Hi if you'd like to know what is the best equipment for your new restaurant
cafe or food business stay tuned and we're going to take you through this
five-step process to select selecting the equipment that you need and more
importantly knowing the equipment that you don't need so you save money. Now if
you'd like to hear weekly updates on all the tips and tricks to starting your own
cafe restaurant or food business make sure you press the bell and subscribe
and you'll be notified every time we drop in your video Hi I'm Rowena I'm
a food consultant from Sydney Australia. Over the years I've literally helped
hundreds of people start their dream food business. Now food marketing as a food
consultancy is all about low cost and no cost strategies to really help you
skyrocket your business. So you've finally got to the point that you're
opening your dream business and buying the right kitchen equipment is
absolutely essential when you start out saving every penny is absolutely crucial
you are going to have to have the cash flow to continue the business and make
it long-term sustainable for the future until sales are consistent and the
business is really well established so buying the right kitchen equipment is
absolutely crucial and it's all about buying the equipment that you actually
really need as opposed to the equipment you don't so you don't overspend and you
stay within budget. So let's get started through the five step process to
selecting the equipment that you really need step number one is to assess your
menu so what you do is you go through every menu item on your menu and your
write down all of the pieces of equipment you need to competently make
that menu item so let's take the example of just a very basic beef hamburger
so what do you need you obviously need a mincer for the meat for the patty you
need a patty press you need a bowl to put the ingredients in you need spoons
and so forth to be able to blend the ingredients you then need a grill to
grill it okay so as you can see you'll either need a lot of equipment just for
that one item and it doesn't stop there then we think about all the
accompaniments that go with the burger so all the salad items so you need
knives chopping boards etc to prepare the accompaniments so what you do is you
put together all of that on the list along with every other menu item you
take it step by step and soon you will have a very comprehensive list of all
the equipment you need and yes there will be plenty of double ups but we'll
get to that later that you will need to be able to create your menu. Ok step
number two is to revise your list so go through the list and delete all the
doubles up and then you will be left with a very comprehensive list now what
you need to do is reflect on that list and think if there's any pieces of
equipment that are multifunctional. Now when you're starting out and you
don't understand commercial kitchen equipment it's really a great idea to go
to a dealer and have a chat now just remember they're going to do at the end
of the day I want to make a sale but you can generally chat to them and really
absorb a lot of their knowledge what you're on the lookout for are pieces of
equipment that can multitask in the kitchen
so let's go back to the hamburger example that we use before a salamander
is a great example of a piece of equipment that can multitask it can heat
it can grill or oil it can Brown it can glaze and the list goes on so for
example if you were using making the hamburger rather than buying a
commercial toaster for toasting the buttons
it could be brown they could be browned under the grill but you would also be
using for many other menu items or alternatively you can even toast the buns
on the top of the grill - that is very common here in Australia you
actually see the attendants and kitchen staff putting the buns directly on top
of the grill so have a chat to the dealer and see if there are many many
pieces of commercial kitchen equipment that you can use across all different
menu items and all of a sudden your list is known to go from a very comprehensive
long list to a much more refined shorter and cost-effective list. Okay step number
three is to take your refined list and split it into essential and
non-essential purchases so the essential pieces of equipment will be the ones
that you absolutely need in your kitchen to be able to operate your concept your
food based business so you'll have your list of essentials and then you'll also
have a secondary list which are the items that you purchase if the budget
stretches that further than non essentials they might be the wishlist
there might be more expensive pieces of equipment that you can really do without
but would save you time and energy so refine that list even further. Okay
before we continue for those of you who already operate a food based business
how have you been able to save with your equipment pop your comments in
the list below and let's have a look at what's working really well for some
other people. Okay step number four is actually to investigate whether it's
better to purchase or lease the equipment now for those of you on a
really tight budget leasing or higher purchase or even rental might be the way
to go so in every country there are different systems so look into it it
might be more cost-effective than extending your budget or worst-case
scenario or having to borrow more money and a greater capital investment to
actually purchase equipment outright. This also works really well if you know
you're going to play with a menu and it's going to change over a period of
time then you've got the flexibility when you no longer need a piece of
equipment to be able to return it now as I mentioned before always go to
reputable dealers now that also extends to second-hand so other than renting
leasing and purchasing you've also got the opportunity to go to second-hand
dealers. Now if you're going to go down in the second-hand on a path it's
actually so important that you know a piece of equipments history you need to
make sure and I can't stress this enough that it has a strong service history so
that you know it has been really looked after and well maintained you don't want
to buy a lemon this is actually really common just think about if you're buying
a car if you bought a second-hand car are you
going to buy it off someone off the street where you have absolutely no
recourse and roll the dice you may if you're buying an absolute bargain but
beware the bargains right it's usually a reason something is cheap as the saying
goes if it's too good to be true it probably isn't. So when it comes to your
equipment and if you go down the path of second-hand go-to a second hand
dealership and then of course you've actually got recourse if something goes
wrong you can go back to them and say you know what I bought this six months
ago here is all the documentation and it's now costing me several thousand
dollars in repairs you're because they're worried about their reputation
and impact on their brand your fault far more likely to get them to engage and
really help you out to problem-solve but if it's an average Joe on the street once
that piece of equipment is sold he's walking away and he'll probably never see or
hear from him again. Okay step number five is absolutely
crucial what you need to do is take your equipment list that has been refined and
revised and match it against your location so if you've already chosen a
location you've already committed to a lease this is absolutely crucial don't
go buying and leasing equipment until you've gone to the site you've measured
up and you checked access to services I can't tell you the number of businesses
that I've dealt with over the years who have purchased very expensive commercial
kitchen equipment that thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars worth of
equipment only to find they don't actually fit in the space required
Here's a trick you need air circulation often people just take the base
measurements of a piece of equipment but unless is adequate room on the sides and
at the back of the piece of equipment for most that are motor based the they
won't fit in the space required if you've just gone for the standard base
measurement of the actual piece of equipment and here's another tip if you
haven't got a location yet make sure when you're looking at
locations and in the event you've already got
equipment make sure you've actually got the services connections to be able to
connect that equipment again I can't get over the number of times I see people
turn up with equipment that rented a site and then they realize that there's
no adequate gas connection in the kitchen to be able to service the number
of gas fueled pieces of equipment that they've purchased so rest assured it's
worth doing your homework! Now if you'd like to access our restaurant equipment
checklist make sure you click the link below and you can use it as a guide to
ensure that you buy the equipment that is right for you but just remember our
top tip and recommendation is always going to be start with your menu. Don't
forget you can always follow us on our Facebook page for a regular updated
industry information and if you would like weekly tips and tricks upon how to
start or grow your food based business make sure you click the subscribe button
and you'll be notified every time we drop in your video thanks for watching!