The Benefits of Investing in an Infrared Grill

No matter what type of food your restaurant specializes in, you stand to benefit from investing in an infrared grill. In addition to being highly cost-effective, these increasingly commonplace grills have a number of advantages over their more traditional counterparts. Restaurateurs who are entertaining the idea of adding an infrared grill to their kitchen should consider the following benefits. 

Lightning-Fast Heating Times

Infrared burners are capable of much faster heating times than traditional grills. Most infrared grills can reach temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees in under a minute. What’s more, these grills can be sufficiently preheated in around three minutes. This can prove tremendously convenient for restaurants that are always busy.

Even Distribution of Heat

Meat cooked on infrared grills tends to taste better than meat prepared on traditional grills. The reason for this is heat distribution. With traditional grills, it’s hardly uncommon for heat to be unevenly distributed throughout a piece of meat. Alternatively, infrared grills provide a far more even distribution of heat, thus ensuring more flavorful entrées.  

Easy to Clean

Grill cleaning is among the most cumbersome chores restaurant workers have to tackle. Not only does it need to be performed multiple times a day, it frequently hampers outgoing orders. Fortunately, purging infrared grills of gristle and food particles doesn’t require copious amounts of scrubbing and scraping. Simply turn the temperature up to “high,” watch the residual particles burn away and resume cooking. 

A reliable infrared grill is guaranteed to make a welcome addition to any restaurant kitchen. Since grills are vitally important tools at any given eatery, it’s only natural for restaurateurs to want the highest-quality grills currently available. If fast heating times, even distribution of heat, and easy cleaning are what you’re after, a cutting-edge infrared grill should be right up your alley.   

3 Tips for Keeping Your Restaurant’s Grill Clean

You’d be hard-pressed to find a restaurant kitchen in which the grill isn’t used extensively. Since a wide variety of entrees and sides are prepared on grills, it’s no surprise they’re such popular culinary tools. However, in light of how often they’re used, they tend to get dirty rather quickly.

In fact, depending on how often your grill is used, it may need to be cleaned multiple times throughout the day. Failure to properly clean grills can result in a number of safety hazards and land you in hot water with local health inspectors. To ensure that your kitchen’s grill remains squeaky clean and consistently sanitary, heed the following cleaning tips. 

1. Carefully Follow the Manufacturer’s Instructions

Not all grills are created equal. Case in point: some grills should be cleaned with grill bricks, while others are best cleaned with grill brushes. Conversely, certain grills should be cleaned with neither, as both tools are too abrasive for their surfaces. These grills generally need to be cleaned with specialized cleansers and scraping tools. Before proceeding to clean a new grill, take care to consult the owner’s manual or manufacturer’s website.

2. Replace the Grates on a Semi-Regular Basis

Grill grates are typically the dirtiest components you’ll find on a grill. Given their propensity for attracting food particles and gristle buildup, grates should be thoroughly cleaned at least once a day and replaced as needed. Continuing to use grates that are well past their prime will result in improperly cooked meals and unhappy diners.   

3. Be Thorough When Scraping

To purge your grill of all caked-on food particles, instruct your employees to be extra-thorough when scraping the surface. By extension, invest in a reliable scraper that’s capable of removing food particles without leaving the grill awash with scratches.  

A clean grill is one of the cornerstones of a sanitary kitchen. Improper or infrequent cleaning can result in health hazards and prematurely worn-out equipment — both of which stand to cost your restaurant big bucks. Fortunately, putting the previously pointers to good use will keep your grill looking its best for years to come.

3 Tips for Maintaining Your Food Storage Units

In many respects your refrigerator and freezer are your restaurant’s most important assets. Without fully-functional food storage units, keeping your various meats and produce fresh is all but impossible. That being the case, it’s every restaurateur’s responsibility to keep these devices in prime condition. Doing so ensures fresh ingredients, high-quality meals, and happy diners. When working to preserve your restaurant’s food storage units, heed the following tips. 

1. Empty and Clean Once a Week

In the interest of keeping your fridge and freezer sanitary, your staff will need to empty them out and thoroughly scrub them at least once a week. While this may sound like an arduous task, it shouldn’t prove terribly difficult, provided multiple people are working on it. In fact, once your staff becomes accustomed to carrying out this chore, they should be able to pull it off in under an hour.

2. Promptly Replace Defective Components

Any time one of your food storage units finds itself saddled with a faulty component, take care to replace it posthaste. The longer you allow a fridge or freezer to operate with a defective part, the more problems you’ll ultimately have to deal with. Fortunately, affordable refrigerator freezer parts can always be found at O-Reps’ online store. 

3. Have Them Regularly Inspected

Having your refrigerator and freezer regularly inspected can help nip prospective problems in the bud. For best results, adhere to the inspection schedule recommended by the devices’ respective manufacturers. This varies by brand and model, but most large-scale food storage need to be inspected once or twice a year. A licensed inspector will give each device a thorough once-over and make you aware of any potential problems she encounters.

No restaurant can function without working food storage units. As such, it behooves you to properly maintain your refrigerators and freezers. Weekly cleanings, expedient component swap-outs, and regular inspections can go a long way in keeping your storage devices up and running.

Cleaning Tasks to Prioritize at Your Restaurant

Regardless of the type of cuisine your restaurant specializes in — be it fast food or fine dining — cleanliness should be among your staff’s foremost priorities. Failing to keep your kitchen and dining area clean can result in sick patrons, negative attention from the Health Department and costly fines.

Fortunately, keeping your restaurant clean doesn’t have to be an arduous chore. Provided you and your staff stay on top of the following tasks, you should have no problem providing patrons with a squeaky-clean dining experience.  

Wipe Down Tables after Every Use

In addition to being unsanitary, improperly bussed tables are notorious for spreading germs and viruses between diners. To prevent this, it’s imperative that every table be thoroughly cleaned after each use. Even without the threat of germs, no customer wants to sit at a table that sticky and dirty. 

Clean Your Storage Units Each Week  

In order to keep your refrigerators and freezers nice and clean, you’ll need to empty them out and give them a good scrubbing at least once a week. Your food is your restaurant’s most important resource, so it’s only fitting that it be stored in a sanitary area. To this end, you’ll also need to frequently check your cooler door gaskets for signs of wear and tear and replace them as necessary.  

Thoroughly Scrub the Kitchen Floor Each Night

It’s very difficult to clean a kitchen floor mid-shift — not to mention dangerous. Since dirty floors are highly conducive to the spread of germs in restaurant kitchens, have your staff give the prep area’s floor a vigorous scrubbing before heading home at night. When performing this task, it’s important that they pay special attention to corners, edges and the areas beneath large pieces of equipment.  

Cleanliness is not something that restaurant owners and managers can take a laid-back approach to. If proper care isn’t taken, the consequences will be unfavorable — for both you and your patrons. In the interest of keeping your restaurant spotless, remember to wipe down your tables after every use, clean your storage units once a week, and vigorously scrub your kitchen floor each night.