Managing a commercial kitchen is more than just ensuring all of your kitchen staff craft high-quality dishes. It’s also about making sure your commercial gas stoves and other kitchen equipment are in good working order at the end of the day and last as long as they should.
Your stoves, kitchen tops, counters and ovens should be maintained regularly. And you might also want to schedule a deep cleaning for your commercial kitchen at least once a month. How do you start your kitchen routine maintenance?
Here’s a complete guide to help you.
Why is it important to maintain your commercial kitchen equipment?
Your commercial kitchen equipment is your investment. You need to make sure all of them are in good shape so your kitchen can run smoothly every day. Here are some benefits of maintaining your commercial kitchen.
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It helps you reduce utility costs in the long run.
All your electric and gas equipment needs to be maintained regularly so you can use them more efficiently. Clean commercial kitchen equipment consumes less electricity and gas compared to those without regular maintenance.
Properly cleaning your equipment can avoid machinery conflicts that can affect your kitchen’s overall performance. When all your kitchen equipment is regularly cleaned, it’ll be in good working condition for a long time.
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Avoid future kitchen failures
Unexpected kitchen equipment failures mean everything grinds to a stop for hours or even days. This can lead to lost revenue and unhappy clients/ customers. To avoid any possible major problems in the future, you need to get a trusted commercial appliance service provider to inspect your equipment regularly.
While some of your commercial equipment might still be under warranty, you also need to prepare your budget for any possible problems you might encounter after the warranty lapses. But regular cleaning and testing of your equipment can reduce the risk of kitchen equipment failures in the future.
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Consistent quality in dishes
Delivering quality dishes out to your customers’ table is important. If your kitchen is not maintained, it can affect the quality and taste of the food. A malfunctioning stove or oven might burn the food or leave it raw, or cooked unevenly.
Regularly inspecting and maintaining your commercial gas stove can help you ensure its maximum efficiency in providing good food for your customers.
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Safety
Safety is one of the most important factors to consider when managing a commercial kitchen. Aside from hygienic food preparation, it’s also important to ensure that everything is working properly.
Maintaining clean gas stoves and ovens prevents possible dangerous flare-ups. While your kitchen staff should also take proper precautions when cooking, regularly inspecting your machinery can prevent fire and injury in the first place.
How frequently should you clean your kitchen equipment?
Cleanup is a major part of your kitchen staff’s routine. But while chefs take pride in knowing about their tools and machines, they might not have time or know enough how to inspect and maintain the rest of your kitchen equipment properly.
In this case, you might need to get a professional or have someone trained to oversee your kitchen machinery to ensure that they’re safe to use.
Inspect your ovens, salamanders, fryers and ventilation system at least once every 24 hours. Check the underneath surface to make sure there are no residue or food bits left.
Lubricate the motors of your machines with a food-grade lubricant to maintain them in good working condition while ensuring sanitized machines.
Tips on how to maintain your commercial kitchen equipment
Extensive cleanliness is important in every commercial kitchen. Aside from having unexpected failures, improperly maintained kitchens can also cause different foodborne illnesses. Here are some tips on how you can maintain your commercial kitchen.
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Do intensive cleaning for your gas stove.
Although drops and spills are inevitable when cooking, the kitchen staff make sure the counters and cooktops are clean all the time. This can reduce the risk of grease fires and damages to your commercial gas stove.
However, you might need to do intensive cleaning to your gas stove from time to time to ensure there are no food bits left underneath. Remove the burner parts and clean the cooktop. Wash the burners in the sink and make sure they’re free from residue before assembling them again. Inspect the cooktop if it’s all clean before putting the burner parts back.
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Use vinegar as a cleaning agent.
When cleaning your kitchen equipment, you might want to use a strong cleaning solution that can avoid damage or leave etches on your burners and grates.
White vinegar is a go-to option for cleaning your stove. This is the perfect way to prevent using harsh chemicals for your kitchen equipment. Mix white vinegar with water and spray it to the burners. Wait for about 10-15 minutes before wiping it off with a clean cloth.
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Maintain clean burner channels.
One of the most important factors to consider when cleaning your gas stove is keeping your burner channels clean. You might not notice it, but dirt can build up within the burner cap. Once these parts get clogged, your burners won’t perform well which can cause uneven heating.
Inform your staff, especially any part-time cleaners or dishwashers, how to clean your burners properly. Talk about using a pipe or straw cleaner for cleaning your burner channels and not toothpicks or any other makeshift tools. Toothpicks can easily be broken off which can cause a bigger problem.
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Avoid pouring water into the gas stove.
While it can be tempting to soak your commercial gas cooktop with water, this is something you should never do. Pouring water into the gas stove can cause electrical problems since the water can get through the burners and gas lines. If you need to clean your stove intensively, you should try using a scrubbing agent instead.
You can go for borax or salt for cleaning without ruining the enamel of your stove and grate. After scrubbing, you can wipe it off with a damp cloth to make sure there’s no residue left.
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Sterilize every piece that needs to be cleaned.
Spoons, forks and table knives are the ones that are usually sterilized. But don’t forget the other pieces that need to be sterilized. Gather everything that can be cleaned in pieces. If possible, remove the pot and panhandles and wash them together with the other utensils using a strong detergent. Use a brush to remove excess dirt and rinse them in hot water.
Soak your glass, porcelain and plastic dinnerware in a disinfectant solution with chlorine for 10 minutes while using boiling water for your silverware, metal utensils, pots and pans. You can’t use chlorine bleach with any metal since it will cause them to darken.
After disinfecting your kitchen tools, don’t use towels. Air-dry them before storing them.
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Schedule monthly deep cleaning.
Aside from the daily cleaning routine, you should also schedule deep cleaning at least once a month to ensure the overall cleanliness of your commercial kitchen. Start by dismantling your kitchen equipment like fryer pans, oven and grill trays and other grease-prone items and immerse them in a deep tank of hot water with a degreasing agent.
Pull your equipment out of its places so you can clean it behind and beneath it. You might also need to isolate your electric kitchen equipment and cover the switches to ensure safety before cleaning the floor, walls and ceilings.
Finally, return your kitchen equipment to its original positions and sanitize your cooking area.
Final Takeaways
Your commercial kitchen equipment is your key to provide high quality and safe food to your customers. Regular inspection and maintenance of your kitchen can reduce the risk of damages and unexpected failures. Have you been regularly cleaning your commercial kitchen? Add these tips to your routine!
