Imperial Walk-in Coolers Complement Andaz Ambience

The Andaz West Hollywood has seen more than its share of stars since the building was raised in 1963 as the Gene Autry Hotel. Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Jim Morrison, they all stayed at the hotel and lend rock star glamour to the hotel’s history.

This famed hotel even hosted two movies about these rock legends. Almost Famous had scenes actually filmed in rooms restored to the hotel’s 1970’s era style. This is Spinal Tap used the roof for the final party scene.

Now Imperial Manufacturing has links to this famous landmark through the creation and installation of a wall of beautiful, glass-walled, walk-in coolers.

These walk-in coolers complement the open kitchen and are easily viewed by the restaurant guest. The coolers store food and beverages in a variety of configurations, which are visible to the guest from the dining room.  In fact, glass was included on the front and back of the walk-in cooler compartments, enabling the guest to see through the coolers and into the back-of-house areas where food is prepared.

The challenge in this project by Innovative Foodservice Design Team was to bring the walk-in coolers into the guest-viewable areas of the restaurant as part of the decor and as a statement of quality. Normally, walk-ins are in the back of the kitchen and maybe one or two walls might be seen from the dining area, and those walls are generally stainless steel or some other metal.

In this case, the walk-in coolers separate the dining area from the kitchen, so the entire length of the walk-in cooler complex is highly visible. Indeed, they were designed to be the focal point of the dining area, so the customer wanted them to look more like display cases. Adding to the challenge were pictures the customer showed us of wine display cabinets they saw at a trade show in Milan, stating they wanted the walk-in coolers to look like those cabinets.

The customer originally said they wanted solid glass walk-ins, which became impractical because of the technical design and manufacturing challenges involved. We settled on as much glass as possible with the remainder being highly polished stainless steel. Even the glass door frames are stainless steel, which required specialty design and manufacturing. Adding to the technical difficulty is that the hotel is in the middle of a seismic zone 4, requiring a design of mostly glass with the necessary structural strength to stand up to the stresses the structure will eventually encounter.

“The walk-in coolers were a critical element of the restaurant’s focal point,” stated Lee Simon, of Innovative Foodservice Design Team, designer of the Andaz West Hollywood’s foodservice facilities. “By challenging the norms, we were able to create a completely different experience for both guests and staff. We are pleased that Imperial was willing to accept our challenge on this project. The end product has allowed the property to differentiate itself in the marketplace, and the walk-ins were a big part of that strategy.”

Imperial Manufacturing considers every project as carefully as the Andaz West Hollywood, although most projects are much less technically challenging. Give us a call and ask us to help you conceive, design, manufacture and install your next project. We promise to treat you like the rock star you are.