Each detail and every step in the kitchen of your restaurant is important. The speed at which your staff can process orders in the kitchen will often determine whether or not guests enjoy their dining experience. It is important for operators to have a functional kitchen. However, it can be difficult to keep a kitchen organized.
It may seem that putting together the basic elements of a commercial-grade kitchen will be sufficient to run your restaurant. However, a poorly constructed kitchen can cause long-term delays.
A poorly designed kitchen can lead to accidents such as staff bumping into one another and plates falling. In a poorly organized kitchen, food preparation can take longer and there are more chances of mismatched orders.
If a restaurant kitchen isn’t laid out well, you may be losing out on space that could be put to good use. If you are building a new commercial kitchen or renovating your existing restaurant’s kitchen space, it is important to design your space efficiently. This will keep your customers happy and help your business run smoothly.
What is an efficient kitchen?
A kitchen designed strategically to allow back-of-house employees to work consistently and productively is an efficient kitchen. In an efficient, well-designed kitchen, distances between workstations, appliances, and food preparation are minimized. Orders can be prepared faster without overtaxing your staff.
Well-managed is a kitchen that is planned and designed to be efficient. With a few easy steps, any commercial kitchen can run more efficiently with help of diffrent types of mixer attachments.
How To Improve The Efficiency Of Your Restaurant Kitchen
Staff and operators are both interested in running the kitchen of a restaurant more efficiently. Finding ways to streamline your restaurant’s productivity by improving your kitchen dynamic is important.
You can improve the organization and structure of your commercial kitchen by updating layouts and workstations. Here are five ways to run your restaurant more efficiently.
1. Rethink Your Kitchen Layout
To improve your commercial kitchen, the most important thing you can do is to create an efficient layout. Staff can move around the kitchen with ease and easily find everything they need to cook meals. Consider keeping the distances between appliances and workstations as short as you can without straining your staff’s mobility.
Imagine the triangle formed by your fridge, stove and sink. Each area should be easily accessible, and there should be enough space between them so that your employees don’t feel crowded. The triangle formed by the sink, stove and refrigerator should allow you to move around without too many steps.
You can still arrange your kitchen in a more efficient way, even if you cannot change certain permanent features. Consider using movable desks to create a triangle layout in your kitchen. Workstations should be placed near the sink, stove, and fridge in your kitchen.
2. Set Up An Efficient Inventory System
A good inventory system will improve the efficiency of your commercial kitchen. An efficient inventory system will help your employees to avoid mistakes, and to keep track of which ingredients are going to waste or need to be replenished. It can be detrimental for your customers to have ingredients that are out of date or hard to get during busy times like lunch and dinner.
Track your inventory daily or weekly to create an effective inventory system. Assign one member of staff to do the kitchen inventory. Rotate staff as necessary. You’ll be able to identify what ingredients are going to waste and which ones need to get replaced. Labeling your inventory makes it easier to find specific ingredients. Stocking inventory in an easily accessible, visible area near your workstations or on shelves will streamline the order preparation process.
FIFO, or the first in,first out method, allows you to organize an inventory system that minimizes waste and food spoilage. Label and place the first items you receive in your dry storage or shelves. Sort the items that arrive later at the back. Create a food waste sheet and label inventory items according to date so that you can keep track of when your inventory is going bad.
3. Create efficient workstations
The workstations in your commercial kitchen are where the back of house staff spends the majority of their time. Divide a commercial kitchen into workstations to ensure that your restaurant runs smoothly.
A kitchen with 5 workstations is efficient.
- Preparation
- Cooking
- Cleaning
- Food Storage
- Non-Food Storage
The workstations should be located in the kitchen according to their purpose. Your cleaning station, for example, should be located near the sink and dishwasher. Your preparation station, meanwhile, should be near the fridge or your inventory area. And your cooking station, near larger appliances or stovetops. Store perishable items and items that are frequently used in your food storage area. Miscellaneous items, such as containers or extra takeout items, should be kept in your non-food station.
Set up each station properly by providing all the tools and inventory needed. To give employees enough space to work, countertops should be kept as clear as possible. If you organize each workstation prior to use, it will allow your staff to keep a smooth flow for order preparation, cooking and plating. This will streamline the order sending out process and increase efficiency. Install shelves and hooks on the wall to hang pots, spatulas or other cooking equipment if you don’t have enough room to store them.
4. Prepare Ahead of Time
Your staff will be most anxious during the busiest times of your restaurant. Prepare ahead of time for the rush at dinner. To maximize productivity in the kitchen, you need to be prepared at all times. Take some time between busy hours, or even before the beginning of the day, to prepare items that you use frequently in the kitchen.
How to prepare ahead in your commercial kitchen
- Chopping ingredients
- Peeling ingredients
- Prepare batches of soups and sauces
- Cooking protein
- Washing dishes
- Sharpening knives
It is useful to assign a member of staff to oversee the kitchen. This will ensure that things run smoothly. A staff member can spend some time checking if the inventory is well-stocked and that workstations and kitchen equipment are clean and in good working order. It is best to check the kitchen before and after opening your restaurant to customers. However, you can also look at your own schedule to see what works.
5. Listen to Employee Feedback
To ensure that your restaurant’s commercial kitchen runs efficiently, it is vital to get feedback from employees about what could be improved. The back-of-house team at your restaurant spends their entire day in the commercial kitchen. Your staff knows the ins-and-outs of your commercial kitchen better than anyone. If you are unsure what to do to improve efficiency, or what works, talk to them.
Hold a meeting with your staff to get feedback about any changes, any improvements to your kitchen and what your employees like or dislike. You can also ask any questions. You can even create a written questionnaire to track the results. Then you’ll have a better understanding of what works in your kitchen and what doesn’t.
Asking your employees what they can do to increase their comfort and productivity at work will help to establish trust, which in turn creates a pleasant working environment. Your restaurant’s success is dependent on the well-being and productivity of your staff.