Whether it’s a rush season or not, maintaining the equipment of a restaurant is super important, especially if you don’t want things to break down on you or the chefs at the last minute. So, you need commercial appliances repair experts to inspect your equipment regularly. Here is how you can manage restaurant equipment maintenance more easily and reduce the risk of failure at the worst time.
Keep It Organized
You need to keep a maintenance list. You may be thinking: what does it mean? Well, a maintenance list is a reference list for anyone who works in a restaurant and they can use this list as a guide as to which equipment needs attention immediately, what equipment is long overdue in maintenance, and which ones can go without maintenance for today.
This also gives the workers in the restaurant a bit of an idea as to how they can maintain said equipment, even if the manager or authoritative bodies are not there.
Be Quick In Action
The key to successful management of risk, when it comes to restaurant equipment, is the fact that you’re quick in action. You don’t want to sit around and wait for the equipment to break down on you. That’s not how risk management works in the food service world.
You or the concerned expert need to be on their feet and ready to start the maintenance, way in advance, so that the restaurant can work smoothly and there are no hiccups in the restaurant kitchen operation.
Regular Maintenance
If you don’t want equipment to break down on you, it’s a good idea to keep maintenance in mind. A lot of the time, and yes that happens, restaurants managers or staff put maintenance of the equipment on the back burner and forget about it altogether.
That’s not going to lead to smoothly operating restaurants. So, you should be on top of your maintenance game. Instruct the staff members and chefs that whenever they see an appliance is slightly misbehaving, they report it to you or consult a designated professional for it.
Involve More People
It’s not just the duty of the restaurant owner or manager to take care of the maintenance of equipment unless you want all of the burden to fall on your shoulders. This is where proper training comes in handy, because the more people there are to take care of an equipment issue, the better it is.
This is why you must be training the staff and chefs to be self-reliant when it comes to equipment maintenance so that they don’t sit around waiting for help to come when they can easily take care of minor problems in the equipment on the spot and only leave bigger issues for appliance repair experts to handle.
Make A Cost Plan
Let’s be real, maintenance costs a lot and you need to spend some money if you want every single piece of equipment in your restaurant to be good and ready to go. This is why it’s so crucial to be organized when making a budget for maintenance. If you make a budget or cost plan for maintenance, it will give you a solid idea as to how much you should spend.
As you’re running a restaurant, you can also have dedicated maintenance staff or independent technicians who you can call up and have them come over and check your equipment from time to time. This is also going to be less expensive than scouring for a maintenance expert every single time because you can strike a deal with them at the first meeting.
Think Of The Future
If you’re not maintaining your equipment, just because it “costs a lot”, then you’re not fulfilling the key duty of a restaurant owner/manager. Fixing commercial equipment isn’t just about the money. It’s so much more than that. You need to think about the smooth running of the restaurant. There’s nothing more frustrating than restaurant workers who can’t work efficiently just because the equipment is not in working condition.
Temperature Checking
This is probably one of the biggest risks of an equipment failure and that’s temperature overload. If you don’t know the basics, like on what temperatures the refrigerators, freezers, etc., operate, then you’re ruining the equipment by yourself. Similarly, your staff should know important things about operating deep fryers, ovens, steamers, freezers, ice dispensers, and other appliances and how they can detect and fix some minor problems. Plus, educate the staff on temperature tracking of appliances and keeping a maintenance checklist.
If they see the slightest change in the temperature or the performance of an equipment, then it’s a good thing to be alert because something could be wrong and if it’s not fixed by an expert, things will take a turn for the worst.
Narrow Down The Equipment
Some restaurant equipment is more important than others. Here are some equipment that need to be maintained well, otherwise you’re failing at the task of managing risks.
Deep Fryers
Deep fryers are used in a majority of restaurants, if not all, and they have a lot of components that can need some attention, from time to time. This is why you need to look out for signs that show that the deep fryer isn’t working properly and that you need to maintain it. The signs can include the burners not working properly, the oil basket leaking from somewhere, the wastage of oil, and other similar things.
Ovens & Stove Tops
If you thought deep fryers hold great importance in the kitchen, then you might not know how much impact cooktops and ovens have in a kitchen. They are the working limbs of a kitchen and if they are not in an excellent shape, then that’s a huge blunder on your side.
If the burners are clogged, the knobs aren’t working properly, or the gas or electricity connections are faulty and hanging on by a thread, then you need to get to maintaining these things right away because your restaurant probably can function without a deep fryer, but it certainly can’t, if the ovens and cooktops aren’t working.
Hoods
The last thing you want is smoke filling up the entire kitchen and restaurant and the one thing that avoids all of this fuss is a stovetop hood. The hood is responsible for keeping the smoke out of the restaurant and ejecting it through a proper passageway.
However, sometimes, these hoods might also need some attention. You need to regularly check whether the pipes are clogged or not and whether the smoke is being ejected out or going through another passage.
Extinguishing Devices
A restaurant kitchen is a place where fires are always blazing, so it can be a walking hazard anywhere and anytime. So, having automatic extinguishing devices are extremely important because they can save your kitchen from being up in flames.
These devices, however, can only work properly if you maintain them timely. This is why you should make it a habit to check the detectors, sensors, and the devices themselves regularly and if there’s a slightest hint that it’s not working correctly, then off to maintenance it goes.
Conclusion
Kitchen appliances and equipment are the heart and soul of a restaurant and you don’t want to be ignoring their problems, so create an equipment care plan and share it a commercial kitchen appliance repair Alexandria expert. Moreover, experts can also suggest when to repair or inspect various equipment.