El Tiempo Cantina
Laurenzo’s El Tiempo Cantina is one of eight family-owned restaurants in Houston, TX. Fajitas as we know them today were introduced in the USA by Ninfa Laurenzo over 40 years ago. Today, the Laurenzo family continues the tradition of providing fine Tex-Mex fare to the Houston area. With up to a two-hour wait time on weekends, the restaurant is one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in the city.
Extensively renovating an existing restaurant and building space created some challenges for the restaurant staff. With a steep stairway and a long travel distance from the kitchen to the upper dining area, the staff of El Tiempo needed a safe, efficient way to transport food and dishes between floors.
Elevators of Texas installed a Matot dumbwaiter to help meet those challenges. Their expert installation team was able to modify the existing hoistway to create a more efficient work area for the staff and reduce the dumbwaiter footprint.
The massive 500lb capacity Matot dumbwaiter can lift dishes and food between the first and second floors quickly and efficiently. In fact, with a brisk total travel time of less than 18 seconds between floors, the dumbwaiter makes dozens of trips per day. This results in a safer work environment and saves thousands of steps daily for the employees and waitstaff. Melina, one of the day shift managers for El Tiempo, commented that “The Matot dumbwaiter is such a critical part of our daily operations here. We just can’t imagine living without it during our busy meal times.” In fact, during our tour of the restaurant, Melina introduced us to her wait staff and told them we were the installers and manufacturer of the dumbwaiter, and the entire staff broke out into spontaneous applause.
The sturdy stainless steel construction is engineered specifically to handle the heavy loads and robust usage of a busy restaurant like El Tiempo. With periodic maintenance, the Matot dumbwaiter should last the life of the building and provide efficient service for the staff at El Tiempo for years to come.
Challenges
- Existing Building with Space Limitations
- Kitchen Staff Inefficiencies and Safety Risks
- Heavy Load Requirements
Solutions
- Slim Design Fits Into Existing Hoistway
- Increased Kitchen Staff Efficiency and Safety
- Robust Stainless Steel Construction with Built-in Shelves
