You need to make your culinary concept a reality. Designing your commercial kitchen is a significant undertaking, whether you are starting your first restaurant or growing a franchise. There are numerous factors to take into account, including storage capacity, food preparation areas, functionality, and aesthetics. However, the layout is only one aspect of commercial kitchen design.
To learn the fundamentals of planning your commercial kitchen, keep reading.
Although we’re happy you’re excited about building your future eatery, that won’t be the first step in starting or expanding your restaurant empire. Here are a few things you ought to think about initially.
Space
What matters is where you are. It will influence who you serve and have a big impact on your restaurant’s performance. Even the type of food you serve might be affected.
It’s crucial to take the physical space into account in addition to the geographical location. Are you starting from scratch? Are you remodelling a place from the second generation? The answers to these inquiries will influence your timetable, financial plan, and ultimate restaurant layout.
Menu
The enjoyable part is now. It’s ideal to have a theme in mind and a thorough understanding of the food you’re serving before constructing your kitchen, though you don’t need to have every side and garnish down.
Why? because a “standard” commercial kitchen doesn’t exist. Although there are some similar components (prep tables, pot washing stations, etc.), no two kitchen floorplans are exactly the same. Each is (or ought to be) specifically created to complement the concept and menu. Fast service and high throughput are essential for quick-service restaurants. To keep order, fine-dining kitchens require separate stations. Additionally, a pizzeria is unimaginable without a pizza oven.
If you haven’t already, schedule a meeting with your chef and the foodservice staff to finalise the menu and begin planning your kitchen flow.
Local Health Codes & Safety Regulations
Do your homework on the laws, ordinances, and safety standards you must take into account before beginning any design. There are laws governing food safety at the federal, state, and local levels, and you must abide by them all.
Work your way down from federal regulations in the beginning. The FDA outlines food safety issues, whereas OSHA has safety regulations for the placement of fire alarms, exits, and pathway lengths.
It’s best to schedule a meeting with an inspector before you start work, particularly when dealing with local laws. It might take a lot of time and money to follow these guidelines, especially when you have to make corrections. By contacting professionals in commercial kitchen design early on, you can streamline the process.
You have the space and the menu, and you have a good handle on safety codes. Congratulations, you’re ready to design your professional kitchen. Here’s where you should start.
Measurements
To begin laying out your kitchen, you need more than just square footage. Take into account everything, including electrical outlets, plumbing, and entrances. When developing your new design and choosing the budget and schedule, these will all need to be considered.
Even the smallest metrics matter—and it’s easy to forget them. Consider the distance between the kitchen and bathroom or the area between the light switches and the entryway. Every measurement is crucial since each of these elements must be a specific distance apart to comply with the standards.
Think about using 3D scanning services to create the greatest and most accurate picture of the space. It’s worth the investment, believe us.
Kitchen Layout
You must decide how your commercial kitchen will operate. The kind of restaurant you run has an impact on some of this. Small spaces and quick-service restaurants benefit from an assembly line, but fast-casual chains can prefer an open layout.
Here are a few typical kitchen layout examples:
For restaurants that repeatedly manufacture the same type of product, an assembly line is ideal. Consider pizza parlours or sandwich shops. For speed and consistency, each step of the process has its own station, and each cook is given a specialised role.
Open kitchen/configuration: This design lets consumers see into your kitchen while you prepare food. Use it to impress your consumers with new products, impeccable cleaning, or a creative idea.
Island kitchen design: If you have the room, think about designing a kitchen with a central command post in the centre and appliances around the outside. The island can be used for preparing meals, making last adjustments, or completing orders quickly. Just make sure you provide adequate room so that your crew won’t encounter any difficulties due to the island.
Zoning layout entails creating functional zones in your commercial kitchen. a location for cooking, storing sauces and dishes, etc. Although this design keeps the kitchen orderly, it might be difficult in smaller rooms.
Galley layout: In this arrangement, the walls are lined with equipment and stations, leaving the middle unoccupied. This is effective for tiny kitchens because it makes the most of the space available without cramming your back-of-house workers.
Ergonomic: Every aspect of this floorplan design was created with your employees’ comfort in mind. Your BOH team will move as little as possible because ingredients, utensils, and equipment are all grouped for each operation. Along with increasing employee comfort, restricted movement boosts productivity and lowers accidents.
You’ll need more than just your kitchen’s layout created. Before you can start any building, your restaurant floor plan needs a number of other crucial elements.
Kitchen Equipment
Making your commercial kitchen equipment selection and purchase is another enjoyable but frequently difficult activity.
Here are some things to think about:
Refrigerators
Freezers
processors of food
Mixers
Slicers
Ovens
Ranges
Dishwashers
Sinks
exhaust mechanisms
Ice Makers
Closet Coolers
Fryers
Mixer Ovens
Cases for Refrigerated Displays
Griddles for beverage equipment
Broilers on fire
Ovens with convection
Cabinets for hot holding
Steamtables
Temp-Controlled Prep Tables
Metal Prep Tables
You should also take into account a variety of other specialty kitchen equipment items to satisfy the unique requirements of your menu.
Your choice of goods will have a significant impact on the layout of your commercial kitchen and how much room you have left over for other food preparation activities. Additionally, you should plan the kitchen layout so that everyone on the BOH has easy access to the tools they require.
Putting all of this information into one design can be intimidating, as we are aware. When that happens, it’s time to contact the specialists. Our designers from HPG have taken into account the worries of restaurant owners after hearing about their issues. The specifics you adore will be up for your input, and the rest will be handled by HPG Consulting.