Photo: Jose A. via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Most installation challenges are horizontal. A doorway that is narrower than it looks on the drawing. A corner that the equipment will not turn. A room that has shrunk between the survey and the delivery. The Cabana Club fit-out at ME Malta presented something less common: the challenge was vertical, and it started eight floors up.
The problem with the 8th floor
The venue sits on the 8th floor of Mercury Towers, one of St Julian's most prominent addresses. The kitchen equipment, all of it, had to get up there. That means a Bertos S900 island, fully configured with gas burners, fryers, and a full suite of cooking positions, alongside a custom Valoriani wood-burning pizza oven, had to be broken down into manageable sections, brought up in the building's lifts, and reassembled in position. The Combisteel refrigeration counters and cabinets followed the same route. So did the Infrico pizza refrigeration units.
It sounds straightforward when you describe it that way. It was not.
Disassembly, transit, reassembly
Equipment of this calibre is built to last. That robustness is precisely what makes it difficult to move in sections. The Bertos S900 series is a substantial piece of kit: a fully loaded island of this specification carries real weight and real complexity, and the precision of its reassembly matters. A cooking suite that is not correctly reassembled and commissioned is a liability, not an asset.
The Valoriani oven presented its own considerations. This was not a standard unit. The oven was specified with a custom mosaic finish, teal-tiled and built to sit in full view of the Cabana Club terrace, with the St Julian's skyline visible through the glazing behind it. A custom oven is, by definition, built as a complete piece. Getting it to the 8th floor required careful planning and a team large enough to handle it properly.
What the kitchen looks like now
The pizzeria space at Cabana Club reads as part of the room, not an afterthought bolted to the back of it. The Valoriani oven sits against the glazed perimeter, its mosaic finish visible from the terrace. The Infrico pizza refrigeration counters run alongside, keeping prep cold and within reach. It is a kitchen designed to be seen as well as to perform.
One floor down, the main kitchen tells a different story. The Bertos S900 island occupies the centre of the room under a full extraction canopy, a dense, purposeful cooking suite with every position in service. It looks exactly as it should: like a kitchen that is built for serious output, not for appearances.
Both look like they belong. That is not an accident.
A note on the team
An installation of this kind does not happen through good planning alone. The Cabana Club fit-out was a team effort in the most literal sense: multiple people, coordinated across two kitchen spaces, working within the constraints of a live hotel building. The equipment arrived in pieces and left as a functioning operation. That is what the work actually involves, and it is worth saying clearly.
If you are planning a project in Malta that presents similar challenges, whether that is a high-floor installation, a complex multi-space fit-out, or a venue that demands something beyond standard supply and install, we would be glad to talk it through. Get in touch with the Spiteri Catering team and let us understand what you need. We handle everything from initial consultation and design through to supply, professional installation, and ongoing technical support.
Related reading: From Blank Canvas to Working Kitchen: The Zigumar Restaurant Fit-Out | Fire, Craft and Italian Excellence | From the Kitchen to the Front Door: The Full Festacci Fit-Out