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The All-In-One Restaurant Equipment Checklist You Need
It’s no secret that just about everyone loves going out to eat. Restaurants are places where people can unwind, create memories with family and friends, and, of course, enjoy fantastic food prepared by culinary professionals.
However, as all owners know, running a restaurant is hard work, and it all starts in the kitchen. To ensure your chefs can do their jobs, it’s important that your restaurant kitchen is outfitted with everything they need. Narrowing down a list of essentials can be overwhelming, which is why we’ve created this all-encompassing checklist.
From ovens to safety equipment, follow along as we outline the must-haves, as well as a few nice-to-have additions, for restaurant kitchens.
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Equipment Needed for Starting a Restaurant in Canada |
1. Ovens and Baking Equipment
It all starts with cooking appliances. These are the backbone of all your cooking operations, whether it be frying, toasting, broiling, baking, boiling, or more. Invest in the following to ensure your restaurant menu is stellar:
☑️ Deck Oven: A deck oven, also known as a commercial oven, is an enclosed and hollow space with a high heating temperature, capable of cooking food in various ways.
☑️ Convection Oven: A convection oven cooks food evenly and quickly thanks to an inner fan and exhaust system that distributes the hot air.
☑️ Rotary Rack Oven: These extra-large ovens feature rotating racks that hold multiple sheets simultaneously, maximizing efficiency.
☑️ Combi Oven: These multi-use ovens allow you to steam as well as cook food through standard convection.
☑️ Deep Fryer: These are the secret to the best-tasting fries and onion rings. Their deep surface can hold litres of cooking oil and contains a strainer to keep the food.
☑️ Gas Ranges: Cook exciting recipes with a kitchen range, experimenting with different heat levels on the stovetop.
☑️ Grill: Don’t forget to add a gas or electric grill to get that delicious charred texture to your steaks, ribs, burgers, and more.
☑️ Pressure Cooker: Use an air-tight pressure cooker to cook food quickly and achieve a soft meat texture.
☑️ Rice Cooker: Cook rice quickly and easily with one of these. This device features a built-in timer, enabling it to steam, heat, and boil while achieving the perfect consistency.
☑️ Pasta Cooker: Cook pasta much more efficiently with one of these.
☑️ Air Fryer: These offer a faster and healthier alternative to deep frying, often perfect for vegetables or other side dishes.
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2. Preparation Equipment and Countertop Appliances
Kitchens can quickly become chaotic once orders start coming in fast. Diligent prep work is the key to managing these busy spikes, so stock up on the following cooking equipment:
☑️ Microwave: Heat or reheat food in minutes to save valuable time and energy.
☑️ Toaster: Add a savoury texture to your sandwiches with a toaster. Everything tastes better on warm, toasted bread!
☑️ Blender: Blend ingredients during prep and make delicious drinks using a high-powered commercial blender.
☑️ Juicer: A must-have for restaurants that make juices and smoothies, this allows you to extract the best from your fruit quickly and easily.
☑️ Food Processors: Food processors are miracle workers designed to help during prep by turning your ingredients into cubes, strips, and purees.
☑️ Stand and Hand Mixers: Must-haves for mixing dough and batter, especially for restaurants that serve delicious pastries.
☑️ Weighing Scale: Portion your ingredients into evenly sized parcels to get more control over your food usage and expenses.
☑️ Thermometers: Ensure meat is cooked and food is hot using these.
☑️ Slicers: A must-have when it comes to serving customers delicious bread, as well as during several stages of prep work.
☑️ Vegetable peelers: Perfect for potatoes, onions, and more.
☑️ Graters: useful for cheese as well as for vegetables, add some zest!
☑️ Measuring Cups and Spoons: Get recipes just right with accurate measurements
☑️ Strainers: Strain pasta and anything else that has been boiled in water.
☑️ Salt and Pepper Shakers: Season food accordingly with these two essentials.
☑️ Salad Spinner: Ensure a desirable mix of ingredients and dressing with this handy tool.
☑️ Can Opener: Open cans easily and avoid cutting fingers with a quality can opener.
☑️ Steamer: Steam to your heart’s content with a quality device built to last.
☑️ Garnishing tools: Decorate plates and nail the presentation with a comprehensive set.
