
OK, you’re now ready to hunker down with your designers and outline your restaurant kitchen floor plan. Here’s a comprehensive list of state food service codes and regulations by state to start.ġ0 Factors to Consider in Your Restaurant Kitchen Floor Plan Review all restaurant licenses and permits involved in designing a commercial kitchen, especially in your state. Regulations may govern the distance between a food prep station and any sinks or disposal drains, the installation of vents and grease traps, the size and temperature capacity of hot water tanks, and the design and location of food storage areas. Health codes, fire codes, employee safety protocols, and more must be met. Restaurant regulations vary state to state and are absolutely crucial to consider when designing a commercial kitchen. Will you have a walk-in or free-standing cold storage equipment? You can’t have both. Include detailed measurements of equipment for food prep, display, refrigeration, and storage, and be ruthless when deciding what’s important. Can an immersion blender be used to make soup as well as salsa? Would it be best to use that instead of a standing blender? Think about how you can make each piece of equipment in the kitchen work double-time.

This information can help you decide where to place your ovens, prep stations, etc.

Then, write down the steps to make each menu item, including which equipment needs to be used when. Make a list of all of the meals on your menu and all of the specific ingredients involved in each meal. You can’t have a kitchen without a menu, so menu development should be at the crux of your planning process. While you may want to get designers and front-of-house teams involved, the most important input you can gather is from the chef.

Your chef knows your menu better than you do, and they know the kind of space that the back-of-house team needs to be efficient. And that usually means not enough space in the kitchen. Second, the ratio of kitchen to the front of the house is off. It’s absolutely imperative that your chef is involved in the design process.Īccording to chef Jet Tila in an interview with The Kraemer Edge, “no input from chefs usually means a few things: First, the wrong equipment for the restaurant. There are many requirements in a restaurant kitchen, so before you dive into the factors to consider when planning a commercial kitchen design, you'll need to do a little research. Where to Start When Designing a Commercial Kitchen
