Restaurant Design Articles - Information Library - Projects A to Z

Guide to Restaurant Equipment shopping

8 Jun 2010 23:59:40 +8000

Equipments are tools to profit making in the food business. Better equipments produce better quality of food. Having a heavy duty char-broiler can guarantee you rounds of delicious bbqs in just minutes. Having your kitchen properly outfitted will get you the benefits of lowering maintenance and repair cost, increase production rate and produce food made with unique recipes that will differentiate you from your competitors. With this said, it’s properly not a good idea to sacrifice the quality of the equipments with price. However, doing thorough research is a must before committing to buying any of the equipments as they will stay with the business for quite a long time. Feel free to use this article as a guideline when shopping for equipments for your restaurant business.

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Restaurant Design Case Study 1

17 May 2010 23:59:40 +8000

Square footage: 1666 sq. ft.
Location: Fairly busy district where centers an eclectic mixture of cafes and restaurants.
Building Type: Multi- story residential complex with retail spaces on the first floor.

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About cleaning the Exhaust Hood and Ventilation System for Restaurants

17 May 2010 22:59:40 +8000

Kitchen exhaust cleaning is required by law for virtually every commercial cooking establishment in the United States. Restaurants, hospitals, hotels, employee cafeterias and other food-service locations have a "hood" and ductwork over the stove to exhaust smoke, steam, and fumes out of the building. These exhaust gases leave a residue on the inside of the ductwork. This is usually a grease residue of some sort, depending on the type of cooking. Char broilers commonly leave heavy black grease. Chinese cooking normally deposits a sticky or rubbery residue. When a charcoal or wood-burning stove is in use soot and ash residue builds up in the ductwork. Dishwashers leave heavy lint deposits.

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A Checklist for Restaurant Start-up Licenses

19 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

There are many permits and licenses that are required when you open a retail food establishment. Different city and county has different regulation on the type of licenses required. Most city governments in the San Francisco bay area require early registration and collect a fee from each registration. There are a few cities in the nation that do not require a business to register if the business is not incorporated, unless the business is under an assumed or fictitious name. To learn about what type of licenses and permits you will need for the area your restaurant will be located in, the best way to find out is to talk to your county or city clerk. You will also want to check out the zoning ordinances and sign regulations that may apply to the type and location of your restaurant.

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About Grease Interceptor / Grease trap for Restaurants Licenses

18 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Why do we need a Grease Interceptor?

Grease Interceptor prevents the discharge of FOG (fats, oils and grease) from clogging public sewege lines and effluenting into our water resources. The US Environment Protection Agency and local sanitary departments establish and regulate a set of rules for restaurant owners to follow.

How does Grease Interceptor work?

Grease interceptor is often referred to as grease trap. Some might mistaken a grease trap as a smaller version of a grease interceptor, but literally, they are the same things. There are different sizes of grease traps suitable for different operations. We will discuss about how to estimate the size later in this article. Here is how it works. There are two chambers in a grease trap. In one chamber, grease is cooled to room temperature and solidifies. The grease then floats to the top of the chamber leaving water and other liquid submerges to the bottom. A crossover diagonal tube connects the two chambers and delivers water and liquid from the bottom of the first chamber to the second chamber, leaving FOG floating on top of the first chamber. As normal liquid level is reached in the second chamber, the liquid will flow downward to the sanitary sewer system. A functioning grease trap should be filled to the normal liquid level with water, grease, and food solids.

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About exhaust Hood and Ventilation System for Restaurants

17 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Kitchen Ventilation Concepts

On top of complying to the fire, health and building codes, it is important to put together a professional exhaust hood and ventilation system for your commercial kitchen, in order to create a clean and vital environment for your staffs. Commercial cooking generate intensive grease laden air and pollutants. It takes an adquately designed system to maintain a good air flow and an odorless environment. Each system needs to be carefully designed with engineer calculations, because it has to do with static pressure and air flow, air resistane, air volumn, and other inputs such as: the total btu generated by the cooking equipments, the type of cooking equipment (char broilers and fryers generate more smoke ), the number of bends in the duct work (which impacts the static pressure), the length of the hood and the length of the duct. Any missing information will cause the end result of not passing the health and fire codes. When your architects submit plans to the health department, a hood calculation sheet is required and the following formula must be resolved:
Q = ____ A * ( ___ * ___ ) size of hood ___ sf = ___ cfm

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Open a restaurant in 4 phases (Phase I): Project Planning

16 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

1) Establish a food service business plan. Envision your future business with bold ideas and rethink each one carefully. Listed below are some sample questions you may want to ask yourself:

What kind of food do I want to serve?
What major cooking equipments do I need? Do I need a char broiler? A convection oven?
How many people do I want to serve? Do I want to seat 50 or more? Do I just want to serve to-gos? Do I want to deliver?
How do I want the place to function? Do I want a full service bar? A decorative bar? Open kitchen? Eating counter? Any VIP room?
Do I want to serve breakfast, lunch and or dinner? Do I want to close the place up in the afternoon?
How many employees do I need?

