Using Spices To Create Flavorful Meals

Principles For Choosing Efficient Restaurant Equipment

8 August 2017

Martha Mitchell

Your restaurant equipment makes up an important part of your business, both in terms of costs and operations. It makes sense that you would want to get the most bang for your buck as possible. Consider these principles for how to get the best efficiency out of your restaurant equipment.

Invest in Quality

Restaurant equipment isn't an expense you will have every year. So if you are confident and willing to invest in the success of your business, always choose quality over the lowest price when buying new equipment. It will pay you back in many ways, including energy savings and time savings. Plus, high quality equipment makes your restaurant look more professional to customers and employees alike. The best staff don't want to work with low quality equipment.

Consider Energy Ratings

One way you can recoup the costs of your restaurant equipment investment is by finding the equipment with the lowest energy consumption ratings. Your equipment might operate on an almost continuous basis, which makes this part of the equipment evaluation very important—much more important than how you would rate energy savings on a home blender. All equipment should be Energy Star certified and have competitive stats when compared to other brands' models of the same year.

Consider Maintenance and Use Costs

It's worth spending the money for the blender with the more sturdy arm or the dishwasher that has double the capacity of a slightly less expensive model. Consider that the costs of using this equipment will include your maintenance costs and use costs for years to come. Maintenance needs happen more often when you buy equipment that isn't built to withstand the high demands you place on it. Equipment that takes your employees twice as long to use is costing you twice as much in recurring payroll expenses.

But on the flip side, you must evaluate whether there are cheap, temporary solutions to problems you might face with equipment. It might not be a worth it to buy a freezer that's twice as much money in order to prevent breakdowns. If you have a good emergency ice supplier ready to go in case of a freezer malfunction, this can be a more cost-effective solution that doesn't require as much upfront investment.

Look at Technology

Take a look at the cool technologies that are being designed to streamline restaurant performance. For dishwashers, it's machines that recover some of the heat used in washing and apply it elsewhere. For fire safety, it's finely tuned sprinklers that use compressed air to put out fires. For heating and cooling equipment, it's devices that use occupancy sensors to keep the space at the correct temperatures.

There is plenty to discover in the line of new restaurant equipment, so do spend some time looking at what's available in your price range. It will pay off, and it's a task you only have to do once every 5-10 years in most cases.

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