2.1 Delivery
First you need to have a space to receive ingredients from your vendors. For this, make sure you have a loading space outside of your restaurant, where delivery cars and trucks can park. Ideally, this loading space is connected directly to the kitchen through a door. That way, your customers will not be disturbed by the delivery process. However, even if the loading area is not directly connected to the kitchen, it is important for it to be very close to the kitchen with a short amount of time being needed to properly store freshly delivered products. Especially on hot summer days, this is crucial to reduce spoilage of your ingredients.
2.2 Storage
Next, any delivered products must be appropriately and safely stored in designated storage spaces. Besides storing food products, however, you also need storage space for cooking tools, place settings, and cleaning supplies. For this, make sure that you have designated cupboards. In general, it is very important to know your storage system inside-and-out, so that you and your employees are constantly aware of where various items are stored.
2.3 Food preparation
The third step to consider for designing a smooth-running kitchen is ensuring that you have various food preparation areas. Food preparation mainly includes chopping and cutting different ingredients. In doing so, it is crucial to appropriately separate the food preparation areas of different types of foods. For instance, never prepare meat and vegetables on the same cutting board or countertop and never prep dairy-free or nut-free foods where they could come in contact with said allergens. This is especially important if you serve vegan or vegetarian meals, offer halal, or kosher cuisine, or have allergen-free items on your menu.
In addition, make sure that food preparation areas are close to the storage spaces for perishable items. This ensures short walking distances and keeps refrigerated or frozen items as fresh as possible. Moreover, never wash your vegetables, meats, fruits, and other ingredients in the same sink as dirty dishes to prevent unhygienic conditions.
2.4 Cooking
The next step is what most people would consider the key element of a restaurant: cooking the food. The cooking area is where the action happens: boiling, sizzling, frying, and baking. To ensure that your cooking process happens as smooth as possible, it is important to have products that cater to high-volume foods. Being able to cook large portions at the same time benefits the efficiency and overall satisfaction of customers.
We at METRO also recommend installing a digital kitchen order system. That way, any food that is ordered in the dining room of the restaurant and subsequently is entered into a computer or tablet by your service staff automatically appears digitally in your kitchen. Anybody working in the kitchen can then take the orders into account and start the process of preparing the dishes. This eliminates stress and makes sure your ordering process is organized.
2.5 Service
Before your food can be served to customers by your service staff, it needs to be assembled on a plate, organized by table, and kept warm until it is picked up. Thus, your kitchen needs a designated area for this, ideally equipped with heat lamps and near the dining room of your restaurant.
2.6 Dish return and cleaning
Lastly, you need to consider what happens when your plates come back to the kitchen. For this, you need an area to store dirty dishes and properly dispose of food waste. To clean the dirty dishes and the kitchen itself, it is important that your kitchen has
commercial dishwashers,
large sinks, and large drying racks.
