Is It Time to Upgrade Your Commercial Range?
Your cooking range has gotten you through countless shifts and been a valued partner in establishing your reputation in the food business. And even though it makes you feel a little disloyal, your head keeps getting turned by shiny new models. If you’re thinking about upgrading your range, here are a few things to consider.
Understand Your Functional Needs
Chefs and kitchen staff know what they need — and don’t need — for an efficient service. Consult with your team to find out what’s great about the commercial range you have and what’s frustrating about it. Then create a list of must-have features specific to your menu’s requirements and kitchen’s design.
“A range typically comes in a standard format of one, two, four, six or eight heating elements, and with the exception of a few inches, the overall equipment size may not vary much between them,” explains Mark Ladisky, senior operations associate with Synergy Restaurant Consultants in Boca Raton, FL. “Once you have an idea of what will be done on the equipment, then you can decide how many elements you need. For instance, if you have a pasta restaurant with a lot of sauté items, then six to eight or more burners may be needed — but because you have a lot of batch recipes that are cooked on the stovetop, you may need a small one- or two-element cooking range in another part of the kitchen as well. Along the same lines, if you’re going to use giant cooking pots covering half the stove, maybe a single burner on a floor stand would better serve your needs.”
Assess Your Space Requirements
“For me it’s always about the best use of space,” says chef/owner David Santos of Louro in New York. “You have an area the size of a six-burner. You have to look at the machine and above the machine to see if it uses that space to the max. If it doesn’t, you’re wasting your time. If you can’t get food out or can’t do your work properly, what’s the point?”
Ladisky often suggests step down–style ranges, which allow for more efficient usage of the equipment. “A step-down range has three burners on the upper level and three on the lower, allowing for better access to the handles of the sauté pans and therefore better production from that station.”
Do Your Homework
Patrick Gebrayel, COO and “head meathead” at Heywood’s Provision Co. in Marietta, GA, does a lot of research before buying equipment. “The biggest mistake is not getting references on the equipment,” he says. He asks vendors who else they’ve sold the unit to, and then contacts those chefs to learn more about their experience with the equipment. He also finds out who the warranty–work service company is and inquires about the models they service the most. “You can look at used equipment listings — if you see a lot of the same brand or model, that would be one I would try to avoid,” Gebrayel suggests.
Make Sure It’s Easy to Clean and Maintain
When you’re looking at commercial ranges, make sure to locate the pilot assembly and valves. Are they easy to access and change? All the great features up top can be quickly negated by inefficient and inaccessible inner workings.
“The ability to easily clean any piece of equipment is something that cannot be over-valued,” Ladisky says. “In kitchens, there is not only the expected heat and grease but there are also cooks and cleaning crews that will apply abrasive sponges, chemicals, wire brushes and the like to these pieces. If the unit has poor gaskets or seals, you’ll be experiencing problems. Additionally, if the piece is difficult to disassemble, then it’s less likely that it will be cleaned properly.”
It’s more than an ease-of-use issue, however. Clean and degreased cooking equipment reduces the danger of kitchen fires. The National Fire Protection Association reported that U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 7,640 restaurant and bar fires each year between 2006 and 2010. Of those, 57 percent involved cooking equipment, killed two people and injured 115, and caused $246 million in direct property damage annually.
Don’t Forget the Hood
Exhaust/ventilation hoods are required, but are purchased separately from commercial ranges. “The biggest question to answer is size and then energy usage,” Ladisky notes. “You need a hood large enough to accommodate all the anticipated equipment requiring ventilation, and maybe one more in the future depending on growth. Energy usage with hoods can be always-on or variable-speed, which adjusts airflow and energy usage associated with it to the heat loads generated during use.” Evaluate the range hood filters recommended for your unit to make sure they’re readily available, easy to install and not incredibly expensive.
Consider the Cost
A big mistake is shopping solely on price. “Make sure you don’t try to nickel and dime your way through your kitchen,” Santos cautions. “In the end, that equipment is going to be your bread and butter.”
Good deals can be had, but be wary of deeply discounted or discontinued units, because the true cost of a commercial range is more than just what’s on the price tag. Consider the total cost of ownership, such as energy use and efficiency, warranty length and coverage, and cost of commonly replaced parts.
Cautions Gebrayel: “If you buy cheap, you will repair and replace more often, which will cost you more money later.”