☑️ Choppers and Dicers: Speed up prep work with these helpful tools.
☑️ Prep Tables: Ensure your cooks and chefs have somewhere to work with these.
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3. Kitchen Smallware
Smallwares play a significant role in every restaurant kitchen. You’ll need the following tools to ensure your chefs are set up for success:
☑️ Knives: Cut, julienne, and mince ingredients with high-quality knives.
☑️ Cutting Boards: These sturdy surfaces elevate cutting quality and limit mess.
☑️ Pots: Useful for all kinds of dishes, especially pasta or anything else that gets boiled.
☑️ Sauce Pots: These pots are much deeper to limit splattering.
☑️ Pans: True essentials for frying, searing, and more.
☑️ Sauce Pans: Like sauce pots, these pans are deeper to limit splattering.
☑️ Roasting Pans: Essential for roasting all kinds of food.
☑️ Mixing Bowls: Prep-time essentials that are used for mixing ingredients to be used for a variety of recipes.
☑️ Spatula: Flip, mix, scrape, and spread food on your pans easily with a spatula.
☑️ Tongs: Avoid burns and dropped food when you use these.
☑️ Ladles: For serving soups, stews, and other liquid dishes.
☑️ Whisks: Use to beat and mix up ingredients and dishes.
☑️ Wooden spoons: Great for stirring or moving food around in a pan.
☑️ Knife sharpener: Keep your knives ready to go with one of these.
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4. Dinnerware
Spice up food preparation with the finest dinnerware you’ll ever find. A silver spoon and a smooth white plate will make your dishes more appetizing!
☑️ Spoons and Forks: The classic eating essentials you need to have.
☑️ Steak Knives: Give these serrated knives to your customers when they’re eating steak or any other meat that can be challenging to cut.
☑️ Dinner Plates: Ideal for serving a variety of solid dishes.
☑️ Side Plates: Smaller plates that are great for bread and side dishes.
☑️ Dessert Plates: Make dessert extra special when you serve it on these.
☑️ Soup Bowls: These deep bowls are perfect for soup and stew.
☑️ Pasta Bowls: These wide and shallow bowls are explicitly made for pasta.
☑️ Salad Bowls: Large bowls are perfect for salad and big portions.
☑️ Coffee Mugs: For serving coffee if your restaurant offers it.
☑️ Tea Cups: An essential part of the tea-drinking experience.
☑️ Wine Glasses: Serve everyone’s favourite drink in these classic glasses.
☑️ Water Glasses: Serve water and other non-alcoholic beverages in these.
5. Refrigeration and Storage Equipment
A high-functioning kitchen needs quality refrigeration equipment to maintain food quality and prevent spoilage. Meet the standard health and safety regulations with the following restaurant kitchen equipment on your shopping list:
☑️ Walk-in Refrigerator: A walk-in refrigerator is the best way to store all perishable foods, given the tremendous space they provide.
☑️ Reach-in Refrigerator: If you need ingredients on a whim, store them in this type of refrigerator for easy access and convenience.
☑️ Undercounter Refrigerator: These types of refrigerators fit underneath counters, providing more space in a busy kitchen.
☑️ Display Refrigerator: Display visually-appealing goods like cold desserts or alcoholic beverages, such as beer, in this.
☑️ Crispers: Refrigerated drawers explicitly designed for vegetables to keep them fresh.
☑️ Freezer: All raw meat should go inside freezers to preserve freshness, as should food that has been cooked ahead of time.
☑️ Wine Chiller: Store wine and keep it cold with one of these (or several).
☑️ Blast Chiller: If you need to quickly lower the temperature of food for serving or storage, then use one of these.
☑️ Ice Machine: Never serve warm drinks when you have one of these.
☑️ Storage Cabinet: Invest in storage cabinets to keep your kitchen organized and functional for dry ingredients, as well as prep equipment.
☑️ Shelving Units: These will help organize your cabinets and fridges.
☑️ Storage Racks: These are good for keeping things off the floor, as well as hanging equipment such as pots and pans.
☑️ Food Storage Containers: Save leftover prep ingredients using food storage containers, which are available in all shapes and sizes.
☑️ Vacuum Sealer: This device removes air to make bags flat and stackable, helping prevent spoilage by limiting airborne contaminants.
