When it comes to storing your food and preparing the restaurant’s daily menu, the best thing to do is to keep everything cool. A good fridge is one of the most important components of the food service industry.
You may be an operator of a food cart or an owner of a 5-star restaurant, and you need the right refrigeration system to preserve your products. Keeping the food cool will also protect the taste, prevent any waste, and ensure the quality of the product you are serving to your customers.
Because this kind of system is essential, fridges are the focal point of this article. You can know more information about the right system when you visit the Iron Mountain Refrigeration website and get more tips on choosing the one that fits your needs. What you need to know are the following:
Know the Right Size for your Business
The fridge will save you a lot of money because it will reduce food wastes. However, for many, they need to run their appliances all the time, and it’s considered an extra expense through power usage. What you need to do is to get the right size that covers your needs.
If you install a system that’s too big, you may be paying for the empty compartments and hamper everyone’s way if you have a narrow space in the restaurant. If you buy one that is too small, you may not have enough room for all the meat and veggies that you store and risk them going all to waste.
The first step that you need to take is to measure the size of the room. Record the measurements of the room’s width, length, and height. Once you have an idea of the room, you can estimate the size of the fridge that will fit in the area. Know more tips about choosing a refrigerator on this site here.
Find the Right Commercial Units for your Business
If you are in the food service industry, you need two or more refrigeration units if several employees are serving various foods. The reach-in freezers may be handy for meat that needs to go to the fryers and broilers. These are handy and easy to clean, as well.
However, while the reach-in types are used in partnerships with fryers and broilers that produce heat, it’s still best if you keep some distance among them. This way, you can prolong the lifespan of your appliances and lower your energy bills every month. If you can’t separate the heat-producing broilers from your fridge, you may want to get a metal divider that can control the temperature between them.
Your walk-in freezer can be ideal for bulk item storage. You may have extra space, and you can make the most of this type of appliance. Once you have entered a freezer space, you may want to arrange everything in a first-in, first-out policy to prevent wastes. This way, you’ll have more than enough products for unexpectedly busy days.
There are commercial refrigerated preparation tables that you can convert as storage or workstations. These are ideal if you are running a salad or sandwich station. You can stock the tabletop with ingredients and dipping sauces and fill the base with the back-up supplies.
Tips to Save Energy
You may find that your energy bills increase each month because of the oven, grills, coolers, and other appliances to create your entrees on the menu. However, the good news is that you can still save on your energy bills by following these tips.
Start with the Right Appliance – It may be time to replace your equipment, and if so, it’s important to look for models that are certified by the energy board in your area. For example, there are certifications granted by ENERGY STAR in the US that lets you save more than $10,000/year.
Maintenance is Crucial – If there’s no budget for buying a new piece of refrigerator today, you can always reduce your expenses by doing maintenance on the existing models. You need to ensure that the doors of the freezer are completely closed, and there are no leaky gaskets. Replace the missing knobs on the appliances and take time to get professional service for them that can translate into huge savings.