To be successful in the restaurant business, owners and managers often wear a lot of hats. One critical task often overlooked is the maintenance of kitchen equipment. Big chains often utilize in-house staff or hire a third-party CMMS, like Service Channel or ecotrak, to handle these tasks. But, smaller kitchens often wait till it is an emergency before they care for their equipment. Using this mindset typically results in costly repairs and even replacement. Sadly, even big chains often fail to maintain their cooking equipment properly. With that said, running a restaurant without proper equipment care seems profitable initially. Still, in the long term, this practice can lead to increased costs, lowered profit margins, reduced equipment life, and waste. Imagine a busy night, and in the middle of service, your Pitco fryer stops functioning, or your Alto-Sheam combi-oven quits, devastating. Not to mention the impact on your reputation, especially in today's heavily connected society.
However, a proactive maintenance program that gets in front of your equipment needs before they become a problem is vital to a well-running kitchen. Many credible resources, such as the National Restaurant Association, have said that proactive maintenance is a recipe for success.
Most of us have heard of preventative or proactive maintenance regarding automobiles, even our health; however, those same practices should be implemented in your commercial kitchen.
