Chef Whites In Downe On The Kitchen Round

Yes — Downe sits on the BR6 round, 7 days, 21.5 miles from our Wembley plant.

• Shared with Biggin Hill, Keston and Farnborough — the same vehicle covers them, so a brigade here can be added without moving anyone else.
• A missed window here is picked up on the next round rather than the next week, because of that distance.
• 6 kitchens around BR6 are already on this round — so the vehicle is sized for kitchen work rather than adapted to it.

We size the brigade before quoting, not after the first complaint.

• Every section is sized at setup — including the sections that get through two a shift.
• A new commis goes on the account the same week — brigades in Downe change constantly, and the account is built for that.
• Garments are named — the rail is ready and nobody is hunting for their size.
• Par counts are re-set after the first month — against what the brigade actually used, because any opening count is an estimate.

Yes — the BR6 round is sequenced around service patterns.

• The time is agreed when the account opens — and a relief driver inherits it with the route.
• A drop in the middle of prep is a drop nobody can receive. The round is sequenced around that.
• If a drop is missed, a missed window here is picked up on the next round rather than the next week.
• A relief driver inherits the window with the route — the timing is a property of the account, not of one driver remembering it.

No long-term tie-in and no exit fee.

• Terms flex with seasonal demand — rather than locking you into a summer volume you do not use in February.
• Nothing needs you to be out of your current contract first — the count and the quote commit you to nothing.
• Stock arrives before the old supplier is stood down — you are never between suppliers.
• If it is not working, say so — we would rather correct the account than lose it.

Both, and mixed accounts are normal. Plenty of Downe kitchens run half and half.

• Hire — we own the garments, replace them on wear and manage sizing as the brigade changes.
• Wash-only — the same whites that left Downe, tracked by name, never swapped into a pool.
• Plenty of kitchens do both — hire what nobody reads, keep your own name on the whites.
• You can move a line between the two later — without reopening the account or renegotiating anything.

Always. Kitchen work never follows table linen through the machine.

• Grease, protein and scorch need their own wash — grease lifts at a different temperature from protein, and scorch responds to neither.
• Whites never run through the cycle the table linen was on — that transfer is what dulls a brigade's whites inside a month.
• Colour-coded cloths stay in their own classification — from collection to the rail, so the coding still means something when it comes back.
• Every load is temperature logged — which matters on any site that has to show an inspector how its linen is handled.

Priced on your brigade, not off a rate card. Two kitchens with the same headcount can differ twofold in wear rate, which is why we count first.

• We count a real week in Downe before quoting — rather than pricing off your last invoice.
• No minimum order — a two-section Downe kitchen is priced per item, same as a brigade of thirty.
• The count includes your busy season — a Downe kitchen quoted off a quiet month runs short in the one that matters.
• The count and the quote cost nothing — we will count your week while you are still under someone else.

Yes — catering kitchens are a large part of what we collect.

• 2 school kitchens around BR6 are already on the round — we are not learning catering work on your account.
• Term-time and seasonal swings are planned in — the par count moves with the calendar.
• Colour-coded cloths and named whites — so the coding still means something when the cloths come back.
• Contract caterers running several sites — keep one invoice and one point of contact however many kitchens are on it.