New York is their favourite. So before Marinda (M) and Jeroen (J) Groot realised their concept for MJ Café, they knew it had to bring the hip city feeling to Lelystad, a town East of Amsterdam.
They had a very clear picture in mind: MJ Café needed to be a wonderful grand café with an urban vibe, a great focus on the product and on the guest, accessible hospitality with high-quality service. "We serve really great dishes, with a touch of fine dining. High quality, but at a café level," Jeroen says. Executive chef Joas Bierlee and head chef Robin Boel, both formerly employed at Michelin-star restaurants, put it into practice together with the entire team.
Sustainable business
On 900 m², including kitchen and staff area, MJ Café offers 120 seats inside, another 40 in the lounge and 130 on the outside terrace. Old beams from the port of Antwerp are part of the design in the store. Jeroen collected lots of items, such as old lamps, tables and building materials, and refurbished them by himself. “Reuse takes away the novelty and also gives the place a warm feel. What's more, reuse is sustainable.”
In the kitchen MJ Café works with a zero waste programme. Each day, everything is bought fresh and nothing is thrown away. "We use offcuts for our broths, stocks and sauces. And if anything is left over, we use it for staff meals. We also grow our own herbs, such as garden sorrel, mint and Thai basil."
Wherever possible, MJ Café sources ingredients from as close as possible. Jeroen keeps the number of suppliers limited. "That's part of the reason why I chose meiko. They offer a complete concept: the machines, as well as the service and the chemicals. Easy. I am in very good contact with my account manager, which is really important to me. If there are any issues, I call him. And if necessary, a service technician will be here in no time".
Pleasant working environment
Besides sustainability, ergonomics plays an important role at MJ Café. "I think it is important that our staff can work easily and well. Therefore, our kitchen is an open stage with plenty of daylight and views over the Bataviahaven". No less than two large dishwashing lines were set up.
The dishwashing line downstairs is in a room of seven metres with plenty of disposal space and two MEIKO M-iClean UM front loaders; a glass washer with osmosis and heat recovery for glasses, and a dishwasher without osmosis for porcelain. "This heat recovery from MEIKO is really ideal for us. The glasses dry faster and we don't need to polish them. This allows us to reuse them quickly, which is very important in hospitality".
A M-iClean HM hood type dishwashing machine with automatic hood system and rack recognition was chosen for the regular dishwashing. It manages 1,000 to 1,500 small items quickly and reliably.
Working well together
All employees are happy with the MEIKO dishwashers. "They find the machines really easy to operate, it's all one-touch technology. Simple, quick work and a top-notch result", Jeroen reports. The entire MJ team consists of 55 people, the majority without a hospitality background but well trained by MJ management to deliver accessible hospitality with high-quality service.
The Café is open six days a week from noon until late at night. For lunch, drinks and dinner, as well as for Lobster Friday, Sunday Brunch and other atmospheric events.
