Commercial Kitchen Storage Ideas

A commercial kitchen needs proper organization for a smooth workflow. Storage and shelving take on the role at this point. Keeping everything in order and categorized from food to equipment will pave the way for a comfy and flowing working area and prevent time lost in searching for the needed items. These commercial kitchen storage ideas will help you keep your business in order.

1. Use Suitable Restaurant Shelving

Your business has shelving, but the essential point is to use it as efficiently as possible and use your place intelligently. For a commercial kitchen, every free space should be utilized. Adding proper restaurant shelving in every free area is an excellent commercial kitchen storage idea for a better-running kitchen.

Before adjusting shelving for your business, the things to consider are layout, mobility, and material. The establishment’s layout should match your equipment and shelves for a harmonious environment. The mobility of the equipment and shelves is the second important point because of its ease while cleaning or redesigning your kitchen. And the last thing is the material of the shelves constructed. While a material that will match the environment will be better, durability is crucial. For extra free space and counter, you may choose from wire, metal, epoxy, shelves, and wall-mounted shelves. Therefore, style, ease of cleaning, and durability are the other key features when selecting your restaurant shelving.

No matter what type of your shelving is, there is a way to use it more efficiently. Categorizing is the best way to keep the environment organized. Creating specific areas for similar items will provide ease and speed in finding something when needed. Labeling these areas will make it even easier.

Continually opening and closing the doors takes more time and may cause injuries when slammed in a hurry. So it would help if you chose to place the items in spaces where you don’t walk. Additionally, open shelving will be easier to access and easy to clean.

2. Use Pegboards

Setting an area for pegboards is another sensible commercial kitchen storage idea for easy reach for pans and pots. With a pegboard, you will be able to easily reach pots, pans, or ladles, and it will save considerable space in your kitchen.

Setting specific places for every work in a commercial kitchen is also a commercial kitchen storage solution that will keep the work flowing. For example, the area for utensils should be a little away from the service area to prevent possible accidents.

3. Upgrade Utensils

It is common to have a favorite utensil for your staff and cooks in the kitchen. Even though there are a hundred of them, your staff will look for the one they enjoy using. So it is an excellent commercial kitchen storage idea to get rid of the others and save your space. Another upgrading idea is to throw away the items that you keep for possible use but wear out. They will unnecessarily take up space in your kitchen, making it more difficult.

4. Organize the Refrigerator

Organizing a refrigerator has a significant impact on creating a neat kitchen. An organized refrigerator will accelerate and ease your work, providing a better workflow. Another benefit of keeping your refrigerator organized is saving electricity because you will spend less time searching for something. For high-trafficked businesses, organizing walk-in refrigeration can be more vital. When it comes to managing it, it depends on your choices. Putting more constantly used items in front or using refrigerator baskets will be sensible. Moreover, improving a first in, first out sense for the perishables may help a neat kitchen.

5. Separate Workstations

The first step is a good design, layout, and plan to make the best use of your commercial kitchen. No matter the size of your kitchen, the point is to use it as efficiently as possible with a proper setting and layout. Separating different workstations will provide the perfect organized kitchen environment. Separate workstations will also prevent cross-contamination, fasten the kitchen’s workflow, and help keep the area clean.

The cooking area is the place that is the hardest to keep clean because of the oil and grease deriving from fryers, grills, or ovens. Hanging pots and pans with skillets will also save space. The refrigeration area should be placed away from the cooking station because of the maintenance cost that high temperature and grease buildup may cause.

One of the backbones of a commercial kitchen is a cleaning area. Creating separate spaces for dirty and clean dishes will keep everything in order, and adding a trash bin near the washing area is a smart idea. Placing wall-mounted shelving for soaps and sponges will also save space and reduce contamination.

6. Use High-Quality and Proper Storage Equipment

By adding these storage items to your kitchen, you can keep it organized, facilitate the staff’s work, and save considerable money in the long term, in addition to commercial kitchen storage ideas.

Chef Bases

Chef bases are a more practical and utility version of an equipment stand. A chef base consists of refrigerated drawers generally used to store ready-to-cook food instead of the standard shelves of an equipment stand. A chef base is designed to hold equipment on top, typically a grill or griddle, providing a compact cooking area with the food underneath while saving great space and time.

