Restaurant Kitchen Design A Complete Guide

The way heart is the most crucial organ of the body, and a kitchen is the most central and crucial part of a restaurant. Restaurateurs who are designing a kitchen for their restaurants must understand the nuances of the kitchen. A kitchen in a restaurant is designed keeping in mind the following:

1) Hygiene, temperature, and serving of the food
2) Timely preparation and delivery of the food from the chef to the customer
3) Well-organized and well-functioning space for the kitchen staff to perform at their optimal level

Commercial kitchen design and planning play a major role for restauranteurs to reach their ultimate vision for their restaurant kitchen. Here are some important aspects a restauranteur must understand before proceeding with an idea for a restaurant kitchen design:

1) Understanding the ‘human factor’ while designing your restaurant kitchen

At the end of the day, humans are going to be working in a restaurant kitchen. It is important to keep in mind the ‘human factor’ while starting in a restaurant kitchen design. The kitchen needs to be designed in such a way that the staff can carry out their duties in the most efficient manner from where they stand, without much movement. In this manner, the timely delivery of food can be carried out without accidents or spilling of food taking place.

2) Save ‘energy’ and become energy efficient

As obvious as it sounds, an important aspect of a good restaurant kitchen design of today is an energy-efficient kitchen. A simple thing such as placing a cooker in one location has the potential to reduce the energy costs of cooking ranges.

3) Size does matter

In a restaurant kitchen design, it is important to note an important fact here: ‘The size of the restaurant kitchen should be directly proportional to the size of the restaurant.’
The general rule is that if a restaurant is designed to have seating of 60, the kitchen space should have an area of 60 x 5 square feet = 300 square feet.

4) It is mandatory to meet all the health and safety standards while designing a restaurant kitchen

To make the food preparation of various dishes easier for chefs, it’s important to stock up a restaurant kitchen with all the required appliances and types of equipment. This is will maintain a health and safety standard in the restaurant kitchen.

5) Ventilation, Ventilation, and Ventilation

Ever been to a restaurant where you could sense a foul smell in the air and it immediately killed your appetite? Well, chances are that the restaurant has a bad ventilation system.
In a restaurant kitchen design, a good ventilation system needs to be planned and placed so that the steam and smells don’t bother the kitchen staff while they are preparing the food and the smell doesn’t leak outside the kitchen and enter the restaurant. If a restauranteur doesn’t want his/her guests to end up smelling like the food, it’s important to incorporate a good ventilation system in the restaurant kitchen design.

6) Maintenance of the restaurant kitchen: Has to be easy

A good restaurant kitchen design must keep in mind that the restaurant design must be easy to maintain and be well organized. The placement of the shelves, and cabinets with doors are important elements needed in a kitchen to manage the cookware, crockery, and serving dishes better.

7) Equipment in a restaurant

A restaurant kitchen design must include equipment, and appliances that are required by the kitchen staff.
Here’s a short list:
> Food preparation tables
> Electrical appliances for: cooking, baking, frying
> Ice machines, freezers, and refrigerators
> Dishwashing and drainage system
> Kitchen shelves, cabinets, and drawers

Once a restauranteur understands the above points that are required for a good restaurant kitchen design, it is important to understand what sort of kitchen is required for the type of restaurant.

A pizzeria or place serving fast food will be very different from a gourmet restaurant. Since pizzeria and fast-food restaurants serve a limited variety of food, an assembly line kitchen configuration is ideal for such a set-up. Fast-food restaurants serving items as specific as french fries would require an ergonomic kitchen configuration to be incorporated in the restaurant kitchen design.

Helpful tips for restaurant kitchen design:

1) Create and allocate working zones in the kitchen

Create working zones and allocate areas to them. There needs to be a zone for food cleaning, a separate zone for food cutting, baking, frying, cooking, etc. Each zone has an employee in charge of that particular zone, where they carry out their duties in that particular zone without encroaching on other people’s space. This prevents a chaotic kitchen atmosphere which can lead to tension amongst kitchen staff members due to working in a high-stress environment.

2) Flexible kitchen to incorporate changing market demands

Cooking is sensitive to changing market demands that arise due to the changing taste of customers. Thus, it is important to note in a restaurant kitchen design to make sure the kitchen is flexible to meet the need of changing customer demands.

3) Restaurant kitchen should be certified and checked by local authorities

While beginning the journey of designing a restaurant kitchen, it is important to approve the plans with local health authorities. So that terms of safety and health are met as per the health and safety standards. In case some aspects are missing from the current plan of the restaurant kitchen design, the health inspectors can point it out early one giving time to make the necessary changes.

Restaurant kitchen design needs the hands of pioneers in the food and service industry. HPG Consulting is a pioneer that is responsible for successfully designing and setting up restaurant kitchens for their clients.
A quick list of successful restaurant kitchen design projects taken up by HPG Consulting in India and Abroad:

Galito’s at Bay Square – Dubai
Sugar Factory at DFC Mall – Dubai
Famous Dave at ADH Mall – Abu Dhabi
Famous Dave at DPR – Dubai
Famous Dave at Al Wahada Mall – Abu Dhabi
Bloomberry at JLT – Dubai
Punjab Grill – Jeddah, Hyderabad & Mumbai
Zambar – Cyber Hub, Gurgaon
Canton Spice Company – Cyber Hub, Gurgaon
Fat Burger – Cyber Hub Gurgaon
Moti Mahal – Bangaluru & Punjabi Bagh
Mainland China – Kolkata
China Garden
Dhaba Express
Coriander Leaf

Get in touch with the top kitchen planning consultants at HPG Consulting today and discuss the possibility of a world-class restaurant kitchen design with them. To discuss your requirements and get answers to all your questions, call us at +91-9311-202-627. You can also fill out our contact form, and we will get in touch as soon as possible.