The Right Restaurant Equipment Helps You Cut Down On Maintenance

Your restaurant equipment costs you money in more than one way. There is, obviously, the cost of buying the equipment to begin with. Then, there are routine maintenance and repair costs. Then, there are the labor costs that come with maintaining equipment. And finally, there is the cost of wasted labor when employees are working with inefficient or poorly-maintained equipment. But, interestingly, spending your money wisely on the initial equipment purchase can help you reduce your spending in all of these other maintenance categories. Here's how to choose equipment wisely.

Don't Choose the Lowest-Priced Supplier

First of all, any cheap equipment you purchase will come back to haunt you. If you have to replace 100 bowls per year, you might have been able to go with the higher-priced, more durable items for the same cost. If your refrigerator is breaking down all of the time and spoiling food, you're losing a lot more money than you might have bargained for. Espresso machines that break down frequently may cost you customers and frustrate employees. It's better to solicit reviews of various equipment and spend the extra money on Vollrath equipment suppliers or a similar set of high quality equipment that you can bank on.

Don't Use More Equipment Than You Need

All machines have maintenance schedules. Are you sure you're producing your products as efficiently as possible? Can you find a machine that handles all of your mixing functions, rather than using various blenders or mixers for different products? You'll cut down significantly on time, but also on cleaning costs.

Evaluate Costs of Disposable vs Reusable Carefully

Sometimes, you can save money by having disposable supplies rather than having the equipment to sanitize and wash your supplies. For example, consider frozen dessert supplies. Paper and plastic can be viable options instead of more durable containers, and it might leave you the money to deal with these items sustainably (i.e., provide options for recycling).

Evaluate and Replace

Finally, you might want to analyze which pieces of kitchen equipment are causing your employees the most grief on a regular basis. If you're receiving a lot of complaints about the same espresso machine, or people are continually bringing back drinks made with a specific piece of equipment, those are going to be your priorities for replacement. But you can track these patterns more easily if you are consistent about writing them down every single time.