When you're newly appointed to a management position at a restaurant, one of the tasks that you'll want to undertake is assessing the efficiency of how the kitchen runs. In the restaurant business, time is money — and if there are inefficiencies in how the kitchen operates, it could be costing you customers. Pay special attention to the appliances such as your commercial refrigerator. In assessing its efficiency, you're not checking on how well the appliance itself runs, but rather how the kitchen staff members interact with it. Here are some different ways that you might be able to improve the situation.
Move The Fridge
Thinking outside the box is one way to improve the efficiency of any business, so don't be afraid to change things up by moving the location of the fridge. It's not necessarily in the best position; it may just have been set up where it currently sits years ago without anyone giving careful thought to streamlining the kitchen process. For example, if the fridge is a considerable distance from the food preparation areas, staff members will be wasting time walking back and forth. Similarly, if staff have to move out of the way when other people need to access the fridge, it's inefficient. You may be able to move the fridge to a better spot to avoid these problems.
Set Up A System For The Fridge's Contents
The interior of a commercial fridge in a restaurant's kitchen should be highly organized. Each second that a cook spends searching for an item wastes valuable time and threatens to annoy a customer who is waiting on his or her meal. Work with your kitchen staff to develop the best system for organizing the contents of the fridge. Items that the staff members commonly use should be placed on the fridge's middle and upper shelves so that they're easily accessible, while ingredients that aren't as common can be on the bottom.
Schedule Regular Evaluation Of Contents
It's easy for certain items to get pushed to the rear of the fridge, where they can get overlooked and sit until they spoil. Food wastage costs you money, so set up a system in which a kitchen staff member regularly evaluates the contents of the fridge. This could occur each day before service, for example. If he or she identifies items that need to be used, they could potentially be incorporated into a daily special.
For more information, contact companies like Refrigeration & Food Equipment Inc.
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