Let’s be honest. Nobody really wants to spend time and money on equipment service. But it’s a must-do. In fact, operators who are proactive about service likely end up paying less money and spending less time on service in the long run.
Five service pros who range from company leaders to technicians in the field, discuss how operators can get the most from their service experience. Their insights cover when to place a service call, when not to, and how to get the most from a service agency partnership.
John Schwindt
GM and Vice President of Operations
Hawkins Commercial Appliance Service
Talking Point: Equipment Installations
What are some of the problems you encounter when installing equipment in a new kitchen?
For new construction, nobody knows gas pressure. They’re putting two-pound systems in kitchens now because the higher the pressure, the smaller the gas line you have to run. But two pounds is way too much pressure for kitchen equipment. You have to purchase regulators that can handle that higher pressure and bring it down to a half-pound, which is what all kitchen equipment requires. So there’s a huge disconnect in information. General contractors and plumbers very rarely know this.
There’s also the problem of putting equipment too close together. That comes from the design and layout and can happen in any type of installation: New spaces, second-gen, or just a kitchen that’s getting a unit added or replaced. One problem I’ve seen is high-tech equipment that’s too close to a heat source. If the control compartment of a combi is on the right side of the unit, you don’t want to have a big heat source on that side. There’s a lot of circuitry that doesn’t like anything above 105 degrees F.
You mentioned plumbers. Are there issues with the trades handling installations?
I don’t want to badmouth the trades. Kitchen equipment installation is not part of their realm, so there are things they don’t know, just like I don’t know all the plumbing codes.
That being said, plumbers deal mostly with water and drains, so there can be problems when the trades handle equipment installations. A big one is for quick disconnects. We go into new constructions and have to flip all the quick disconnects. That’s because the disconnects for water are backward compared to the disconnects for gas. If a quick disconnect is installed wrong and you pull that disconnect off, you’ll get gas spilling into the building until you shut that valve off.
What about installing equipment in a second-generation space?
In these cases, we see a lot of problems with hoods. The hood is designed for the original kitchen equipment package. Once that changes, the hood may not be up to the job. If you take out a 30,000 Btu egg burner and put in a 100,000 Btu charbroiler, the hood probably won’t work because it was designed to remove so many Btus of heat and so much air.
This problem has to be addressed from a design standpoint. If you’re going to move into an existing kitchen, I highly recommend you hire a consultant. Have someone who can measure the duct size, duct run, duct length. It can be a kitchen design consultant or a hood company.
Zachary Howard
Service Technician
Talking Point: Service Calls
What can operators do to prepare for service calls?
One of the big ones is scheduling the repair for the right time. If the kitchen is busy and the staff can’t get off the line when that technician is scheduled, then have them come at a different hour. I’ve shown up to work on something and the restaurant is swamped. When this happens, the technician can’t pull out the equipment to work on it because their kitchen is too busy serving customers.
What should operators communicate when they’re calling to schedule a repair?
Try to accurately describe the problem to the technician before they come out. If you tell me the oven’s not heating, that gives me a good idea of what the problem could be. If it shuts off, tell me when it shuts off, what you’re doing with it. If there’s an error code, try to take a picture or write it down. And always make sure you provide a model and serial number when the technician calls. If I know the problem and know the oven, I can bring the components that I’ll probably need to finish the repair.
What can operators do to avoid emergency repairs?
A lot of times operators overlook small things that end up turning into a big problem and an emergency service call. If they addressed the small problem, they could have prevented the chain reaction down the line.
One good example of this is a pilot light that goes out every once in a while. The customer just relights the pilot. Then it’s Saturday and the pilot doesn’t light at all. They could have had a failing safety valve or bad thermocouple the whole time that’s now completely failed. Now they need one of those components replaced and will probably have to pay extra to get it done. So pay attention to your equipment. If you see anything small, call it in before it gets bigger.
What about equipment use and abuse?
That’s a big issue. You can see it on walk-in doors, for example. Staff will just swing open the door as fast as they can. They’ll snap off handles, which are about $500 apiece. If they understood the problem and how much it costs to fix, they might not be so rough.
Overloading cold equipment is also a big issue. A fridge or freezer is only going to be able to do so much. We see this with cold tables, too. The wells are meant to hold temperature, not cool product down. People will put warm or hot products into a pan in the cold well and then it doesn’t reach temp. The operator ends up paying for us to tell them that the equipment isn’t broken. The cold well is doing its job, but it’s just not designed to fully cool your food.
Thomas “TJ” Coker
Director of Operations
Talking Point: Service Agency Partnerships
Why is it important to build a strong partnership with your service agent?
Just like anything, the relationship is going to be 90% of the battle, especially when you need something done quickly, done right, and you need to trust that the person you’re working with is going to do right by you and your company. In the restaurant business, it’s really who you know. If you don’t know the person you’re working with, it makes it very hard for you to ask for a favor on a Saturday when something is down.
What makes someone a priority customer with your firm?
In our company, we have VIP customers. They’re either long-term customers who have been with us for years or even decades, or they’re customers who have enough locations and bring enough business to us that it makes sense for us to elevate their level of service.
