Food businesses are fun to run, with customers walking into satisfying their food cravings. The sight of a happy customer leaving your eatery has a satisfaction of its own. While establishing a food business has pretty much the same protocols as establishing any other business, newbies in this industry often struggle with determining what type of equipment should they be investing in. Here is a list of key equipment and supplies that every eatery should have at all costs.
Commercial Oven
Whether you are planning to run a pizza joint, or have lasagne or lava cakes on your menu, a commercial grade oven is an absolute must-have. Even if you been running the most amazing cakery from your home, if you are going commercial with an aim to cater to full-scale customer orders, you will need to invest in commercial grade ovens. Regular household ovens do not have the capacity to give the same level of output and quality as the commercial ones.
Meat Slicer
Imagine you serve steaks or chicken fillets, but all your fillets are cut in uneven sizes and shapes. The presentation of food is also one of the most important areas to focus on. Moreover, the perfection of your cut will also ensure that your meat is done evenly rather than being overdone, or undercooked at different places. Even the most expert chefs struggle with making perfect meat slices and that is where a meat-slicers come in. Some meat slicers also come with multi-purpose attachments that can also help you cut vegetables.
Chef Knives
There is no cooking without good knives. A good set of knives makes the entire process of cooking fun, smooth and quick and brings in much more perfection. Every great chef in the world will tell you how they have a favorite set of knives. You can never have enough chef knives in your kitchen, but it is always better to take your chefs on board when buying one for them.
Commercial Refrigerators
Food inventory such as fruit, vegetables, and meat is highly perishable and needs the best possible cold storage facility, Moreover, if you have any cold beverages on your menu, your refrigeration requirements will further increase. Go for commercial grade refrigeration and chilling units to make sure that your entire food inventory is properly stored.
Commercial Ice Makers
Once you start off with your eatery, you will realize, how often your customers will be asking for ice, either with a beverage or separately. It is practically impossible to freeze ice cubes, for every time a customer requires them. Do not undermine the need for having commercial ice makers in your kitchen. These marvelous machines make sure that you have a running supply of ice cubes whenever you want.
Commercial Dishwasher
This is a no brainer. There will be lots of dishwashing that will be done at your eatery and a regular household dishwasher cannot cater to that need. Invest in a proper commercial dishwasher that can accommodate a larger number of dishes and can run quicker cycles.
Grease Traps
A lot of restaurant owners ignore this initially, but a lot of food and oil particles can make their way into your plumbing during dishwashing and cleaning cycles, resulting in choked drains and damaged plumbing. Installing grease traps can save you from a huge nightmare waiting to happen in your kitchen.
Keeping it All Clean
While cleanliness isn't a piece of equipment, it's vitally important that you keep your equipment and your entire restaurant spotless. Cleanliness is an essential part of customer service, and is a key determining factor for the vast majority of your customers when deciding whether they will be repeat customers. So, when starting a restaurant, you'll also need to hire a cleaning company if your staff doesn't already take care of it. To learn more about such services, you'll have to research restaurant cleaning rates.
