National standards for kitchen regulations a cost-saver for restaurants

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 21, 2002 by Gary Bensky

Estimating the true cost of a kitchen renovation can be an elusive endeavor. Even for the seasoned professional, unexpected factors can come into play. Namely, the number of ever-increasing regulations and requirements can drive the cost of a kitchen project through the roof.

With public safety as the goal, fire, building and health inspectors' standards span from cooperative and realistic to absurd and even ridiculous. What makes the process even more convoluted is the fact that regulations differ from agency to agency and even may conflict.

Complicating matters even more, codes differ from state to state and continually are changing and evolving. And even when a code has not changed, it is subject to the particular inspector's interpretation.

While I firmly believe that the vast majority of inspectors simply are trying to do the best job they can, one can't help thinking that some of them are either on a power trip or trying to outdo the other guy. I have walked through kitchens with health inspectors who have al)proved conditions that they deem unacceptable on a second, third or fourth visit.

If you believe you have freedom of choice to use any and all equipment available in the marketplace, guess again. Maybe your chef has demanded that the cooking battery be a range-matched front manifold line of gas-fueled cooking equipment. Now, three days before the scheduled opening of your restaurant, you find that the local health official requires that all cooking equipment be mobile to facilitate easy cleaning. Perhaps someone recommends a particular stainless-steel fabricator to build the chefs table because of the low price, only the health inspector won't allow any equipment that is not approved by the NSF, formerly known as the National Sanitation Foundation.

On one recent project, a health-department official actually said that anywhere food was being prepared or disposed of, a food-waste disposer was required. That policy would mean disposers must be not only in dish- and potwashing areas but also included in prep kitchens, bakeshops and even the chefs table on the la carte cooking line. In a hotel kitchen that easily could amount to $100,000 of unanticipated expense.

However, some chefs have found that food costs rise when disposers are overly convenient because lazy cooks won't wrap and save that last little bit of lobster mousseline, the scraps from frenching the veal racks or the trimmings from tourneed vegetables. Rather, they end up throwing those products in the disposer instead of enriching the stock pot or using them in some other preparation.

Fortunately, after much debate and an appeal to reason, the official allowed the disposers to be placed only in logical and appropriate places.

It is no wonder that extreme interpretations arise when building codes include statements like "any piece of equipment that generates heat requires an exhaust hood." While it may be reasonable to say that a half-sized electric convection oven falls into that category, where does it stop? Does a toaster require a hood? How about a microwave? Wait a minute; soup wells, heat lamps, bread warmers, coffee makers, tea brewers, espresso machines and refrigeration compressors all produce heat, should they be under a hood as well?

We all would be better off if there were an established national standard that could be followed throughout the United States.

Many small independent operators seem to operate with impunity in terms of the conditions they work in, but the employees and, ultimately, the public suffer because of it. Although some undoubtedly will continue to slip under the fence, the majority are being held to increasingly higher standards.

In terms of equipment, that means that one or more of the nationally recognized testing laboratories should certify all equipment used in foodservice operations. The primary agencies that certify foodservice equipment are NSF International and Underwriters Laboratories. NSF International, online at www.nsf.org, certifies equipment based on sanitation. Underwriters Laboratories, or UL, online at www.ul.com, certifies equipment based on safety issues as established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. Other certifying agencies include Intertek's ETL SEMKO division, online at www.etl.com, the American Gas Association and the American National Standards Institute.

Thorough research and realistic planning for what will be required of your new kitchen can ensure the accuracy of budget estimations.