Opening a New Restaurant? Don’t Forget the Essentials!

December 17th, 2010 |

When opening a new restaurant the most obvious kitchen items are focused on such as stoves, refrigerators, freezers, pots, pans and utensils. Many new restaurant owners get so caught up in stocking their kitchens with the latest appliances and gadgets that they tend to overlook some of the most basic, yet essential items.

Protective clothing like disposable gloves is one often overlooked kitchen essential. Besides providing aprons and hair nets to employees you also must have some disposable gloves on hand. While latex gloves may be the first type of gloves to come to mind, you should consider the disposable nitrile glove because it has some clear advantages over latex. Nitrile gloves are much more durable and they do not cause allergic reactions in people like latex gloves do.

You also should purchase an eye wash station. When one of your employees gets something in his/her eyes and it is bound to happen, you want to be sure that you provide suitable first aide. This type of kit has everything necessary to flush the eyes and it can be easily mounted on a wall so that it is in easy reach.

It is also important to offer your employees drinks because most kitchen environments are very warm. Gatorade powder is a good choice because buying it in powder form is much cheaper. Bottled Gatorade costs on average, about five dollars a gallon but when you purchase the powder and add your own water the cost per gallon drops to just over a dollar.