Commercial kitchens play an important role in the world. If you are thinking about opening one up, you should know what you’ll need and what the term means.
Licensing The Kitchen
One of the primary things that make commercial kitchens different from your own kitchen is that it is licensed and inspected. This process begins from the very start of your plans. When you are designing that kind of space, you might choose to work on your own or go for another option which is to opt for a skilled designer to help the process along.
As you do, you’ll need to work with a local inspector. Their job is to ensure that all of your plans meet all necessary local and other standards when it comes to safety, functionality, and hygiene.
Periodic Inspections
Another hallmark of the commercial kitchen is that such kitchens must undergo periodic inspections. As these are kitchens designed to serve large groups of people, the inspector is looking for certain things as they examine your space.
This includes clean surfaces as well as adherence to proper storage methods for items that are not in use right now. If you own a retail food company your kitchen will be examined by someone from the municipal or your county health department. If you own a wholesale business, you can expect this process to be done by the federal or your state department of agriculture.
Professional Equipment
Commercial kitchens like those from Lightspeed are all about the use of equipment that is designed to handle large numbers of diners and do so as efficiently as possible. A commercial kitchen typically has lots of professionals working there at the same time. This means constant movement and motion in the kitchen.
For example, one chef might be pulling items out to season while another is grilling proteins for today’s special. This means that such kitchens are designed to handle many activities at once. They’re also designed with safety in mind at every turn. A burner in a kitchen of this type will reach hotter temperatures than the one in your own kitchen. That helps ensure that all germs are kept at bay and no one gets food poisoning.
Many Items
A kitchen of this type will also typically include several items rather than a single one. You have a single fridge at home. The commercial kitchen typically has more than one. They’ll also have things you might only find in this type of kitchen. For example, items need to be served at the correct temperature. Hot foods need to be served hot and cold foods must be served cold.
They’ll have machines that let food get frozen quickly and heated quickly. They’ll also have more than one sink. That allows for the upkeep of sanitary standards at all times. It also makes things easy to clean at night when people are leaving to head home.
These kinds of kitchens play a vital role in the global food sector.