Christmas 2006 News

RSS – celebrating 30 years in business

30 years trading is quite an achievement in today’s fast and competitive business environment. John James started RSS, then known as Refrigeration Sales and Service, back in 1976 to provide sales and service of commercial refrigeration equipment to the local Herefordshire market place. This still continues today under a sister company RSSAC Ltd.

The business took on a growth spurt with the introduction of soft ice cream machines to the UK when RSS held the agency for Carpigiani for the South West, Wales and border counties. It was during his sales trips to Italy that John became passionate about the Italian ice cream parlour, or Gelateria, and the product that is artisan Italian ice cream – not bad for someone who doesn’t like ice cream! He even went as far as putting his money where his mouth was and opened his own ice cream parlour in Hereford town centre which is how he can impart skills and knowledge to new customers today.

John has now been working for over 20 years to encourage more UK ice cream manufacturers and ice cream parlours, to rise to the standards that the Italian and German consumers insist on, “Although we eat a lot of ice cream in the UK, the majority of the original artisan makers have grown into mass producers where the product is always deep frozen prior to selling. As the fast food and coffee shop market has become more competitive, the true artisan ice cream parlour has become lost amongst hamburgers, cooked breakfasts and chips, swallowed up in a world full of Formica and plastic” he says.

Finally, however, with the fashion for organic products and the heightened consumer interest in what we are eating, consumers are beginning to expect the full Italian experience of a good artisan ice cream, from the product to the environment where it is eaten. John, as he approaches the age of retirement, is beginning to enjoy the growth in artisan ice cream makers especially amongst the farming community. “Our success has been as a result of RSS’s specialisation in newcomers to the ice cream industry, providing training as well as the equipment needed” says John whose business now covers the whole country.

“In the last five years we’ve embarked on a new phase in our business with both my son and daughter joining me in the ice cream equipment business”, John goes on to say, “we’ve also commenced new relationships with suppliers with like minded objectives to improve the range and quality of our products for the long term basis. Our future business potential is looking very exciting”.

As well as offering ice cream making equipment, display cabinets and shop fitting for ice cream parlours and coffee shops, RSS still has its feet strongly planted in the refrigeration industry and can advise customers on the most environmentally and energy efficient way to run their refrigeration plant. “We’ve recently fitted a heat recovery system at the new Cadwaladers Ice Cream Shop at Trentham Gardens where the heat generated by the refrigeration systems is harvested to heat the hot water supply”, John continues, “as the cost of energy rises this side of our business will become more important and that our value added service will provide long term cost effective solutions to our customers needs and that we don’t just supply equipment in boxes”.

It’s John’s very strong demands for a high level of customer service that have provided the strong foundations for the longevity of the business. “We are not close enough to perfect for my liking” says John “but our drive for a high level of customer service is what helps us sustain our relationships with our customers over a long period of time”.

RSS at the Ice Cream Alliance Exhibition, Harrogate, October 2006

The annual UK show for ice cream was held in Harrogate this year and RSS took the opportunity to launch two new brands of ice cream equipment to the market place.

The Corema range of products are all produced just outside Milan. Their business was founded first on cream whipping machines before tackling the production of ice cream equipment. Today their range is equivalent to any other Italian manufacturer with their differentiation being on value for money. Their range of vertical batch freezers and pasteurizers are suitable for restaurants to ice cream factories. Designed, engineered and manufactured from a vast, modern, purpose built factory, the Corema branded products are durable, reliable and adaptable with very attractive, competitive prices. The larger capacity equipment has been designed with energy and efficiency in mind, an important factor in today’s working environment. The range also includes an “All in One” machine with the two separate cooking and freezing compartments in the one machine – ideal for people starting off making ice cream or for experimenting with.

To complement the Corema range, RSS has also identified a horizontal batch freezer manufacturer who produces high quality machines capable of producing from 31 to 200 litres per hour. The Valmar technology focuses on increasing the ice cream freezing efficiency of the machines so speeding up the ice cream making process. See the speed for yourself by visiting us for a demonstration.

These two new suppliers mean that RSS Hereford can now offer larger single phase equipment than ever before with a 60 litre pasteurizer and a two Napoli per batch capacity freezer.

We also exhibited our ice cream storage freezers – designed to fit the dimensions of Napoli containers exactly, and our range of stand alone ice cream display cabinets. For more information, see our Display Cabinets section.

The centre piece of the stand was a shocking pink ice cream parlour shop fit from Bocchini spa. with a 24 flavour Fluor Ice Cream Cabinet. The Koine range of modular units from Bocchini allows our design consultants to plan a shop layout to suit your needs but also to your budget. You get to select the finishes to the front and tops of the counters as well as the upper back bar unit to fit your overall design scheme.

The Italian Way

If you’re already in the ice cream world then there’s no better place to be in January than the SIGEP Exhibition in Rimini, Italy. Taking place from 20 to 24 January 2007, at the grand Exhibition Centre, you will see more square footage of ice cream equipment and related products (patisserie and chocolate) than the UK have ice cream parlours in total!! For the price of a cheap air ticket to Bologna or Rimini, you can really get to understand how the Italians do it and do it the best. From shop fitting to ice cream ingredients, to glass dishes to packaging – they have it all – and presented in a style that only the Italians can. For more information visit the SIGEP website.

A new shop on the farm

Many of our business this year has been with farmers looking to add value to their milk by processing it themselves rather than selling it to the Milk Board for 14p per litre. Selling your own ice cream can earn you up to £14 per litre of milk if you retail it yourself. One such customer who’s opened an ice cream parlour on the farm is Heather Gardener at Natland Mill Beck Farm in Kendall, Cumbria. As well as supplying them with the ice cream equipment and teaching them how to make it, we’ve also installed an Italian counter composition to complete the Italian Ice Cream Parlour Experience. With the whole of the Lake District on their doorstep we are sure that this formula will be a success. For more information on the training we offer, visit the Ice Cream section.

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