Ingredient Bins and Commercial Kitchen Storage Containers

To make the best use of dry ingredients without any mess, using ingredient bins is one of the best commercial kitchen storage ideas. They don’t just keep the area organized but also prevent any mess that the original bag of ingredients would cause. Labeling the bins will make them even more efficient, and the ones with scoops or measuring cups provide easy use. Additionally, various commercial kitchen storage containers will keep your food fresh and your kitchen neat.

Can Storage Racks

Many several ingredients can be kept in cans. To keep cans organized, can storage racks will work better and be more efficient than standard shelves.

Dunnage racks

Bulk items such as flour bags or canned foods take up most of the space in a commercial kitchen. A commercial storage idea to prevent this is using dunnage racks. They are made of durable materials to withstand heavy usage.

Glass Racks, Flatware, and Tray Carts

Keeping and transporting dishes organized with glass racks, flatware, and tray carts will provide a neat environment, prevent the risk of damage to dishes, and save money in the long term.

Knife Storage

Knife storage is essential because it should be within easy reach for daily use, but there is a risk of injury as well. As a commercial kitchen storage idea, you can use knife block racks or magnetic strips to make the use of knives easy and safe. Using a standalone magnetic knife base is another safe way to store knives in a commercial kitchen.

Holding Cabinets

A heated or refrigerated holding cabinet will not just keep food organized but also hold it at safe temperatures.

Quick Commercial Kitchen Storage Ideas For Different Business Types

Bars

Running a successful bar is possible with environmental organization, coordination, and proper bar supplies, directly affecting production quality and speed. You can create an organized bar with the right commercial kitchen storage equipment. A commercial ice bin is a need for a bar since ice is used in almost every drink. Keg racks are designed for huge beer kegs, and wine racks can be wall-mounted or floor models for keeping wine bottles. For storing dishes and glassware in addition to drinks, using underbar stations, bar top dispensers for garnishes and other utensils and tray cart dispensers, and various storage racks, such as glass hangers for glasses, will be helpful.

 Bakeries

As commercial kitchen storage ideas for bakeries, you may create different areas for different bakery supplies for various tasks, such as prep or dry storage areas, each with the specific tool and equipment needed. You can place your spoons, ladles, bowls, and other needed prep equipment for prepping in your prep area.

Creating an ingredient storage area near your prep process is a good idea. Storing dry ingredients in clear containers with labels on each to recognize which is what will work well. Moreover, using clear containers will ease your work as you will know when to refill, and it will keep the ingredients fresh as well.

Butcher Shops

The right butcher supplies and a clean, tidy environment are the most crucial point for a butcher shop. Sanitation is more important for a butcher shop than for other businesses of the licensing standards concern. Displaying is also one of the critical issues for a butcher shop since all meat products require storing at safe temperatures. Using wall-mounted hangers for dry products will contribute to the ambiance while saving place. Categorizing meat display cases for different products will be facilitating and practical both for the workers and customers.

Food Trucks

Design and layout are the crucial elements just beginning in the food truck business. Because space is limited and time is a much more revenue-driven factor here, the food truck business needs to prioritize commercial kitchen storage ideas according to food truck supplies. First, independent workstations are suitable for keeping the environment organized, especially in a small area like a food truck. Placing cooking equipment side by side in the same place, storing ingredients at undercounter cabinets and refrigerators, creating a prep area near the cooking area, and establishing a freezer or refrigerator for drinks near the serving counter are some suitable and basic commercial kitchen storage ideas for a food truck.

5. Groceries

Organizing a grocery store may seem hard at first because grocery supplies are so vast. But after planning, everything can be quickly done. Creating different aisles is a basic and standard but efficient solution among commercial kitchen storage ideas. Using wall-embedded shelving will save considerable space, especially for small-scale establishments. Aside from this, while organizing the greengrocer area, storing veggies and fruits that will make each other go rotten faster apart will keep them fresh longer.

Conclusion

A commercial kitchen needs an organized and neat environment to keep working properly and use the available space efficiently. Maintaining harmony and increasing long-term profitability is simple with beneficial commercial kitchen storage ideas and useful storage items. Not to forget that the first thing that attracts customers is a neat environment and well-designed layout.