Situated just outside of Taunton, in the village of Monkton Heathfield, The Merry Monk is a local and beloved public house. The family-run establishment has a long-standing reputation for delicious foods, good company and an award-winning garden that will have the children playing for hours to come. Over the years they have also become well-known for their delicious carvery, allowing diners to sample locally sourced meats with freshly prepared vegetables and decadent desserts. And, their private function room seating 30 has been used for everything from birthday celebrations through to wedding receptions alike.

The Client and The Project

The team at The Merry Monk had worked hard over the years to drum up repeat custom and much-celebrated and dedicated customers. What they then needed,, in a bid to expand and continue meeting the needs of their diners, was a modernised commercial kitchen design with state-of-the-art professional kitchen equipment. The new space needs to accommodate their requirements – being suitable for producing a selection of varied and regularly changing meals during the days/weekdays and keeping up with demand during the carvery time slots.

Aspen Services were enlisted with the job of designing, sourcing equipment and installing this new commercial kitchen within a 2-week time frame. This was an extensive job that relied on the partnership between our experienced CAD design team, extensive knowledge and reliable subcontractors and manufacture partners.

The Journey

After establishing the initial requirements of our clients at The Merry Monk, we set about designing a space that would work for their needs. To create the commercial kitchen they needed, we had to strip out all of the existing equipment before removing and making good all of the floors and walls. Once completed, it was established that we needed to extend the extraction canopy to provide ample ventilation in the new space. Some of the existing equipment used by the team was fully serviceable and usable and so, with this, we needed to re-install appropriately. Where this wasn’t feasible, our team sourced new state-of-the-art equipment which helped the team to improve ergonomics and practicality within their catering set-up.

The Challenges

Before we proceeded with the job, our team understood that we would have a very short time frame in which to complete the work. This was to reduce disruption on the business as much as possible and allow the public house to re-open to full capacity as quickly as possible. This was no mean feat – especially with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were faced with logistical challenges when it came to sourcing materials and equipment as well as the nationwide driver shortages that threatened to delay the project. However, with the support of our experienced team and that at The Merry Monk, we were able to complete the job ahead of the pre-planned schedule.

One solution was to use our own warehouse floor space to pre-build certain items of equipment and to help with pre-fabrication. This sped up the installation process and meant that multiple members of our team and the subcontractors could be on-site at the same time.