Commercial Kitchen Equipment For Your Restaurant – A Comprehensive Guide

1. Commercial Kitchen Equipment For Your Restaurant – A Comprehensive Guide limetray.com/blog/commercial-kitchen-equipment-restaurant May 8, 2019 Whether you’re starting a new restaurant or re-establishing an already existing one, you need a proper restaurant commercial kitchen equipment list before you go ahead and start cooking. Once you have all the necessary commercial kitchen equipment in place, you can focus on creating delectable dishes for your customers. Largely the equipment list is the same for every restaurant. However, there may be some pieces of equipment that are restaurant specific. What is restaurant commercial kitchen equipment? Restaurant commercial kitchen equipment are appliances that are used to produce, store and, to a certain extent, cook food. Everything from sleek kitchen stoves to huge refrigerators, fall under these appliances. Today, most of them are electrical but some are still powered by gas. You can focus on restaurant management systems better once your commercial kitchen is functional. 1/9

2. Commercial kitchen equipment at restaurants. The commercial kitchen equipment list Whether you’re a Quick Service Restaurant, cafe, or fine dining, you need certain tools that are absolutely essential for your kitchen. Let’s look at some of the basic commercial kitchen equipment you need to have in your restaurant. 1. Cooling equipment:- Any kitchen today would be useless without refrigerators or freezers. Refrigeration prevents any kind of food damage. Different food items come with defined expiration periods so getting your cooling systems in order is the first step. Depending on the kind of restaurant, you can choose the kind of coolant you’d require for your restaurant kitchen. Refrigerators and Freezers – There are tons of refrigerators and freezers available in the market today, each having varied capacities and functions. If you’re a small coffee house, buying a reach-in refrigerator would be more sensible (and economical) than buying a walk-in refrigerator. Ice-makers – 2/9

3. If you’re a brand that deals with all kinds of beverages, let’s say a bar or cafe, you’d definitely need this tool to help you with all those smoothies, shakes and mint punches. Ice-makers come in different storage spaces for various kinds of operations. Display freezers – Yes, there is room for dessert. Display freezers in your restaurant will help give customers the option of looking at pies and cheesecakes before ordering them. Display freezer for baked goods Other commercial refrigeration equipment, are ice-cream freezers, wine coolers, back bar coolers, etc, that are restaurant specific. 2. Heating equipment:- Roasting, grilling, baking, rethermalizing and plenty of other cooking processes that involve heating/reheating of food, are taken care of by the commercial equipment involved in this category. Ranges – There are two types of ranges both gas and electric. You could opt for either one of these based on the intensity of cooking that happens in your restaurant’s kitchen. Ovens – 3/9

4. One of the most common and significant electronics that a restaurant cannot work without is a commercial oven. Ovens today are designed to meet the temperature requirements of various cooking methods. Conveyor ovens, high-speed ovens, toaster ovens, rack ovens, are few of the many ovens available today. Commercial kitchen ovens come with regulating temperatures Display food warmers – If your restaurant has ready to serve meals then this food display case is exactly what you need. They keep the food warm and fresh. Grills – This is something you’d need to grill your sandwiches and steaks with. Microwaves – Greatly helps in the rethermalization of already prepared food. Broilers – Whether it’s beautifully melting cheese on a pizza or giving dishes that perfect brown finishing, a broiler is going to help you achieve it. 4/9

5. There are plenty of other retherming pieces of equipment used in commercial kitchens. Many of them like a commercial toaster, soup warmer, coffee machine, etc., being dish specific. 3. Preparation equipment:- Let’s now get straight to hardcore cooking. There are so many commercial kitchen electrical appliances available in the market today that have simplified the most basic of cooking processes. Food processors and slicers – The function of a food processor is not just limited to finely chopping the veggies. With the variety of food processors available today, you can chop, slice and mix vegetables and meat, make purees, and more. Given there’s a large scale processing of food items in restaurants, food processors have large bowls with high power. Buffalo choppers, batch bowl processors, continuous food processors, and combination processors are the four major commercial food processors. Mixers and grinders – An absolute essential in bakeries and pizzeria, mixers are very useful when it comes to complex mixing, kneading, whipping and beading various doughs and batters. Spiral, countertop, heavy-duty, floor and stand mixers are the most frequently used mixers in restaurant commercial kitchens. There are typically three types of commercial grinders, namely, meat, spices, and coffee grinders. Blenders – Be it hot soups or frozen smoothies, commercial blenders are designed to evenly blend food, beverages or sauces. 4. Washing Equipment:- Sinks – Who doesn’t like working in a restaurant kitchen that is spick and span? Ideally, a restaurant commercial kitchen should have three or four compartment sinks for cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen utensils, and washing food items. Other kinds of sinks used in restaurant kitchens are janitorial sinks, underbar sinks, and hand sinks. Dishwashers – When you’re a full-service restaurant serving a large number of customers, dishwashers literally are a blessing. There are many categories of commercial dishwashers based on individual capacities like a single and double rack, under the counter and conveyor dishwashers. Choose the one that will conveniently fit in your restaurant commercial kitchen. 5/9

