Safety Tips for Your Commercial Kitchen
August 29, 2019Safety tips for your commercial kitchen to keep it running smoothly and keep disease out.
A well-run commercial kitchen means maintaining the utmost cleanliness and safe conditions for your food preparation. If you were to contaminate an area with Salmonella or other dangerous bacteria accidentally, your customers and employees could get very sick. You also need to know how to pass any checks done by the local health department, so your restaurant can operate with full certification.
Ask Yourself, Is My Commercial Kitchen Safe?
Preventing food preparation area accidents:
- Do my employees use a stool or footrest to avoid prolonged standing?
- Do I make stools and footrests available to my kitchen workers?
- Do we rearrange food prep tasks to avoid overreaching?
- Do we use mechanical kitchen appliances for chopping, dicing, or mixing foods to avoid repetitive stress injuries?
- Do we provide approved uniforms, hairnets, and gloves for our employees?
- Do our employees wear uniforms, hairnets, and gloves?
Preventing lifting accidents
- Have my workers been trained to lift with their legs not with their backs, whether it is a light or heavy load?
- Are workers trained to bring bulky items close to their chest so they can stay balanced and eliminate straining?
- Are employees trained to use tilt containers or get help when lifting or pulling fluids or bulky items?
- Are my employees empowered to point out safe and proper lifting techniques to fellow employees?
- Do supervisors take the lead by setting the right example?
Preventing slips, trips, and falls
- Is the kitchen staff trained to mop up spills and wet areas immediately?
- Is kitchen, supply areas, freezer floors, and walkways kept free of clutter?
- Is the proper ladder training provided?
- Do employees know how to use ladders correctly to avoid overreaching and overextending themselves?
- Are employees required to wear proper slip-resistant footwear?
- Is the kitchen floor swept and mopped each night?
Proper Handling
All produce needs to be washed and scrubbed thoroughly before being served. Washing can be done right before serving, as some veggies wilt if removed too far ahead of time. Never use soap or bleach on produce. Coldwater is best. A produce brush for harder items like turnips, carrots, or potatoes is recommended.
Conduct Self Inspections
A good commercial kitchen manager conducts regular self-inspections so that he can make sure to spot problems before they get out of hand. Preparation is especially the case since many kitchen inspections conducted by the authorities are conducted unannounced, making it extra essential to stay prepared.
Renovations: Keeping Your Restaurant Supplies & Costs in Check
Every restaurant owner has to face the reality of renovations at some point. Usually, this is good news – your restaurant is growing, or is successful enough that you can expand. Sometimes it’s just a matter of keeping up with the times, replacing old and damaged...
Build Up Your Employees with Fun Perks
Your employees do a lot for you. You depend on them to follow protocols, serve customers with kindness, and keep your commercial kitchen in top shape. Of course, you provide them with a great working environment. But why not thank them in additional ways – with fun...
Commercial Kitchen Fun: Almost a Dozen Ways to Cook Eggs
Cooking an egg might be one of the most basic kitchen skills around, but that doesn’t mean there’s only one way to do it. If you serve breakfast, you’re probably familiar with quite a few of them. But almost a dozen? That’s worthy of its own egg-only menu! Don’t...
Restaurant Equipment Spotlight: Using Tech to Promote Your Restaurant
You’ve got a great location. Your restaurant equipment is in great shape, and you have excellent employees ready to serve. Your menu is on point, and you’re ready to bring a top-level dining experience to your community. So… where are the customers? Having an...
Holiday Marketing for Your Restaurant
It’s never too early to think about how you plan to market your restaurant for the holidays. Your strategy will vary a lot depending on what type of establishment you have. The restaurant supplies you’ll need will also depend on the type of marketing campaign you...
Things to Instagram About Your Restaurant
A picture is still worth 1,000 words, especially when it comes to marketing. While customers taking endless pictures of their food to post online may frustrate your staff, the truth is it gets the word out about your restaurant. However, you don’t have to rely on your...
Choosing the Right Refrigerator for Your Commercial Kitchen
People who buy refrigerators for their homes often spend weeks researching different models and finding exactly what they need. It’s a major investment for many homes, and it pays to get it right! In your commercial kitchen, you may feel that you don’t have that kind...
Tips for Managing Restaurant Inventory
Does the thought of keeping track of every ingredient and piece of kitchen equipment in your restaurant make you want to hide your head under a pillow? You’re not alone. Keeping track of everything is time-consuming and often overwhelming. And you know how much your...
Restaurant Supplies: Getting Started With a Food Truck
While restaurants grow slowly, the food truck industry has been rocketing with 7.3% growth between 2012 – 2017. Food trucks are great for entrepreneurs because they have a relatively low startup cost and annual overhead compared to other businesses. Customers who...
Commercial Kitchen Fun: Restaurant Bloopers
Making mistakes is part of being human. However, sometimes these mistakes are pretty funny and deserve to be shared with others. There are many things that may not have been funny at the time, but in retrospect give you a smile and reason to be more gentle with...
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: What You Need for Concession Stands
Tis the season for high school football and other fall festivals. Are you in charge of stocking concessions for your local team’s games? Or are you considering opening a concession stand at a local sporting venue, outdoor event, or pool? If you want to provide...
Kitchen Supplies: Should You Go Local With Ingredients?
If you own a restaurant in Little Rock, you’ve certainly heard of the trend toward going local. Local kitchen supplies, local ingredients, even local art as décor. There are a lot of great reasons to buy local – your money will stay in and support your community, for...
Commercial Kitchen Fun: Why Salty & Sweet?
All cooks who consider making desserts know that salty and sweet is a winning combination. Salted caramel shows up in hundreds of recipes. Candy bars combine salted nuts with chocolate. We dip French fries in ice cream. We put pineapple on pizza. People even put salt...
Restaurant Equipment Spotlight: Ensuring Safety in Your Restaurant
A lot happens in your restaurant every day. You have people coming and going all the time. Your employees are constantly moving around, and customers are entering and leaving throughout the day. Unfortunately, with all that activity, there’s also a lot that can go...
Questions to Ask Before You Invest in Kitchen Equipment
When you invest in kitchen equipment, you want to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need and that it will last you a long time. It can be overwhelming to think about everything you need when you’re starting a restaurant. Even if you’re just trying to add or...