Case study · portion control
A Yorkshire caterer's portion-controlled dessert mould.
A wedding caterer holding a portion cost across large numbers, cavity volume held to a specified target across every tray in the fleet.
Customer
A Yorkshire catering group
A Yorkshire catering group serving high-volume events wanted to hold a consistent portion cost on a plated dessert. Their previous tooling was inconsistent — cavity volumes drifted between trays, and portion cost varied event-to-event. They asked for a matched fleet of trays with cavity volume verified at manufacture.
The challenge
What we had to solve.
Consistent cavity volume across a fleet of trays isn't a natural product of manufacture — it's a design and quality target. We had to design the cavity, spec the grade, and check every tray at production to hold volume within a tight tolerance across all of them.
The approach
What we did.
Cavity was designed with straight walls and a defined shoulder to make volume repeatable. Grade was a firm-shore food-contact silicone that holds cavity shape through repeated dishwasher cycles. Every tray was volume-checked at manufacture and the check was recorded against the batch.
Outcome
How it works now.
Portion cost is now stable event-to-event. The caterer reorders replacement trays as they wear and the fleet stays matched. Cavity check records go into their supplier approval file.
Details
The specifics on this build.
Product
Portion-controlled plated dessert, matched tray fleet.
Route
Hand-poured food-contact silicone, cavity volume check on every tray.
Grade
Firm-shore food-contact platinum-cure silicone, dishwasher-tolerant.
Cleandown
Commercial dishwasher, standard event-catering wash cycle.
Related services
How this fits our capability.
Portion control moulds for consistent yield
Multi-cavity food tooling for higher yield per pour
Scaling from bench pour to production tooling
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