Design Your Commercial Kitchen Around Critical Operations
The commercial kitchen is the heart of the eatery. Whether you’re a bakery, a 5-star restaurant, a pizza joint or all of the above, your commercial kitchen is the crucible of creativity and the center of the action.
If you have a clunky, inefficient commercial kitchen design, it will smother both creativity and action, and you may get frustrated with the lack of progress and growth you see in your business.
When you’re designing a commercial kitchen, begin with what’s important — your critical operations — and make sure you take into account all variables, such as local building code, along the way.
Find a Place for Your Appliances
The appliances you need to produce your food are some of the most critical components to your kitchen. Where will you put them?
Many commercial ovens and mixers are oversized and it’s not in your best interests to fit them into your design after the fact — your commercial kitchen should be built with these front and center.
Measure both the dimensions of the room as well as the size of the appliances, and don’t make any other major decisions until you’re sure they will fit where you want them.
Get Professionals Involved
Whether you’re fitting a space for the first time or renovating an older kitchen, it’s important to get your plumber and electrician involved in the process. Any major changes to the plumbing and electrical systems will affect your budget, and the limitations of the building itself could affect your layout.
Decide on a Layout
There are three main commercial kitchen layouts that are used most frequently: assembly line, island-style and zone-style.
In an assembly line, every station is arranged in a line ordered by the steps required. An island-style layout places all cooking appliances in the center of the room and the team rotates around it as needed. In the zone style, the kitchen is split into quadrants according to the steps in the prep process.
Which one works for you? If you have experience in commercial kitchens, you likely already have a strong preference for one layout, but you may want to make a change.
Make it Easy to Sanitize
You can make your kitchen easier to clean by wall-mounting shelving and using stainless steel as often as you can, since it’s easy to sanitize and shine. When you’re configuring your design, don’t forget about hand-washing stations and waste-disposal areas.
Depend on Our Products
At Dough Tech, we provide high-quality mixers, water meters, chillers, oven racks and other equipment that helps make your commercial kitchen a success. Contact us today for a quote on your equipment needs.