☑️ Lids and Covers: Keep prepared food warm and protected using these.
☑️ Spice Rack: Ensure all your spices are organized and easily accessible using one of these.
☑️ Knife Block: Keep your knives sharp and in one place with these.
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6. Serving Equipment
Serving supplies ensure proper flow from the kitchen to a customer’s table. The following restaurant kitchen equipment will help you distribute orders safely and stylishly:
☑️ Kitchen Display System (KDS): Install a KDS inside your restaurant kitchen to properly track and prioritize orders.
☑️ Trays: Circular or rectangular trays will help you hold multiple plates at once and serve food effortlessly. Some have fantastic grips to prevent dishes from sliding.
☑️ Tray Stand: A foldable tray stand is every server’s best buddy, mainly used when delivering several orders to various tables. Laying it down will hold a tray and allow your servers to distribute plates to customers safely.
☑️ Serving Boards: Want to spice up your plating? Buying serving boards is a good solution. Perfect for creating beautiful charcuteries and pizza platters your guests will love.
☑️ Bread Baskets: The best and most convenient way to serve bread.
☑️ Oil and Vinegar Cruets: For drizzling onto dishes at the customer’s request.
☑️ Butter Dishes: Little dishes for serving butter alongside bread.
☑️ Sauce Boats: For serving all kinds of sauces and gravies.
☑️ Soup Tureens: For presenting and serving your soups.
☑️ Pitchers: Have your waiters pour water for the table with these.
☑️ Wine Decanters: Used for aerating and serving wines.
☑️ Chafers: If your restaurant serves food buffet-style, then chafers are a must to ensure all your prepared food stays warm, organized, and delicious.
☑️ Risers: Add dimension and space to tables by using risers. These will hold pizza pans, sushi platters, and other dishes you can think of!
☑️ Bussing and Utility Carts: Bussing and utility carts hold trays, dinnerware, and other containers to assist in delivering them to the kitchen.
☑️ Take-Out Containers: Lessen food waste by giving customers the option to take their uneaten food home in a takeout container.
7. Dishwashers and Cleaning Equipment
After a long day, it’s time to clean the restaurant to prepare for the next shift. Here’s a cleaning restaurant equipment checklist you can follow:
☑️ Commercial Dishwasher: Wash, rinse, and clean all dirty dishes quickly so you can have more plates available for new orders in the kitchen.
☑️ Dishwasher Accessories: Manage dishes better by adding trays and bins to improve dishwasher organization and efficiency.
☑️ Aprons and Hairnets: Keep clothes clean and dishes free from stray hairs with this restaurant equipment that upholds health and safety protocols.
☑️ Cleaning Supplies: Maintain kitchen cleanliness at all times by having the basic cleaning supplies, including sponges, rags, a mop and bucket, etc.
☑️ Hand Sanitizer and Dispenser: Reduce the spread of germs and preserve food quality by adding several hand sanitizer dispensers in your kitchen and dining areas.
☑️ Waste Management Systems: Every kitchen must have bins stocked with trash bags, ensuring they are readily available for waste disposal.
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8. Safety Equipment
Lastly, it’s essential to keep all your crew and commercial kitchen equipment guarded with the following safety equipment:
☑️ Oven Mitts and Gloves: Open ovens and handle hot dishes with these.
☑️ Fire Extinguishers: Fire hazards are everywhere in restaurant kitchens, so it’s best to have an extinguisher ready to put out flames.
☑️ First Aid Kit: Cutting injuries are common during food prep. Keep a kit stocked with bandages, rubbing alcohol, and more.
☑️ Wet Floor Signs: Prevent slippery accidents and lawsuits by placing wet floor signs on recently mopped floors.
☑️ Rubber Floor Mats: Place these mats in frequently wet areas, such as the dishwashing section of the kitchen.
Shop High-Quality Restaurant Equipment At S.T.O.P.
If you ensure yours has everything we outlined, you can be confident your team will be ready and equipped to produce outstanding food for your patrons.
The full S.T.O.P. catalogue is the best place to find it all and more. Shop the products you need from the brands you know. We only sell the best, so you get the best. Simply add everything you like to your cart, and then proceed to checkout when you're ready.
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