The kitchen is perhaps the most vital area for a catering or hospitality business. When done correctly, commercial kitchen design allows your business to grow and in turn, supports the work of every single employee. We always advise working with an experienced team to develop these concepts in order to ensure you are getting the most out of both your space and budget. However we also regularly get asked whether the chef should be involved in this design process? We’ll answer this today in this blog.
Why Is Commercial Kitchen Design Important?
If budgets are tight or you are just starting out, it can seem a significant investment to work with professional kitchen designers. Sure, you could sit down yourself and plan out where all of the appliances will go. And, for many businesses, this will work. However, when you start to scale or your business picks up, it’s not uncommon for some companies to face challenges. There is a wide scope of situations and occurrences within kitchens that are not always considered in the design. This means that over time, catering spaces become outdated and unsuitable for purpose.
Commercial kitchen design allows a professional, backed with years of experience to support you throughout this process. The vast majority of the team at Aspen Services also have extensive hospitality and catering experience and truly understand the challenges you may face. They will identify these challenges with an original design, suggest state-of-the-art and in-budget equipment to reduce running costs and leave you with a kitchen that works every single day. Keeping this in mind, it is also important to remember that nobody knows your business as well as you and your employees. While many obstacles can be highlighted easily with the right experience, some will be entirely unique to your setting.
Should I Involve My Chef in the Design?
Your chef is the head of the kitchen. This environment is where they will spend a significant portion of their working time and is where they need to be able to drum up the enthusiasm from their team. So, in short – yes. Involving your chef in the design of your commercial kitchen has many benefits:
- They will be able to identify what equipment is and isn’t essential.
- They will identify the walking routes needed by employees to maintain safety and efficiency.
- They will highlight any issues in the design which could hinder the smooth flow of work every single day.
- They will identify technology that improves efficiency rather than hindering it.
- They are the heart of the kitchen and will put this passion into the design.
Working in collaboration with your chef and a professional kitchen design company ensures you agree to a final space that works, supports productivity and reduces the risk of injury at the same time. Here at Aspen Services, we offer a complete service for the commercial caterer and work alongside your chef and employees to ensure every design fits your needs exactly. If you would like to speak to a member of our team regarding a project, please get in contact today.