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Open a restaurant in 4 phases (Phase II): Design your new space

15 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Conduct a thorough research for a list of food service designers who could potentially help you with your project.

Interview each designer to see who is the most adequate for the type and size of your project.

Find out the design and plan submission schedule.

Get an estimate for the project cost.

1) Conduct a thorough research for a list of food service designers who could potentially help you with your project.

There are generally 5 types of food service designers:

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Open a restaurant in 4 phases (Phase III): Construction Phase

14 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

While your design team is building the restaurant for you, there are a few minor tasks that need to be completed by you as a restaurant owner:

Apply for a business license and a fictitious business name.
Apply for an ABC license.
Get a Federal Employer ID number
Apply for a Health Operational Permit. (No blueprints are required for the operational permit. Just file an application and pay for the fees)
Contract or confirm the source for accounting service. (Most restaurant owners report their gross income monthly to their accountants to ensure a more accurate report at the end of the year. There are also property tax and license tax that need to be considered.)

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Open a restaurant in 4 phases (Phase IV): Post Construction Phase

13 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Prepare inventory for: food, beverages, utensils, pots and pans, office supplies etc.

Conduct a soft opening (this is optional, but it's a good practice so that your staff can get a feel of the foot traffic and the other features of the space)

Conduct a Grand Opening! Post a banner! Offer promotions and deals as gifts to the neighborhood. When people love you in the community, they will help you spread the words fast!

Join the local chamber of commerce. By joining the local chamber of commerce or other community organization, it sometimes entitles you to "business after hours," "grand openings" and/or "ribbon cuttings." These are usually offered to members at low cost. Often the mayor or other local official will show up to welcome a new business to town (especially when invited). And when the mayor gets involved in an event, there are usually photographers and reporters around representing newspapers, TV and radio programs.

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There are 6 guide lines for buying a existing restaurant

12 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

When opening a restaurant, buying a existing restaurant makes the most economic sense and is the most ideal option for first time restaurant owner. However, it gets tricky when selecting the right restaurant to buy. Here are some guide lines:

Is the exhaust hood still in good condition?
Is the size good enough to serve your future business?
Note: changing the exhaust hood is costly and can eat up a good portion of your budget.
Are there enough sinks?
The health department requires at minimum of (1) hand sink, (1) mop sink, (1) three-compartment sink and (1) prep sink and more depending upon the type of operation.
Are the restrooms up to ADA code?
Building new ADA restrooms is costly; finding existing spaces with ADA restrooms could save you a lot of money.
How are the conditions of the existing equipments?
Who is disposing the unwanted equipments?
Is there a grease trap?
How long ago was the site remodeled?
Was it remodeled with the right permits?

Give the site credits as it meets each of the conditions mentioned above. The more conditions met, the more desirable is the site.

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The benefits and downfalls of lease a commercial space to build a restaurant

11 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Many people prefer to lease a commercial space and build a restaurant from scratch whenever financial conditions allow.

The benefits:

Brand new cooking equipments custom designed to your operation.
The design will be up to new building, health, sanitary, fire, and ADA codes.
There will be no hidden mechanical problems with existing equipments, plumbing and electrical devices.
May entitle you to a better lease agreement with the landlord. Be sure to ask your restaurant realtor to negotiate for better leasing terms for more investing values.

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About buying a commercial space when opening a restaurant

10 Mar 2010 12:59:40 +8000

Buying a commercial space when opening a restaurant is the least popular; since it requires a lot more capitol to start the business and takes a much longer time to regain your investment money. However, in a long run, buying your own space will warrant your occupancy for as long as desired, while there is a chance of eviction when leasing a space. Make sure you work with a commercial real estate realtor who specializes in the restaurant business. They will know what to look for in the fine print and find problems before you sign anything. However, there are always interest conflicts when dealing with the realtor, as it's his/her job to close deals and make each space financially and physically sound. Therefore, it's always smart to have design professionals to survey the site for you before the deal is finalized, just as why you would have a house inspection before you close an escrow.

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