Looking After Your Commercial Kitchen: Five Things You Should Consider
August 6, 2025
Running a catering business is a lot of fun, but it’s also no walk in the park. Delicately prepared food your customers love is the end product of a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears, and there’s far more to think about than cooking the food alone.
One of these considerations is your kitchen. Every great caterer needs a commercial-grade space to work in, and like any area with a wide selection of high-end gear, there’s a lot of maintenance involved.
In this article, you’ll learn about five of the most important aspects of looking after your kitchen!
Key Takeaways on Commercial Kitchen Care
- Prioritise Servicing: Regularly servicing your commercial equipment is far cheaper than paying for major repairs. It's a crucial step to prevent unexpected and costly breakdowns.
- Choose Brands Wisely: Before buying, research your options. Get demonstrations, check the guarantee details, and compare prices between different suppliers to find the best fit for your kitchen.
- Clean Thoroughly: A spotless kitchen isn't just for hygiene. Proper daily cleaning prevents grease, rust, and water damage, which helps your equipment last much longer.
- Train Your Staff: Your team must know how to operate all machinery correctly. Proper training prevents user errors that can lead to expensive damage and downtime.
- Focus on Energy Efficiency: Opt for equipment with high energy-efficiency ratings and teach staff to turn things off when not in use. This will lower your bills and reduce your environmental impact.
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1. The Importance of Servicing
Catering equipment servicing is one of the most important parts of running a commercial kitchen. The bigger the machinery you’re using (such as professional fridges, stoves, freezers, and so on), the more expensive the repairs are when something goes wrong, so it’s essential to stay on top of things.
Having a regular service is the best way to prevent issues from happening; it’ll be a fraction of the cost of what a full repair would be, so don’t skip it!
2. Choosing the Right Brands
If you’re in the middle of setting up or upgrading your space, you’ll need to research your brands very carefully.
Reach out to the most popular local suppliers in your area, and have them demonstrate their equipment personally if possible. You should also pay attention to the guarantee and associated clauses, and be sure to compare prices between brands to ensure you’re getting the best deal possible.
3. Clean Things Down Properly
If you’re preparing food for the public, hygiene and cleanliness are of utmost importance from a safety perspective, but it’s also crucial for making your gear last as long as possible.
Grease, rust, and water damage can significantly reduce the lifespan of your equipment, so make sure that at the end of each day, you utilize a proper cleaning protocol to ensure the place is spotless.
4. Teach Your Staff Well
It’s not good enough that your staff are great cooks – they also need to be competent with whatever equipment you have them working with.
Unfortunately, it’s all too common for user error to result in costly repairs, so with anyone you bring on board, be sure to explain everything properly to them so that they’re crystal clear on proper operating procedures.
5. Consider Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency and sustainability is more important than ever these days, both from the perspective of protecting the planet and saving money.
With a whole room or two filled with commercial-grade equipment, you’re going to need to be extra mindful of this stuff. Make sure you check that any gear you buy is highly rated for energy efficiency, and instill habits in your staff to always switch off lights and equipment when not in use.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you’re now a little clearer on what it takes to look after a commercial kitchen. Upkeep will always be a lot of work, but now you have a few pointers for creating a proper maintenance plan. Good luck with your business!
