Why this meal tray earns its place
Sectional meal trays come back the way they went out: all together, at the end of a sitting, in a pile that has to be through the wash before the next service needs them. Handling them singly is what turns that into a job. This Lockhart basket takes eight small or large trays at once, so the trays are loaded once at the scrape point and moved as a unit from there. Stood in the basket rather than stacked flat, both faces of every tray are open to the water instead of one tray shielding the next.
The frame is nylon coated wire — the coating goes over the wire so the trays are landing on plastic rather than bare metal, and the open construction lets water and detergent through and then lets the trays drain instead of sitting in a puddle. Coated wire earns its keep in tray washing because trays get dropped in rather than placed; the coating is what stops that turning into scratched trays and a scarred basket. Watch the coating rather than the wire over the life of the basket — where it chips is where the metal underneath starts to go.
