8 Tips on Restaurant Warewashing
- Apr 25, 2019
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When it comes to washing the array of restaurant wares necessary for food preparation and service, the dishwasher area and equipment you use makes a difference in cost and efficiency, as well as the look of your dishes. With lots of commercial dishwashers available today that are a lot more powerful, vary in size, capacity and power. We take a look at 8 tips on restaurant warewashing.
#1 The Advantages of a New Dishwasher
With the advancements in technology, design, and water efficiency, the new dishwashers available are much more efficient than they were several years ago. Today’s dishwashers are fully insulated and require a lot less water. The new dishwashers use approximately 100 gallons in a one hour cycle, whereas the models that were designed more than a decade ago used thirty-three percent more water. At 300 gallons of water per hour in the older units, plus the chemicals and energy required for a cleaning cycle, when you consider the improvements of today’s designs, costs are reduced significantly.
#2 Consider Long-term Costs
If you’re in the market for a dishwasher and have a limited budget, then perhaps you are considering a low-temperature dishwasher. These machines are designed to utilise chemicals for sanitisation versus water temperature; and while the upfront cost of the low-temperature models may be more budget-friendly, in the long run the cost of cleaning chemicals will increase your expenses substantially.
If at all possible, invest in a high temperature dishwasher from the beginning. Not only are dishes sanitised at 180˚F, dishes come out free of spots or streaks, providing you with sparkling attractive wares. Also, with fewer chemicals involved, it alleviates chlorine residue, which can affect the tastes of food and beverages.
#3 The Matters of Dishware Placement
Restaurants use an array of dishware including plastic, metal, glass, china, melamine, and insulated. The various materials dry differently in the dishwasher, which should be taken into consideration when making a dishwasher purchase.
When designing your dishwashing area determine the needs for your facility. Varying designs range from single-rack to multi-rack models. Additional features include a blower accessory for drying dishes and models with designated drying racks. Larger facilities often opt for a rack conveyor design along with a designated washer or glassware and pots.
#4 Energy Options
Dishwashers require a good supply of energy to appropriately heat the water. If you use electricity for heat, research the possibility of utilising the area’s steam utility resources to reduce the cost of electrical heating.
#5 Capacity and Effectiveness
When you’re looking at dishwashers, you’ll notice that manufacturers use industry-standard calculations. This allows them to show a rating for each dishwasher, explaining how many plates or dishes it can wash in an hour. You’ll find such numbers on the spec sheet for the dishwasher.
However, you don’t want to bottom out. If you need to be able to wash 100 plates an hour, for instance, you should consider bumping up to a dishwasher that can handle a load slightly larger than this. That’s because filling a dishwasher up to maximum capacity isn’t always ideal. Plus, wine glasses and different shapes and sizes of dishes makes these numbers slightly less than exact.
Thinking about how you serve food, the average number and sizes of dishes, and how you will load them into the washer will help you select the best washing mechanism—it could be a single rack, high-capacity drawer, or an automated conveyor.
#6 Full or Limited Service?
Another key consideration when shopping for a dishwasher is how many meals you generally serve during a day of operation. If you serve three every day, you need a dishwasher able to clean and drive serve ware before the lunch rush comes around. This might mean higher capacity and efficiency to get the job done.
On the other hand, if you have plenty of serve ware and maybe just serve 1 or 2 meals a day, you might get away with a lower capacity dishwasher or one that takes longer.
#7 Consider Ventilation
Most codes will require you to install a hood for ventilation to capture the steam escaping from the dishwasher. Sometimes, this can prove impractical to do. If that’s the case in your kitchen, you can choose a ventless machine. There aren’t as many options in the world of ventless dishwashers, but they are very helpful if you can’t install a hood. They condense the steam with cold water before it gets the chance to enter your wash room.
#8 Change Your Waste Disposal
Rethinking how you dispose of scraps can prove to be very economical and better for processes as a whole. A traditional sink with a pre-scrapping nozzle is going to use a lot of water. Instead, a recirculating setup will feed into a disposal system or a collector or waste pulper of some sort.
These solutions can save you on water use and how much you pay to dispose of kitchen waste. If you use a conveyor wash, consider a prewash section to save time, reduce detergent use, and get better washes.
Visit our Warewashing ranges from meiko, winterhalter and more brands today.
Photos originally published by winterhalter.