5 Signs Your Restaurant Equipment Needs Maintenance

Every single piece of equipment in a restaurant must be well-maintained for it to work effectively. In case of oversight or negligence, you may experience low productivity and efficiency and even rising costs of operations in some cases. You may have heard of many cases where restaurants had to be closed due to broken-down equipment.

Hence to prevent this from happening and keep your restaurant running smoothly, you must ensure that your equipment is well-maintained. However, the question is how to tell if the equipment needs maintenance! If you are wondering the same, read this article to get the answers you are looking for.

Equipment Performance Has Decreased

The restaurant equipment needs to be efficient if you want to provide good services to the customers. Like any other appliance, the performance of kitchen equipment too may falter over time if you do not maintain it properly. So, if you have not serviced it in a while, you may notice that your kitchen appliances are not performing as well as they should be. For instance, the refrigerator may not be cooling properly; the oven may not cook food as well as it used to, or the temperature may not be consistent.

Non-maintained units are unable to handle the demands and rigor of fast-paced restaurant operations, and their inefficiency can hinder the operations of the restaurant and affect your performance and quality of services. If the kitchen equipment is interfering with production efficiency, it costs money and may cause you to lose customers.

Equipment Looks Unclean

It is common for kitchen equipment to get dirty when in use. Greasy hands, oil stains, and food spills are all common occurrences in any busy restaurant kitchen. However, if the equipment looks exceptionally untidy and you have stubborn layers of grease or dirt on the surface or dirt clogged in joints and hinges, these are tell-tale signs of neglect. This can happen if the equipment is not cleaned and serviced regularly. If left neglected, this can affect food quality and even result in appliance breakdown, causing you to spend money on replacing the equipment.

Hence, you should make sure to clean all the equipment thoroughly regularly. Remove all the dirt and grease from the surfaces of equipment, including fryers, vents, air filters, grills, and cooking ranges. Also, clean out your fridge and freezer regularly. Set a cleaning schedule and assign tasks for accountability.

Food Quality Has Deteriorated

If a restaurant serves good food, customers will keep coming back for more. However, if your restaurant food is not fresh or is cooked inconsistently due to poor maintenance of the fridge, oven, and range, you may notice an increase in dissatisfaction and customer complaints. There may also be an increase in the number of dishes being returned to the kitchen due to customer dissatisfaction.

To resolve the problem, identify the cause of the decrease in food quality and assess the condition of the appliance in question.

Food Wastage Has Increased

Food safety and hygiene are always a priority in the restaurant business. If you find that the food in the restaurant fridge is going bad constantly, even before its expiry or serve-before date, leading to an increase in the amount of food wastage, it is a sign that the refrigerator or freezer is not cooling as it should be. Serving stale food not only poses a risk to customer safety but also reflects poorly on the business. If you are facing a similar situation, get your refrigerator or freezer checked to see if it needs repair. If these appliances have not been serviced for a long time, do not delay their maintenance anymore.

Accidents Have Increased

You may suddenly notice an increase in accidents in your restaurant kitchen. For example, if the restaurant’s portable sink or commercial fridge leaks, there may be frequent slips or falls due to water on the floor. Similarly, if there is a problem with the electrical connection of the oven, you may even get cases of electrical shocks.

Moreover, you may also notice increased cuts or burns from the kitchen equipment if it is rusty or has jagged edges. All such instances are examples of work-related injuries that are not only dangerous for the staff but can also affect your insurance and are bad for the business. All these can be avoided if you maintain your restaurant’s equipment regularly.

Final Thoughts

Regular cleaning and maintenance may seem like a hassle, but if the equipment breaks down due to poor maintenance, you may have to incur even higher expenses to replace the equipment, in addition to poor reviews due to low food quality. In some cases, you may even find yourself in trouble with the food authority as the food must be maintained at a certain temperature as a safety regulation, and you may be found to violate the regulation if your restaurant’s refrigerator and freezer are not cooling efficiently.

Having a maintenance schedule enables you to ensure that regular repair and maintenance work is done on all the kitchen equipment. This way, you can detect problems before they escalate and prevent breakdowns.

Also, Read – Exploring The Benefits And Challenges Of Restaurant Franchising