Are you interested in starting a food business? While interest is a prerequisite in starting anything, delving into the food business is no easy feat. It requires a lot of hard work and business operational skills to create. Of course, many starting entrepreneurs might not know everything right off the bat, so they must seek out resources and help from experts.
Once you’ve created a solid business plan which includes creating a business budget, studying your competitors, and choosing a concept, the next step is setting up your business. Assuming you already have the capital to start a food business, it’s time to invest in food supplies, tools, and equipment to have some final product to sell.
Are you wondering what the essential equipment you need to invest in is? This article will give you information about what you need.
1. Food Safety Equipment.
To ensure that all food is satisfactory, it must undergo quality control. The safety protocols can be applied to every food business — whether a restaurant or food manufacturing business. This will guarantee the safety of the consumers who’ll eat the food.
In restaurants, maintaining the raw materials at a specific temperature is a must to prevent bacteria growth and retain their freshness. This will, in turn, prevent food wastage. The temperature sensor is one piece of equipment that can alert the staff if the temperature isn’t up to standard. This can be applied to food manufacturing businesses too.
Another piece of equipment that can be used is a metal detector. It detects traces of metal that might have contaminated the food during the processing. This is especially helpful in food manufacturing businesses where many products are to be screened. TDI Packsys metal detectors can detect fragments of food processing equipment like loose screws, machine parts, and others that might accidentally fall off during production. Investing in this equipment will protect your customers from harm and your brand.
2. Cooking Equipment.
Cooking equipment is crucial because this serves as the heart of your business operation. Without it, you won’t do your customers’ food to consume. It’d be best to consider what your daily menu would look like when starting. This will help you prioritize which cooking equipment you’ll invest in first.
Here’s an overview of the essential equipment commonly used in food businesses:
Oven.
Choosing an oven for your food business should depend on the food you’re cooking. It must be based on its desired function. For instance, if you’re running a pizza place, focus on getting pizza ovens. Other restaurants can opt for multipurpose ovens to maximize their efficiency of them.
Ranges And Ventilation.
Aside from ovens, ranges can cook different food items over the gas-powered flame or through electric heat. It can heat food in skillets and pans, simmer sauces, or boil water or soups. Gas ranges offer faster cooking speed than electric burners, but electric burners provide more even cooking to the food. On the other hand, ventilation is necessary to ensure proper airflow in kitchens.
Griddle Or Flat Top Grill.
If you decide to have a breakfast diner, investing in griddles is the best option for you. Popular food items like pancakes, burgers, sausages, and eggs are efficiently cooked on griddles.
3. Refrigeration Equipment.
Every food business requires a refrigeration system to keep its food supplies and ingredients fresh. Freezers are necessary for managing inventory. For instance, it’s more cost-effective to buy a bulk quantity of a particular ingredient and freeze them instead of buying a small amount every day.
The freezer and refrigerators also depend on how big the interior of your enterprise is. For smaller food businesses, reach-in refrigeration units would suffice. But if your business handles many orders at once, you might want to invest in industrial-grade refrigeration like walk-in units. That is if the interior space of your enterprise will allow it.
Ensure to hire professionals to install these units to avoid costly repairs and frequent maintenance.
4. Food Preparation Equipment.
Prep counters and tables as well as cutting surfaces are essential in any food business. Choosing a preparation surface could make or break the trajectory of your business. Of course, you wouldn’t want to put your customers’ well-being at risk, so it’d help if you opted for prep surfaces made up of stainless steel. This type of material is resistant to corrosion and doesn’t absorb bacteria from the ingredients like raw meat. It can also withstand various kinds of cleaning products used in kitchens.
If you have a small business and still have the capital to invest in this kind of preparation equipment, at least have cutting surfaces made up of either wooden or plastic cutting boards. Plastic cutting boards are easier to clean than wooden ones, but they can eventually develop grooves where the bacteria hide. One advantage of wooden boards is it’s more challenging than plastic ones.
To avoid cross-contamination, you can also employ a color-coding system for your cutting board. Many restaurant kitchens use red cutting boards for meat, green for vegetables, yellow for poultry, and blue for fish and seafood.
5. Storage Racks.
Having storage racks installed in your food establishment can fix the storage dilemma. You can store various appliances and cooking tools and the ingredients. Investing in these pieces of equipment will help streamline your kitchen operations. The most-used kitchen tools should be put within arm’s reach while the less frequently used ones should be put away on top or bottom shelves.
Final Thoughts.
Starting your own food business is intimidating at first as there are many factors you should consider before jumping into it. One of these factors is choosing the right essential pieces of equipment that’ll suit your business operations. Once you’ve solidified your food business concept, it’ll be easier to start sourcing for these pieces of equipment.
Also, asking your trusted friends in the food industry won’t hurt if you want to use secondhand equipment. To help you start, make sure to refer to this article when you decide to invest in these handy pieces of equipment.
