We previously introduced you to Mainho in test, a new section where we see our equipment in action at different venues and restaurants, to show you how our equipment performs in the day-to-day of a professional kitchen.
For this “installment,” we headed to Bemba Smash Burger, a brand that already has two locations up and running in Barcelona: one on Carrer de l’Encarnació, 38, and another in the Gracia neighborhood, on Carrer Marià Cubí, 179, which is the one we visited.
The project: three partners, one shared vision
Bemba was born about three years ago, when its three founders — more friends than business partners — opened their first location in Gracia, on Carrer Encarnació. From the very beginning, their philosophy was clear: simplicity and total control over the product.
Their motto, “less is smash,” perfectly sums up their approach: only 3 burgers on the menu (4 if you count the double version of one of them). They handle the entire process themselves, from grinding the meat and adjusting the fat percentage, to shaping the balls and preparing the fries. The fewer the options, the easier it is to focus on getting every single detail just right.
300 burgers in 3 hours: the kitchen under pressure
Bemba’s kitchen is split into two zones: one for toppings and one dedicated exclusively to the burger. And the volume they push through during the night shift is the kind that puts any equipment to the test: 300 burgers in just 3 hours, meaning 100 burgers per hour.
Bemba has opted for a combination of equipment designed to withstand a very demanding pace of work:
- A Mainho PC-90 fry-top.
- Three Lotus fryers.
- A hot holding container, also from Lotus.
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Why they chose hard chrome
Before landing on their current setup, Bemba tried out blued iron plates. When they opened the venue, they bought one of those, until they discovered hard chrome and decided to switch. The result won them over completely.
According to them, when it’s time to flip the burger using the smash technique, the chrome plate grips the product slightly more, which helps achieve a nicer, more defined crust. On top of that, there’s another key advantage for their pace of work: how easy hard chrome is to clean.
They also highlight the importance of plate thickness: when demand ramps up and the plate has to be loaded with burgers, the thicker it is, the better it holds the heat and the less the temperature drops under load.
The rest of the equipment: Lotus fryers and a trusted supplier
In addition to the fry-top, Bemba’s kitchen features three Lotus fryers — a brand exclusively distributed by Mainho in Spain — which stand out for their strong capacity without taking up too much width in the kitchen.There’s also a hot holding container from the same brand to keep the fries at temperature.
The entire installation was carried out by Reima Hostelería. According to the Bemba team, finding a good supplier wasn’t easy, until they came across the Reima team, a supplier we work with regularly and who, just like with Juan Ignacio, already feels like family to us.
Equipment built for real volume
This is the setup Bemba relies on to keep up a demanding pace, service after service: a Mainho PC-90 fry-top, three Lotus fryers, and a hot holding container, all working together to turn out 300 burgers in a single night.
Want to see other Mainho equipment in action working with different types of food? Let us know which venue or type of kitchen you’d like us to visit for the next installment of Mainho Put to the Test.