6. Glassware washing and polishing equipment – These are separate machines, specially designed to clean glass cutlery (mainly glasses) and remove tough spots. 5. Cookware Accessories:- All cooking utensils fall under this category of commercial kitchen equipment. There should be a sufficient amount of small kitchenware available for each chef in the kitchen. There are many cooking tools like bakery utensils, cooking boards, peelers, graters, etc, which are common purchases for a restaurant kitchen. Pots and cookers – The most basic essentials are the various types of pots and cookers. For example, pressure cookers, pasta cookers, boiler pots, sauce pots, etc. All varying in size and storage capacity. Pans – Stainless steel, cast iron, and non-stick pans and the kinds of pans available for cooking. Different sizes can be used based on the number of dishes being cooked. Knives and spoons – There are plenty of knives used for cutting anything, be it thick chunks of meat or soft slices of tofu. Kitchen spoons, whisks, spatulas, and other hand tools, assist in stirring and serving purposes. Dinnerware – Porcelain plates go well with a classic wine and dine, whereas steaks and sizzlers look heavenly on stoneware plates. Therefore, depending on the kind of restaurant you’re running you can go for Chinaware, melamine, metal or glass dinnerware for your restaurant commercial kitchen. 6/9

7. Choose crockery based on your restaurant type 6. Tables and Shelves:- When you open a restaurant you want your kitchen to look a certain way. Kitchen shelves and tables help in making the kitchen look fairly neat and systematic. Wall mount shelves and racks – Food items and small electrical appliances can be stored on wall-mounted shelves, from where they are easy to access. Prep tables and counters – Purchase tables and counters that are easy to clean and have a long life. You’d want a surface that’s able to withstand changing temperatures and chemicals used for cleaning. 7. Safety Equipment:- With so many commercial kitchen equipment and utensils that are conductors of heat, a restaurant kitchen is highly susceptible to fires. Make sure your kitchen is well equipped with fire and safety equipment like fire extinguishers. Also, make sure your chefs use mittens and gloves while handling hot utensils and heating appliances. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry. 8. Kitchen Display Systems:- 7/9

8. Gone are the days when the server used to run to and fro with kitchen order tickets after noting down orders from the table. With a restaurant POS system, orders will be directly displayed on your Kitchen Display System with all necessary modifications, time of order, and more. The staff wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of reading printed KOTs. They can directly read it and start preparing the food without any delay. Key reasons why your restaurant should be well- equipped with commercial kitchen equipment There are plenty of reasons why your restaurant kitchen needs new electrical appliances. One time investment:- When used well and serviced regularly, commercial restaurant equipment lasts up to a good number of years. You wouldn’t have to buy them time and again if they stop working due to any technical glitches. Most electrical appliances come with a service warranty. Shelving makes the restaurant kitchen look organized. Reduced labor cost:- Commercial kitchen equipment like the food processors reduce basic manual work like chopping, peeling, etc. They can be easily operated. A chef wouldn’t necessarily need a sous chef to help them out with the initial stages of food preparation. The machine does it for them. Hence, the cost of labor goes down. Higher productivity:- Commercial kitchen equipment is more accurate and gets the job done quickly. As a result, food is prepared at a faster rate and the number of tables served increases efficiently. This not only enhances the customer experience but also elevates your restaurant’s overall productivity. 8/9

9. Zero wastage:- Most commercial kitchen equipment come with various scales for measurement. You would know the exact quantity to be used for a particular dish. This greatly helps in reducing unnecessary waste. This makes it easier to maintain your restaurant’s inventory. Less chaotic and more streamlined:- Commercial kitchen equipment doesn’t occupy large spaces in the kitchen. When systematically organized, there is no cluster of equipment and the workflow becomes streamlined. Choose the best restaurant commercial kitchen equipment Using age-old equipment at your restaurant kitchen is going to burn a hole in your pocket. It affects the quality and efficiency of a restaurant. A classic burger brand in the US, Steak ‘n Shake, had to temporarily shut down at 44 locations, due to a drastic drop in sales. Both the service towards customers and speed were poor. One of the major reasons for this was an ill-equipped restaurant kitchen. They didn’t replace their old equipment with new commercial ones, which eventually led to a decline in good service from the staff. Purchasing the best-suited equipment for your kitchen will prove beneficial for your restaurant and all its employees. We can’t deny the fact that electrical appliances greatly help in beautifying dishes by giving them a perfect finishing. They make cooking a fun process rather than an exhaustive one. And if maintained well they work for a decent number of years. The more commercial kitchen equipment you use, the more efficient your restaurant becomes. It aids in increasing sales of your restaurant and everyone leaves feeling content. Here’s to making sure your commercial kitchen is equipped with everything you need to run a successful operation! Cheers! 9/9