How to Identify Types of Restaurant Equipment for Sales Staff and Restaurant Owners

Before starting a restaurant business of your own, you will need to learn how to identify the different types of restaurant equipment. Here at Texas Restaurant Supply, our team of experts can guide you through each kind of restaurant equipment you will need to know.

Front of House Equipment

From a customer’s perspective, you start at the front of the house.  When you first walk inside a restaurant, the first thing to notice is the furniture.

Depending on the restaurant type, the tables may be plain tabletops or tables covered in a tablecloth. They are matched with either a couple of chairs in a set of two or four, a booth seat with a pair of chairs, or two booth seats. And in smaller restaurants, there’s a set of salt and pepper shakers and a napkin dispenser. For casual and fine dining, they will provide you a set of silverware, mainly a fork, knife, and spoon, in a folded napkin or napkin cloth.

As a restaurant owner, your waiters and waitresses must provide hospitality with a drink. For fine dining, you have wine glasses to drink water and wine. For casual dining, durable plastic cups for guests who want water and sodas, and alcoholic glasses like mugs and martini glasses for adults who want a beer or special cocktail.

And, of course, you can’t have food orders without a menu. Menus and menu-boards provide your guests information about what kind of food they offer and the options available. They have later established QR codes on a restaurant card due to the COVID-19 outbreak as a safety measure to prevent it from spreading. The codes can be scanned on a phone camera to be taken to a URL menu of the restaurant now that most restaurants have a public wifi router.

Operation Equipment

To keep track of food orders, your floor staff will need to use a POS system. The system can be either handled manually or electronically.

A manual POS system requires writing the order by hand in an order pad. Then, it's taken into the kitchen for the chefs to cook. Finally, it is calculated by the register. This is best for smaller operated restaurants such as diners and food trucks.

An electronic POS system has electronics that are connected wirelessly and are easy to use. You can write or type orders using a PDA. It's immediately transferred to the desktop register, ready to be sent to the kitchen's printer. After the order is in, it calculates the cost. This method is perfect for larger eating establishments such as buffets and hotel restaurants.

Kitchen Equipment

What makes a restaurant known is its kitchen staff to produce the food people love. A proper kitchen not only cooks quality meals by skills alone but with the right equipment.

Food will need proper and cold storage. For perishable foods like fruits and vegetables, you want to use a walk-in fridge. This is helpful if you prevent kitchen traffic from being blocked by a reach-in refrigerator. The same can be said for freezers when storing and gathering frozen desserts.

Counters are customizable based on the kitchen space you are using. For smaller kitchens, an L-shape or a vertical kitchen can be used with a staff of 3 to 8 people. A larger kitchen contains a set of tabletop counters in the center as range ovens and sinks operate by the wall. In all kitchens, the surfaces are made of stainless steel for easier cleaning.

Most importantly, you will need cooking utensils and cooking ware. Pots and pans can come in stainless steel and non-stick. Knives are available and are reusable when they are sharpened over time to prevent them from being dull. And utensils vary on the dishes your kitchen produces and can have multiple purposes than one dish.

If you would like further assistance about the types of restaurant equipment, contact Texas Restaurant Supply today, and we'll get you on the line with one of our experts.