The Woodspeen

A renowned Michelin-starred restaurant and cookery school complete with its own market garden, The Woodspeen was created by John Campbell and reflects his love of the countryside, good cooking at an affordable price and his love of the community and training.

First impressions are deceptive, for what lies within a red-brick 19th century pub image is a stylish and comfy bar area facing a modern dining room with an open to view kitchen.

There is a relaxed feel aided by great views over the Berkshire countryside and a wonderful wood slat ceiling overhead.

John had a clear vision for his own restaurant, with the focus on relaxed but attentive service and seasonal dishes, using ingredients grown or foraged on his own land.

Having worked in hotels and restaurants around the world, John Campbell’s business experience is second to none and The Woodspeen practices environmental conservation and recycling as much as possible.

“Everything we do is about consumption and waste and running the business efficiently,” says John Campbell.

“If there was a policy of being ‘Carbon Positive’ I would certainly go for that! Our food waste and carboard goes to compost; our utilities are managed to the finest degree and the business model focusses on ‘not excess’.

“And there is also the charity aspect. For us, the community is our most important asset and where most of our customers come from.”

In 2018 The Woodspeen installed several of MEIKO’s latest innovations, including an M-iClean H hood type dishwasher as the mainstay in the kitchen and an M-iClean U undercounter glasswasher for the bar.

Key to both new machines is the GiO reverse osmosiswater treatment, which removes the need for water softeners and provides sparkling, spot-free results with no hand polishing required. The M-iClean H also features MEIKO’s new energy saving heat recovery systems, delivering up to 21 per cent savings, compared to predecessor MEIKO models!

Its automatic hood saves labour simply because the operator can be getting on with their job, instead of interrupting the workflow to lift or lower the hood. Lifting usually wastes time because operators need to stop once or twice during the lift to allow steam to escape upwards, rather than outwards towards them. During a busy – 125 racks – shift, the time saved could easily add up to 45 minutes or more.

“The catalyst for me always to go back to MEIKO is the reverse osmosiswater treatment,” says John Campbell.

With MEIKO I saw a machine that produced crystal clear glassware as it comes out of the dishwasher and that is a great advantage to a business owner.

“RO is always going to save us labour and if you look at the costs within the business – labour, utilities, materials – they are not going down and are on an upward slant.

“I think as a business owner it is important reduce the effect of that by reducing the labour impact that washing and then polishing glasses creates, along with the breakages. It is almost like marginal gain theory*.

"The new undercounter machine in the bar is very good. The staff think it can clean itself because it does everything else...other than clean itself.

“It does not emit steam, so it does not interrupt the flow behind the bar. And if the bar team are more focused on the bar and customers rather than washing or polishing glasses, they are obviously going to be more attentive to the customers and might even sell more drinks.

“With the new auto-hood machine, what I like is that I am not getting complaints from the kitchen porters.

“It has given us back more time. Out of all the businesses I have run, The Woodspeen is the most multifunctional, so the KP, for example, might also do some maintenance or help harvest some of the vegetables. So, when I can find efficiencies across the day by using the new dishwashing machine, certainly that is going to save money.

“If machines can take things away so the team can get on with other things, clearly that is labour saving and a commercial opportunity within the business.

“Affordability is massively important, but a lot of businesses don’t look at the spread of the investment; they want the least investment, instead of looking at how that is going to pay me back.

“The partners we engage with are very important, because they help you run the business and if you choose the wrong partner or equipment, it affects your business.

“If you are looking for marginal gains – that extra 1 per cent – if your partners are wrong, your business model will be wrong.

“It is important to choose partners to help you run the business and MEIKO is part of our business relationship and I am very proud to have them on board. The kit’s great, robust and it does not fail.”

“MEIKO as a partner want to get involved and help support your business and it matters to them how your business runs. That is invaluable and that is the reason why we choose MEIKO.”

*Marginal gain theory: The doctrine of marginal gains is all about small incremental improvements in any process adding up to a significant improvement when they are all added together.