Designing the layout of your commercial kitchen is a meticulous process. You need to consider many factors and business attributes. Of the many that you’d have to secure, you need to prioritize five essential factors. Ensuring that these five important factors are considered will absolutely secure that your commercial kitchen’s layout will be fully functional, sustainable, and perfect for all your needs.
1. Space
This factor is the first main thing that you should consider. You should know the space that you’d be working with even before getting into the kind of commercial kitchen layout that you want. You need to start with knowing what you’re working with. The clearer you are with the space that you have, the clearer your design concepts and options would be. You will waste so much time and energy if you’d consider other commercial kitchen layouts that won’t even be compatible with your space. Knowing the space that you would work with simplifies your decision-making process from the start. It will easily streamline your layout options.
One thing that you need to remember is that your space should have a 60-40 ratio — 60% of your business space should be dedicated to your front house while 40% should be dedicated to the back of your house. This is the standard industry guideline. If you have a 500 square feet business space for your restaurant, 300 square feet should be dedicated to your dining area while 200 square feet will be for your kitchen. This means that you’d only have to come up with a working commercial kitchen layout for a 200 square feet space. Clearly knowing this will allow you to effectively plan for everything such as placing your sintered stone dining table in the dining area, which will help you to plan your commercial kitchen.
2. Ergonomics
You should not miss out on considering ergonomics when coming up with a commercial kitchen layout. Being fully aware of ergonomics will allow your commercial kitchen to be efficient and fully functional. Food will be served faster and tasks will be done effectively.
With ergonomics considered, you’d be able to arrange and design a commercial kitchen layout that is fully compatible with how people move and use things. You’d be able to create a space where people and things can interact in a smooth and harmonious way. Shopfitters in Melbourne can help you come up with a smooth commercial kitchen layout design that prioritizes ergonomics.
If you’d consider ergonomics, you’d be able to think about the following:
- How much equipment will you need?
- How need will your equipment be?
- How much space will your equipment take up?
- How many people will be working in the kitchen?
- How do you want your staff to flow through the room? What will be their route?
- How many stations are needed?
- What stations need to be close each other?
3. Safety
Your commercial kitchen should be 100% safe at all times. For this to be possible, you need to design a kitchen that fully considers all required safety regulations and protocols. You should always think about safety on every single design decision that you’re going to make.
Take note of the following:
- Food safety – Your commercial kitchen should be 100% safe for cooking and food consumption. Cleaning chemicals should never be stored near any food or stock. Your receiving should be close to the fridge.
- Local regulations – Ensure that your commercial kitchen fully complies with all local safety regulation on food safety and restaurant management
- Fire safety – You should have fire exits. Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers should be available at all times.
- Staff’s wellness – Have place mats to reduce knee injury and back pain. Your staff will be standing most of the time and you should exert effort in ensuring that they don’t feel any intense body or muscular strain.
- Hygiene protocols – It should be easy for everyone to keep themselves and their area clean at all times. From this perspective, the presence of a well-functioning restaurant commercial sink and efficient dishwasher is particularly crucial for a foodservice establishment. Cleaning materials and disinfecting solutions should be easily accessible.
4. Staff Communication
You can’t possibly come up with a perfect commercial kitchen layout if you’re not going to consider the humans who’d be working in it. Human elements should be highly considered in designing your commercial kitchen. The ideal commercial kitchen layout should be able to make the following possible:
- Easy staff interaction
- Easy staff communication
- Easy overseeing of the kitchen
- Enough personal space for all
Your design should make it easy for your staff to talk to each other. The more open their communication lines are, the more efficient they’d be in completing their tasks. All commands and orders must be clear and you can ensure this by creating a design that allows that. You shouldn’t fill your space with too much equipment that your staff doesn’t feel free to move and be. Your staff needs enough space to tend to their tasks. They always need to be at their 100% while doing work. For this to happen, you should consider everything that will make them feel more at ease and comfortable.
5. Ventilation
Ventilation is key if you want to keep your business afloat during these uncertain times. As the world is still in the middle of a pandemic, it is of prime importance that you consider your commercial kitchen’s ventilation. Good ventilation will ensure that airflow and air quality are best at all times. Incorporate ventilation concepts when coming up with a commercial kitchen layout.