Hubbard Caters Perfectly for Benfell Ltd
West Sussex catering supply company, Benfell Ltd., of Hurstpierpoint, has taken delivery of three Hubbard 720AELT 24-3 Dual Temperature, frozen and chilled twin compartment delivery vehicles and placed an order for a further 720 AELT equipped 14 Tonne vehicle.
The company which supplies food to caterers and the handheld snacks’ market throughout the Southeast, is expanding its product range and has purchased one, 10 tonne and two, 7.5 tonne twin compartment box body vehicles to supplement its six vehicle fleet.
With rapid changes in consumers snacking and eating habits coupled with a strengthening trend for healthy eating, Benfell Ltd., needed cost-effective and efficient vehicle refrigeration to allow it to expand its foothold in the retail, handheld snacks market.
With up to 30 drops per day, the frozen compartment runs at –20°C and the chill compartment at +5°C to ensure the legal requirement for food to be kept at 8°C or below is met. Despite the numerous door openings that the traditional sandwich and snack supplies delivery round requires, the Hubbard 720AELT delivers strong cooling performance which traditionally, other commercial vehicle refrigeration systems can find problematic.
The Hubbard 720 Alpha is a split system designed to operate in large truck box bodies that are suitably insulated for fresh or frozen produce transportation.
The refrigeration system is driven using a compressor that is mounted within the engine compartment and belt driven from the vehicle engine crankshaft. When the vehicle's engine is running and the thermostat calls for cooling an electro-magnetic clutch on the compressor is engaged enabling the unit to provide refrigeration. A three-phase semi-hermetic compressor powers the refrigeration system on mains standby.
The 720 Alpha uses environmentally friendly R404a refrigerant and is suitable for temperatures down to -25°c.
The system is operated by an easy to use, in-cab digital controller that is fully programmable providing constant temperature readout. The 720 Alpha features automatic defrost with manual defrost initiated by push button control.
The 720 Alpha is a split system 24v unit comprising of a condenser with a 20 series four-fan evaporator, available with or without electric standby, a compressor, and an in-cab digital controller.
Clive Benfell founded the Company that is today run by his son Mark. Maintaining the strong family link, Mark’s wife and his sister Lindsey and her husband also work for the organisation. “Being a local company with a strong family connection to the area, we have a hard won reputation for good service and value for money to uphold and choosing the right refrigeration equipment that will allow us to expand our business without letting us down was extremely important. The three Hubbard 720AELT’s are already performing well, and we are looking forward to getting a long life from each of the units”. Says Managing Director, Mark Benfell.