What are the benefits to a good relationship besides priority scheduling?
A big one is support with new equipment purchases. Most equipment today is built very well, but there are certain levels of equipment that are designed for different use cases. If an operator buys something off the internet or from a dealer who’s never actually been in their location, they often run into situations where there are size and spacing issues or problems with the utilities. So we often consult with our customers when they have a piece of equipment that they need to replace. They can tell us what they want to do. Based on our experience dealing with equipment on a daily basis, we can make recommendations, so the customer is getting what they need.
Can you help operators with the equipment manufacturers?
Yes. If we have a relationship with the manufacturer, we can go to that manufacturer to get something taken care of quickly.
And if a VIP customer is having an issue with a piece of equipment, we’re going to turn over every leaf to provide some effective relief for the customer. But part of having that relationship is also being able to tell the customer, ‘Hey, I would love to go to bat for you on this one but to be honest, this is user abuse on the unit. We could shake that tree all day long, but to be fair it’s on you guys.’ If it’s a trusting relationship, you can have those conversations and it’s not a big deal. They understand. Everybody’s human and we all make mistakes.
Doug Hall
Director of Sales and Customer Relations
Talking Point: Planned Maintenance
What are the elements of a good partnership with a planned maintenance customer?
From the service agency side, one element is a customer who understands that commercial kitchen equipment is in heavy use every single day and that planned maintenance (PM) prolongs the life and uptime of equipment. The flip side is the customer who says “I’m paying for planned maintenance. You were here a month ago, but now the glass on my oven is broken.” Stuff happens. If we could predict everything that happens in advance, we’d probably be in the stock market or at a racetrack.
The best analogy I can provide is getting a yearly physical. It can help keep you healthy, but it might not prevent a medical emergency.
What should operators look for in a planned maintenance partner?
It comes down to capability and communication. On the capability side, does the service company have the ability to perform the PMs and act on the repairs in a capable manner?
The next piece is communication. The right service provider can provide a consultative service for a customer. A good PM partner will say, ‘You’ve put a lot of money into this piece of equipment. It’s at an age when you’re going to experience more frequent breakdowns so think about putting investment into CapEx.’
Should operators perform some aspects of planned maintenance themselves?
Absolutely. There is not a service company I know of that’s the most cost-effective for the DIY parts of maintenance, like cleaning.
One example is the combi oven. Most are sophisticated enough that you can put in cleaning chemicals, go home for the evening and the next day the oven is clean. If the operator doesn’t do that, we end up replacing expensive components. Part of a good partnership is the service provider having an honest conversation with the customer saying, ‘Your staff is not cleaning this. We can teach them, but at the end of the day if your staff is not going to clean, you’re going to have to accept the cost of doing business is repairs that could potentially be avoided.’
What should operators leave to the service agency?
Deep cleaning of coils on a refrigeration unit can be a problem. That can do more damage than good. The sole purpose of coils is to allow airflow and heat transfer. I’ve seen customers who scrubbed coils in such a way that they have completely blocked the airflow and destroyed the piece of equipment. So that job really should be left to a professional.
There’s also a liability issue. If an operator has an employee open a control panel, the unit could still be live with power. If the employee hurts themselves, that could lead to a catastrophic lawsuit. A qualified service technician is more than likely not going to hurt themselves and if they do, their employer should have liability insurance for that situation.
Donna D’Aquino
Service Technician
Talking Point: Unnecessary Service Calls
Sometimes, operators call for service when there isn’t anything wrong with the equipment, but they still have to pay for the visit. What can cause these calls?
A lot of issues we come across happen after the cleaning crew comes in at night. They disconnect gas lines or knock plugs out of the wall. The quick disconnects can get loose. Sometimes the hot water valves are turned, the water is off and customers don’t know this. It’s good to check the utilities coming in before placing a call.
High-limit buttons can cause trouble, too?
Yes. We see toasters with little high-limit resets underneath them or on the back. If the customer is not cleaning cooling fans and there is dust covering the vent, it can trip that button. All the customer has to do is dust things off. That will avoid a lot of costly maintenance calls. We end up just cleaning dust off a cooling vent, hitting that high-limit button and it works just fine.
We see something similar with fryers. Depending on the unit, sometimes the cook will bang the basket and cause the high-limit to trip. If they reset it and it works fine, it was probably tripped by mistake. Sometimes there really is an issue and it trips again. That’s when operators need to call us.
So just a button or switch in the wrong position can lead to a service call?
Absolutely. This happens a lot with combi and convection ovens. Sometimes a switch is in the wrong position and it’s not heating, or there’s a little gas switch, like a safety, that’s been flipped. Before you place a call just make sure all your buttons that you normally use are in the correct position.
What about high-tech equipment?
A lot of units now have computer boards and touch screens. They’re like mini-computers. If the unit isn’t working, sometimes all the customer needs to do is unplug the unit, wait a few seconds and plug it back in. Whatever computer glitch they’re dealing with goes away. Sometimes that can save a service call. Just restart like you would your computer.
