Sanitation and Safety

Situated over cook lines, ventilation systems remove cooking heat, effluent and odors.

Type I ventilation systems are grease rated for positioning over grease-producing appliances, including ranges, griddles, fryers and charbroilers. Type II or B units, also called vapor hoods, are designated to handle heat and steam over dishwashers and some oven types.

Oil is the most expensive food product in the kitchen. The customers buy products cooked in oil, and at the end of the oil life, operators recycle or throw away the used shortening. Filtering plays an important role in getting the most from an operation’s fryer oil.

Pizza restaurant dish rooms, like those in other foodservice segments, continue to shrink in size. These cramped spaces can be difficult environments for staff to work in as well as inefficient when ergonomics are an issue.

Service agent John Schwindt, general manager and vice president of operations at Hawkins Commercial Appliance Service Co., Englewood, Colo., shares a few tips on maintenance considerations for oil-filtration systems.

Thanks to oil-filtration systems, the days of kneeling in front of a fryer with a filter cone and a stock pot, anticipating the flow of boiling-hot oil, are over.

Also called agitating sinks, power sinks tackle food soil with hot, soapy water and agitation to clean pots and pans, eliminating about 90 percent of the hand scrubbing typically needed. It’s important to note that these units do not serve as garbage disposals, so staff need to pre-scrape items prior to placing the wares in the wash tank.