Scheduling regular preventative kitchen maintenance (PKM) and servicing is the best way to keep your commercial kitchen equipment running smoothly and avoid downtime. In this blog post, Advance Catering’s experts offer valuable advice on minimising running costs for commercial kitchen owners.
1. Buy Quality Equipment and Look after It Well
The old saying “you get what you pay for” is especially true when it comes to commercial kitchen equipment. While it isn’t necessary to buy the most expensive equipment, it is essential to ensure that you buy high-quality equipment from a reputable brand that comes with a long warranty. Ensure that every piece of equipment you buy is fit for purpose and can handle the workload.
Train your staff on how to use each piece of equipment properly, take care of it and clean it thoroughly, ensuring they keep everything in good working order. Many kitchen maintenance issues are caused by poor handling of equipment that could have been avoided with better training.
2. Schedule Preventative Kitchen Maintenance
The best way to avoid any downtime is to ensure that your kitchen is regularly serviced and maintained by professional engineers. This will protect you from equipment breakdowns during service and the associated financial and reputational implications. Scheduling regular preventative maintenance is a cost-effective way to keep your equipment up and running and avoid repairs or replacements down the line. While there is an ongoing cost involved with scheduling maintenance visits, you can budget for it in your monthly cash flow. It’s a cost well worth accounting for, as it’ll help you avoid surprise and potentially substantial expenses due to kitchen equipment malfunctions down the line.
How Does Preventative Kitchen Maintenance Work?
Advance Catering completes over 25,000 service calls each year and has been providing preventative kitchen maintenance visits and regular servicing for over thirty years. We use a bespoke IntEquip virtual dashboard to highlight operational issues at a site level, allowing us to ensure that your kitchen continues to meet all health and safety requirements, including Gas Safe and Food Safe certifications.
3. Plan Regular Kitchen Equipment Audits
In order to stay on top of your kitchen’s maintenance, it is essential to itemise, log and monitor your equipment and audit its performance over time. This allows you to pre-empt and prevent performance issues before they become big concerns or require repairs and replacements. The best way to itemise and manage your kitchen equipment is to use a management system like the one Advance Catering has built from the ground up to make things much easier. We use the data provided by IntEquip, plus the findings from on-site visits and staff feedback, to provide thorough audits of all your equipment at regular intervals.
4. Budget for Occasional Equipment Refurbishment
The most cost-effective way to replace a piece of equipment is often to refurbish it with working parts. By choosing a reputable contractor to work with, you can ensure that you’re getting the best possible price for any refurbishment or replacement of equipment. Ensure that you always select equipment with long warranties and guarantees to minimise the cost of repairs.
Advance Catering Commercial Kitchen Maintenance and Servicing
Advance Catering is the UK’s leading commercial kitchen maintenance and servicing contractor. We’ve been ensuring that commercial kitchens operate optimally and meet all Gas Safe and Food Safe regulations for over 38 years, and we complete a staggering 25,000 service calls every year.
Whether or not we installed your commercial kitchen, Advance Catering can provide PKM visits and regular servicing support. Call us now to request a FREE consultation with our friendly kitchen design team.
