Our Restaurant Kitchen Design Tips for New Owners
Restaurant kitchen design tips begin with the layout and the best way to do that is by bouncing ideas off a restaurant consultant. The end-product must be efficient while the performance of the personnel working there is optimized. It’s a high stress, chaotic environment with the satisfaction of every customer depending on whether or not the space is functional.
Ultimately, restaurant kitchen design tips guide you to produce the best dishes possible in surroundings that are clean and streamlined. In that way, everything from preparation to plating is seamless while waste is minimized. Here are a few tips from a local restaurant consultant that can help ensure your commercial kitchen design is successful and produces the results desired.
Only Purchase What’s Absolutely Necessary
Although there are many cool kitchen gadgets on the market today, in a commercial kitchen design every tool and piece of equipment must be necessary and not just wanted. The equipment and supplies should not limit a chef’s ability to create great dishes, but they should serve to enhance the outcome. Chef’s should be able to achieve success with tools that can do double-duty.
In place of food processors use immersion blenders. They can do everything food processors do and more. They are handheld, which makes them more mobile and easier to store, and can tackle multiple tasks that ordinarily require multiple pieces of equipment. Chefs also love the large bag of knives that come in special cases. In reality, however, they only require four to do their job: a chef’s knife, serrated edge, slicing knife and paring knife. Additionally, box graters can be used to shred vegetables for soups and salads as well as cheese.
Think About Storing Up Not Out
Space is always at a premium in a restaurant or hotel kitchen design. Regardless of how big the space is, it seems that when it comes to storage there is never enough. By looking up, it’s easy to see how much wasted space there is above eye level. By recovering empty wall space overhead you’ll find that you have more space for storage than you think.
Inexpensive shelving can be installed above cabinets and pantries in a commercial kitchen design and will hold pieces of equipment utilized less often than daily supplies. For example, extra soup pots and sauté pans can be stored above and pulled down when needed. Paper goods can also be stored on shelves where they don’t take up valuable space. By putting spices in magnetic containers, they can be stored on any metallic surface even cabinet doors. Additionally, extended bar racks are perfect for anything that can dangle from a hook and a peg board can be made into extra storage with rods that can hold multiple pans the same size or tools.
Dividing the Space
Hotel or restaurant kitchen design tips provide direction for workstations that are organized in such a way as to enhance productivity and tap into the skill and artistry of each worker. According to a local restaurant consultant, there are usually 7 workstations which include prep, salad, the grill, the fry station, sauté, dessert and plating. That is called the kitchen line and each person is in charge of their zone. Each station requires the implements necessary to ensure their station runs efficiently. The goal is to cut down on movements while maximizing output.
The ingredients need to be organized in the same way with foods grouped in a logical way. Even the refrigerator needs a similar configuration. For example, dairy products and produce should be in the same area. Such an arrangement not only allows visual confirmation when food groups need to be reordered, but also makes identification of expired products and spoilage easier to find.
Optimizing Workspace Materials
Different stations have different needs in terms of space, equipment, foods and other items key to ensuring each person is able to maintain their productivity. Such a hotel or restaurant kitchen design reduces the need for personnel to run around trying to find what they need to do their job, which creates a chaotic environment. For example, prep stations require large, sturdy work tables with under-counter refrigerators that can double as cold ingredient storage or refrigerated prep tables. They also need space enough for shelving underneath as well. If the station is located along a wall, shelving can also be installed overhead for extra supplies.
Other restaurant kitchen design tips include supplies like cutting boards that can be propped up vertically in order to conserve space and improve efficiency. That way the staff can identify the size of the board they need without digging through a pile. The best solution is to purchase cutting board racks which can also be used to store anything thin like baking sheets. Checking out the newest storage solutions in a restaurant and hotel kitchen design will present many more ideas as to how to save space while improving the productivity of your staff.
Restaurant Kitchen Design Tips on the Space Around Maximizing Energy Efficiency
A lack of energy efficiency in a hotel or restaurant kitchen design is lost revenue. It’s important to focus on that factor when planning a restaurant kitchen design. Due to the type of use and abuse the kitchen is exposed to on a daily basis, it requires a lot of power both in personnel and equipment.
That doesn’t mean you won’t face any struggles along the way, but the right hotel or restaurant kitchen design should address all needs equally. For example, the fry cook may prefer the freezer to be placed next to the fryer. Although it would minimize the steps the cook takes to get French fries out of the freezer, it is not an energy-efficient arrangement for the equipment.
Reducing the steps personnel take to do their jobs increases the speed of the cooking process. Therefore, workstations should be designed to minimize their movements. The result will be a lower risk of injury and fatigue and a better running hotel or restaurant kitchen design. Needless to say, achieving a balance between the energy efficiency of personnel and equipment can be a challenge.
Cutting Down on Headaches by Utilizing a Restaurant Consultant
A restaurant consultant is a specialist that can provide full design services from concept to completion. They have the knowledge and experience to remodel an existing building or to build from scratch. They focus on the need to create flow while ensuring there is an efficient use of space that is aesthetically pleasing. Some of their work includes:
- Strategic Planning
- Space Planning
- Completing and Processing Construction Documents
- Interior Design Services
When reviewing other restaurant kitchen design tips, hotel kitchen design or some other kind of commercial kitchen design suggestions, it doesn’t matter how great the quality of the equipment is if the layout is all wrong. Without a well-functioning space it will be difficult to get food out within a reasonable amount of time and projected revenues will not be met. Happy personnel frequently mean happy customers and customers mean income. Creating a revolutionary design means selecting the best equipment and having a team of knowledgeable people behind you that can ensure the job is done right in a timely manner.