EQUIPMENT & FACILITIES

Nation's Restaurant News, August 17, 1998 by Foster Frable Jr.

Over the past few years, several top-rated restaurants, hotels and culinary schools have installed island cooking suites made by European equipment manufacturers. Since French ranges like Bonnet and Morice have established their presence in North America, companies like South Bend, Vulcan and Garland are displaying cooking suites that they are importing from their European affiliates.

European cooking suites are constructed with heavier-gauge metals, doors, decorative-finish options and hand-crafted details. While those features are attractive, how do the manufacturers sell the products at prices approaching three to four times the cost of similar American ranges?

Directing this question to recent purchasers of the European cooking suites, the sanitation and cleaning ease of that equipment ranked very high in their justification. They felt the typical gaps, crevices and other detriments to cleanability in American equipment were something they wouldn't tolerate.

Heavy-duty European cooking equipment, even those that are modular or sectional, have almost no gaps, cracks or open areas where food, liquids and grease can collect and build up. Most countertop equipment from Europe includes integrated joiner strips or mini-spreaders that bridge gaps and seal equipment modules together lightly. Some manufacturers have enhanced the joiner pieces to include miniature drawers for cooking wines and spices, knives and utensils.

Tough European hygiene codes have driven the design of European equipment to address sanitation and cleaning ease. The wide use of concrete pads or bases under range lines demands that no liquids can spill between the equipment, since it is almost impossible to clean between or under equipment mounted on a pad. The rise in popularity of open or display kitchens in the United States, which often use masonry bases, raises the same concern. Yet most heavyduty American cooking equipment is separated by gaps, cracks and openings that allow grease and spilled liquids to flow below the cook top into areas that can't be accessed for cleaning. Eventually, accumulated liquids rust or corrode bases and frames and can create a long-lasting stench.

Adding casters to equipment can provide access to cleaning leaks between and under the equipment, but it doesn't resolve concerns with spills and residue from cleaning that penetrates and collects inside the equipment. Furthermore, some equipment is too heavy or large to move, even when mounted on casters, so cleaning access is still an issue.

In addition to gaps and cracks between equipment there are other sanitation concerns that should be checked when selecting or comparing equipment. For example, observe the design of griddles very carefully. Heavy steel griddle plates expand when they are heated, so some manufacturers leave gaps between the plate and the sides. When the griddle is cool and is cleaned, caustic cleaning chemicals can run into the gaps. When the griddle is reheated the top expands. The cleaning chemicals are squeezed and boiled out of the gap and onto the griddle top where it can contaminate food.

One of the most difficult pieces of equipment to clean are cabinet-based steam kettles and boilers located under pressure or convection steamers. The tilt mechanism and draw-off valves inside cabinet-based kettles have open mechanical components that are difficult to access for cleaning. Most gas-fired steam boilers contain too many components stuffed inside a small enclosure to allow adequate access for cleaning. Amplifying the problem is the fact that that type of equipment often is located in areas of a kitchen most subjected to spills and splashing. Replacing the units with direct steam from a remote boiler eliminates the design concern. Steamers, braising pans and similar equipment mounted on legs or open bases is far easier to clean and maintain than those with cabinet bases.

When you evaluate different brands of equipment, verify the access path or procedure required for thorough cleaning. Some equipment is so complex that it is almost impossible to disassemble and clean the interior parts without a manual or video instruction tape. Even if the unit can be disassembled, can it be easily reassembled and work properly? It is important that you not take a vendor's word on this. When you look at equipment in a showroom or exhibition, take the equipment apart yourself and see how logical it is to disassemble and reassemble.

Grills, covers and louvers often are placed on equipment to keep splashed food, soil and grease from entering motors, compressors and mechanisms, as well as accommodating aesthetic and safety concerns. Those devices function only when they remain in place. The likelihood that closures and grills will remain in place to perform their intended function is related to how easily they can be removed and reinstalled.

Many equipment buyers and specifiers assume that if a piece of equipment has a label and a listing from the National Sanitation Foundation or ETL-Sanitation, it should be easy to keep clean. Focus on cleanability as you study the equipment currently in your kitchen or at the next exhibition, and you will realize that is often a false assumption. Don't even assume that all models of equipment from a major brand name are NSF or ETL listed. One of the top brands of refrigerators did not have NSF or ETL listings for most models of their undercounter reach-ins until recently.