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Jul

Which Type Of Kitchen Layout Is Best For A Restaurant?

The customers may not see the restaurant kitchen often or at all, but it’s the heart of a restaurant because that’s where the magic happens. The layout will dictate how easy to navigate and use the kitchen will be so choosing the right one is super important. The selection of anything related to commercial kitchens requires proper planning. Apart from the layout, even when you need to hire a commercial kitchen appliance repair expert, you must assess multiple companies before choosing one. Anyways, here are the common restaurant kitchen layouts.

Types Of Commercial Kitchen Layouts

There are five common types of restaurant kitchen layouts and if you’re seeing a restaurant kitchen, its layout is most probably one of these five.

Assembly Layout

The assembly layout is similar to dishes running down a conveyor belt. This allows different components of the dish to be prepared on each station and then it’s assembled. The start of the assembly line is the preparation point and the end of the line is the service line. The cleaning and other prep is done at the back of the assembly line.

It’s a very clean and organized way of preparing foods with lots of components. It also allows lots of people to work in line and get things done fast.

Zone Layout

As the name suggests, a zone-style layout is a kitchen layout in which the entire space is divided into different zones. There is a food prep zone, a serving zone, a service zone, a cleaning zone, a washing zone, and the list goes on.

This layout is also very organized and it helps chefs and other personnel to easily communicate with other people around each zone.

Island Layout

The island layout is just like how it sounds. If you want all of the prep, cooking, and dishing to be done in the center of the room, then an island layout is what you want to go for. The other non-cooking-related things are present on the perimeter of the kitchen.

So, the dishwashing area, cleaning, and cutting area are all on the sides encompassing the area where the food is being cooked. This is an amazing layout if you want to prevent a circular flow in the kitchen and if you want a lot of floor space.

Open Kitchen Layout

An open kitchen layout is a layout in which the kitchen is visible to the guests eating the food. Sometimes, there is no partition, and other times, there is a glass wall sectioning off the kitchen from the guests. So, the view is still visible, but things like smoke and odors won’t reach the guest.

Combining the dining room and the kitchen is a different experience for the guests, who can see their food being prepared in front of them. It also makes the space look bigger and its overall a great way to improve service, at the end of the day.

Gallery Layout

A gallery layout is perfect for small and even bigger spaces. It’s very versatile and it allows a clear path in the middle for the workers to walk easily. All of the food prep is done around the perimeter of the kitchen, leaving lots of room in the middle.

This is amazing if you have cramped spaces to work with and even if you have a bigger kitchen, everything is in one place and the space stays mess-free for longer. The middle is essentially empty whereas everything from the grills to equipment and even the washing stations are on the sides of the wall.

Considerations For Choosing A Kitchen Layout

Now that you know what kinds of layouts are commonly preferred in commercial restaurant kitchens, here are some considerations that you need to keep in mind when going for a specific layout.

Space

You need to figure out how much space you have to make the kitchen layout. If you have a cramped space to work with or if you want a kitchen for a food truck then a gallery layout will be perfect. For larger kitchens, you have the liberty to choose from all of the options mentioned above.

Food Preparation

The next thing you want to consider when choosing a layout for your restaurant kitchen is the food preparation and the types of food your restaurant offers. If there are a lot of components in almost all of the dishes, then an assembly layout will be perfect, because you can gather lots of chefs to work on every component and it’s going to increase speed and the service will be better.

However, if your menu mostly consists of foods with 1 to 2 components, then a zone layout or even an island layout will work, depending on how many chefs you have in the kitchen.

Ease

The next order of importance is the ease of working in the space. Now, this also coordinates with the available space you have for the kitchen. However, it does boil down to how the workers are performing in the kitchen and whether the layout is a source of obstacles for them or not.

This is why choosing the right layout is so important because you want to ensure that the chefs and other personnel on the line aren’t facing any hindrances because of the layout while trying to prepare the food.

Service

The next thing to consider for the perfect layout is the service. Some restaurants are really huge and even walking from the patrons to the kitchen can take a decent amount of time. You want the layout to increase productivity. So, you need to ensure that the food isn’t getting cold sitting at the service station. This is why the layout needs to be in such a way that as soon as the waiter arrives at the service station, you can immediately hand over hot and fresh food to them for the guests.

It might seem pretty simple, but there’s a whole science behind the perfect timing. Also, heating lamps on the service station help to keep the food warm.

Maintenance

Maintenance is another thing that you want to keep in mind. Remember, choosing a layout is one thing, and maintaining said layout is completely different and you want to choose a layout that is easy to clean and maintain as you go.

You don’t want the layout and the stations to be dirty while you’re prepping food on top of them, so this is why it’s important to select a layout that’s not only functional but easy to clean as the food gets prepared.

Ergonomics

You want to ensure that the layout increases productivity and leads to better work without compromising anything about the chefs either. The layout needs to be big enough to hold a lot of equipment based on the amount of people that flock to your restaurant. There also needs to be better access when it comes to preparing foods.

You don’t want the chef to leave his station and go to the end of the kitchen to grab another pot or knife. That is counterproductive and very inconvenient. So, ergonomic consideration of the layout is vital.

Conclusion

Commercial kitchens are different from residential kitchens and they need to be a certain way to increase productivity. After kitchen designing, you should also hire experienced staff and hire a commercial appliances repair Alexandria company that can regularly maintain your restaurant equipment.