Large hotel operations must run efficiently to be profitable. Where food service is concerned, this can be a challenge. Hotel kitchens have greater expectations imposed on them than restaurant meal service in that they must also contend with room service at all hours of the day and night, plus conventions, banquets, and weddings. They may be charged with creating menus and preparing dishes that represent several different cuisines and dining styles, served in different on-site restaurants, all at once. These tips for creating an efficient hotel kitchen gathered from kitchen design experts enable food and beverage directors, chefs, and kitchen staff to work together and coordinate a smooth hotel foodservice operation.

First, Listen

Kitchen staff, wait staff, bussers, room service workers, dishwashers, and housekeeping staff all have unique and valuable experiences that can help address inefficiencies in hotel kitchen operations. Ask for their opinions on what the kitchen could do better to make their work easier and more efficient. They will have firsthand knowledge of the frustrations, traffic flow problems, and duplication of effort that should be eliminated to create a more efficient hotel kitchen operation. Everything from the location and type of kitchen doors, the types of racks used to distribute and collect room service trays, or the width and versatility of folding tables and the traffic flow between refrigerators and prep tables factors into foodservice efficiency.

Incorporate safety and sanitation concerns and health department regulations into the discussion. Managers and directors will gain perspective from front line staff about everything, from traffic flow between the kitchen, corridors, and front of house spaces, to the availability of handwashing stations and the distance to elevators and storage. For example, if room service or wait staff must enter the kitchen through a blind door adjacent to a prep or dishwashing station where staff use or clean knives, they are in danger of serious injury.

Size

Kitchen designers use a general rule of thumb that the kitchen should allow 5 square feet of space for every seat in the restaurant. In hotels, however, space must also be allotted for room service and the swell in numbers that comes with banquet and convention service. On any given day, the number of “seats” a hotel restaurant must serve could expand significantly. Therefore, factoring space for peak operations should be part of any hotel restaurant design plan.

Traffic Flow

Efficient hotel kitchens minimize the distance wait staff, bus staff, and room service workers must walk to provide guest services. Many hotels build in dedicated elevators and back corridors to facilitate traffic flow for food service workers as well as housekeeping staff. The kitchen itself can be laid out in an assembly line style, an island design, or a work zone configuration. Walkways should be wide enough for staff to pass each other without colliding, and that includes not just prep staff and cooks but bussers, wait staff, and room service workers, too.

Mobile, modular prep tables and serving stations allow for flexible food and beverage operations that accommodate different configurations for buffet service, banquets, and changes in layout between breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner services.

Ventilation, Fixtures, Energy Efficiency, and Sanitation

Hotel kitchens use a lot of equipment that consumes substantial energy. Energy-efficient appliances and the placement of ovens and cooktops can work to reduce energy costs. Grouped cooktops and ovens can reduce the energy consumption necessary for ventilation hoods.

Of course, health and safety standards dictate many equipment requirements, from the number and type of sinks to fire safety, ventilation, refrigeration, temperature control, and even drainage. When selecting equipment, from ovens to cooktops, sinks, and prep tables, consider maintenance. Are surfaces and equipment easy to clean and sanitize? In a twenty-four-hour operation, cleaning and sanitizing is a constant necessity. The positioning of sinks and dishwashers and the appropriate storage for cleaning supplies will affect how efficiently the kitchen can stay in continuous compliance with health and safety regulations.

Equipment like commercial meat tenderizers, dough sheeters, slicers, and spiral mixers create efficiencies by speeding up food prep. These machines enable cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs to prepare popular items in large batches.

In addition to considering energy efficiency, consider durability when selecting kitchen equipment. Hotel ovens, dishwashers, and ice machines endure near-constant use and must be able to perform without interruption.

Storage

Obviously, food items, spices, and utensils must be accessible for chefs to work quickly. Refrigerators and freezers can be located near prep stations, and the prep stations should in turn be close to where cooks and chefs combine prepped items into delectable entrees and desserts. Items not essential to food preparation like trays, glassware, linens, chafing dishes, and coffee urns needn’t be stored in or even next to the kitchen, but rather closer to restaurant seating and ballrooms for quick set-up.

Technology

Hotel kitchens should be using the same kind of technology that has made stand-alone restaurant operations efficient and accurate. Waitstaff can use tablets with software that integrates with inventory and payment systems. Electronic monitoring systems record temperature and can issue alarms in the event of power outages or equipment malfunction. Technology helps hotel restaurants analyze data that in turn informs menu development. When data shows that some items sell constantly while others don’t, food and beverage operations can adapt and change accordingly. Managing orders, preparing for inspections, and maintaining inventory all become less onerous with technological assistance.

Aesthetics and Versatility

Hotels may decide to create centralized kitchens or distributed kitchens that perform different functions. Restaurants that feature open kitchens add to the ambiance of the dining experience, but the bustle of a banquet operation or the constant traffic of room service operations are probably best kept out of sight. Creative designers have achieved kitchens that can transform from closed, back-of-house operation to open-style kitchens with visible ovens and cooktops. This allows patrons to watch chefs in action at dinner, but the kitchen can close a wall or gate to enable fast morning and lunch service, where patrons prefer speed over the drama of steaks on the grill or pizzas coming out of ovens.