Starting a restaurant is a huge leap of faith, especially if you don’t have an extensive background in running one. While you may be a good cook and people love your dishes, you need to build a strong backbone for your restaurant to thrive under immense pressure, one of which is investing in a good quality commercial kitchen.
Your kitchen will be the heart and soul of your restaurant, so it’s only fitting that you furnish it with the right equipment that will allow your team to work efficiently and make sure that you deliver good food consistently and following health and safety standards. Whether it’s a convection oven, some round boiling pans or bar fridges, here are some of the things that you need to consider when furnishing your commercial kitchen.
Think About the Needs of Your Kitchen
Not all commercial kitchens are created the same because you have a different menu than anyone else. As you designed your kitchen, you already had an idea about how you’d want to run your operations, and you must adapt the same mind-set when choosing the right kitchen equipment. It’s also very important to determine which kitchen equipment do you need the most when you start running your operations, so you know exactly what you should buy first. If you’re working on a tight budget, then you’ll know what to prioritize and save the others for when you start earning.
Think About Your Space
More than anything, a good commercial kitchen needs to be fully functional, and we’re not only talking about having the right tilting boiling pans or ovens here. You also need to consider how your team will work once the kitchen starts running, if they can move freely and not bump each other causing some potential hazards when cooking.
So, before you invest in anything for your commercial kitchen, it’s very important to measure your space first and measure it again. “Measure twice; cut once,” as they say, and make sure that you already have a space in mind for each equipment in your kitchen. For instance, if you’re investing in a tilting bratt pan, you should already determine where you will put it to ensure that it will fit perfectly and not get in the way of your team’s work.
Think About Ease of Use
Did you know that restaurants have one of the highest staff turnovers out of any industry? Aside from the immense pressure of working in a busy kitchen, there’s also the difficulty of using complicated kitchen equipment that make kitchen staff quit fast. So, if you’re going to invest in kitchen equipment, you need to think about ease of use to not give your team a hard time adapting to their work environment. Consider the ease of cleaning, storage, maintenance and even ergonomics.
At HE2020, we have a range of round boiling pans, tilting bratt pans and other commercial kitchen equipment that are very easy to assemble and operate, and we make sure that you have the support that you need to get started on using your kitchen equipment. Create a list of the specifications that you need for each equipment in your kitchen, so it’s easier to narrow down your options and choose only the best ones that fit your budget.
Think About Quality
This may sound obvious, but a lot of restaurateurs end up settling for low quality kitchen equipment thinking that it will help them cut costs. Yes, you’re going to save money when buying cheap equipment, but you’ll also get what you paid for. Kitchen equipment like tilting boil pans, stoves and ovens will need to work double time and under an intensely hot environment on an almost daily basis. So, if you’re buying something cheap, you really can’t expect it to last you for many years.
But good quality kitchen equipment are created using the best quality materials and are designed for heavy duty work. They also come with warranties, so you don’t need to worry about maintenance and repairs later on, which can add to your expenses. Reliable suppliers like HE2020 can offer you some of the best kitchen equipment at a good price. Even if you pay a bit more upfront, think about all the money you’ll save if you don’t need to constantly repair or replace your industrial boiling pan, for instance.
Think About Building and Health Codes
Before you invest in anything, make it a priority to check your health, fire and building codes to know exactly what rules you need to follow in furnishing your commercial kitchen. In most cases, there are codes that tell you what pieces of equipment can be placed beside each other, what measures you need to take if you have them on your kitchen and what requirements you need to fulfill to keep your team safe during operations.
Ask around and make sure that you are compliant with everything to avoid hefty fines and even the risk of having your restaurant be closed just because you violated building and health codes. Of course, you should never install any residential-grade kitchen equipment in a commercial kitchen because it’s against every health code on the book.
Think About Your Budget
As a restaurateur, you’re investing a lot on your restaurant that you hope will give you good returns in the future. But if you don’t have an unlimited budget to work with, it’s best to set aside a specific amount of money for furnishing your kitchen. You don’t need to worry about looking for the best tilting bratt pans or boiling pans at a good price because we have a range of products that can suit your budget at HE2020.
Conclusion
Furnishing a commercial kitchen is definitely exciting, but it’s also crucial for the success of your business. Keep these considerations in mind as you start putting together different kitchen equipment on your restaurant, and you’ll surely get the most out of your investment.