of a variety of cookies for its students in shorter periods of time!

“Bruce came to us a while back in need of a divider/rounder and loved our SPA TA Divider/Rounder,” said Steven Egert, Product Specialist at Empire Bakery Equipment. “After having success with our divider/rounder, he came to Empire for more equipment when planning the new renovations to the facilities at Alabama. When it came time to upgrade their facility, Empire was able to offer a variety of high-quality bakery equipment that would help increase productivity and efficiency.