New Year, New Kitchen
Kitchen design. It causes enough headaches in your own home, let alone your business. It can be a daunting task, that is often overdue and considered after the busy “party season”. As suppliers of catering equipment and designers of commercial kitchens within the public and private sectors, we at Alliance put together the following three tips to help when designing a commercial kitchen.
Tip One – Always Consult a Professional
Naturally the first step is to consult a kitchen design company. When we get a call for a potential redesign, we will firstly send a capital equipment specialist to meet the customer. Prior to a meeting we would recommend individuals always prepare by reviewing their kitchen and making a wish list of items wanted and not wanted. This means when a specialist comes and views the kitchen you can make them aware of your requirements and whilst viewing the area available, they can consider what you’ve mentioned.
Using a professional company also gives you the confidence your new kitchen will adhere to health and safety laws. Equally, they should ensure the design is compliant with hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) regulations to prevent cross-contamination of food.
Tip Two – Consider Efficiency & Flow
The above point features creating a wish list of what you may want in a kitchen, this tip looks into the actual mechanics your staff face using it. Any professional you use should understand the natural process food undergoes from storage to prep to cooking. The best way to promote natural flow is by dividing the kitchen into “zones” (i.e. food prep, cooking, serving, washing), allowing staff to operate within a specific area, reducing the risk of accidents. Separation of stations also decreases meal preparation times by improving kitchen efficiency.
Tip Three – Perform Your Checks
An aspect we have briefly touched upon is making sure your designer understands and observes the various regulations associated with kitchen design. Whilst a design is being drawn up a HACCP check needs to be carried out to ensure the layout does not pose a risk of cross contamination, particularly essential when serving large volumes of customers daily. A core suggestion of HACCP’s is the separation of areas where raw and cooked meat are prepared and stored.
Other checks to be considered tie in with health and safety, for example designs must account for emergency service and equipment access, along with ventilation and air extraction points too.
Over Twenty Years’ Experience
These three tips are key considerations we would recommend based upon the experience we have gained designing commercial kitchens for the hospitality industry and public sector over the last 20 years. At Alliance we have a team of capital equipment specialists who have superior knowledge and industry understanding where kitchen design is concerned. This coupled with our in-house design and capital equipment teams means we can survey the site, create the designs, provide the equipment and install the kitchen for you as a single project. For more information or to speak with one of our Capital Equipment Specialists to see how we can assist you with your next kitchen project, call Alliance on 01270 252333 or email us at hello@allianceonline.co.uk.