When it comes to streamlining a commercial kitchen's efficiency, time-saving restaurant equipment is a must! In this guide, we share expert advice on must-have, time saving tools for your commercial kitchen.
1. Speed Ovens
A sure time saver is the speed oven. Speed oven units make the most out of efficiency by combining microwave technology with conventional oven features, and can cut cooking time down by up to 30 percent! Many speed ovens are equipped with an easy touch panel, which makes choosing settings quick and easy as well. Establishments that want the power of a large conventional oven - without using the time and space, can benefit from a speed oven. Speed ovens can be used to prepare:
- Rotisserie
- Steak
- Poultry
- Vegetables
2. Food Processors
Food processors can take the grunt work out of many tasks. Prep work such as dicing, shredding, grating and chopping can become tiring when dealing with large quantities of food items. Food processors work using a blade that rotates at high speeds to reduce hours of work into minutes. They can cut your prep time in half, literally. Food Processors come in various brands that include, but are not limited to, Vitamix, Robot Coupe, Waring and Vollrath. Here are some tasks that can be alleviated by investing in one of these nifty kitchen tools:
- Slicing/chopping vegetables
- Grinding spices, dried fruit, and seeds
- Pureeing soups
- Mixing dough
3.Pressure Cookers
Pressure cookers save time, energy and cooked food’s nutritional value – what’s not to love? This kitchen appliance works by trapping steam in which increases cooking temperature.
Higher cooking temperatures cook food faster – up to 50 percent faster, making it a green option! Of course shorter cook times can cut your energy costs down as well, making the pressure cooker a winning option for any commercial kitchen. Pressure cookers are great for preparing rice, grains, meat and beans.
4. Ice machines
Another cornerstone of every commercial kitchen is an ice machine. Having a reliable ice machine is critical for keeping things moving in your busy kitchen. They may often be taken for granted, but when they break down the kitchen process can fall apart (and it just isn't practical to keep filling up ice trays). A quality commercial ice machine constantly makes clean, crisp ice that is great for numerous tasks – from properly cooling food to icing refreshing drinks for customers. A programmable ice machine such as a Manitowoc Indigo Series can allow you to set ice creation based on the time of day or day of the week, helping to ensure you always have ice when you need it without making ice when you don’t.
5. Dish Machines
Who can disagree that dishwashers save us all valuable time? In a commercial environment where space permits, a high temp dish machine with the power to tackle a high volume of dishes can be a great investment. Dish machines can work faster than staff members, be more thorough, and reduce safety hazards such as an employee getting cut or items not being sanitized correctly.
Saving Time Made Simple
Running a busy restaurant takes a lot of hands, hard work, and resources, including the most valuable resource – time. Finding time-saving appliances, will allow you to be more efficient, successful, and innovative. With the time you save, you can give more to your customers, build stronger relationships, nurture a stronger team of staff members, and so much more. What will you do with the new time you’ve made?