Most Common Breakdowns in the Kitchen

December 17, 2019

It doesn’t take long in the restaurant industry to realize that there are a few curveballs that come your way. From equipment breakdown to employee challenges, you won’t know until you jump in. Here at Fast Fix, we can’t help with every single issue you run into, but we can help keep your commercial kitchen equipment repaired in Mid-Missouri! Here are a few of the more common reasons why your equipment could breakdown and ways that you can avoid it!

No Regular Maintenance

The fact is, for every restaurant that keeps up on regular maintenance, there are several others just skating by on a hope and a prayer. Regular preventative maintenance may seem like an unnecessary cost, especially when you already have a lot of bills to keep up on - but that’s why it’s so important. Regular maintenance of your equipment can save you hundreds of dollars when you account for costly repairs that happen at the most inopportune times.

Employee Negligence

Unfortunately, we’ve seen it many times - an employee either doesn’t know how to properly care for a piece of equipment or they have chosen to ignore certain cleaning procedures for too long. Kitchens can be a messy place, and cleanliness can greatly prolong the life of your hoods, stovetops, and pretty well every other piece of equipment in your kitchen. Not only can some of these errors be costly by way of equipment, but they could also be a health code violation - which could add further headaches.

Make sure that your team is well trained, and that they are being managed well at all times.

Not Replacing Worn Parts

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that things wear down over time. When a technician suggests that you should replace something, it’s generally for a really good reason. In fact, by choosing to replace the worn parts, you are essentially choosing when to have your breakdown, instead of waiting for Murphy to choose for you - as we know Murphy ALWAYS chooses the wrong time. These parts can include belts, burners, minor components, gaskets, and more. They may seem insignificant, but they can cause major failures in your machines, and some can even be disastrous. Preventative maintenance is important, so keep it up with your regular inspections to help minimize the opportunity for major failures.

Incorrect Ventilation

If it helps, think of the ventilation system in your kitchen like the arteries. If they get too much of a grease build-up, they will get clogged, and this can cause issues to the entire body of your kitchen. If your hoods aren’t functioning properly, or you have gone too long without professional cleaning, improper ventilation can come back to haunt you. The kitchen creates a HUGE amount of grease, you probably already know this, but really, it’s quite impressive. Imbalanced airflow can be a huge issue that you will want to avoid.

Old Equipment

Is your equipment still chugging along? Even if it’s still functioning, if you are using old equipment, there can be several flaws that will keep you from running at your best. The biggest issue that you may run into is inefficiency - higher utility bills being the huge culprit, and the difference can add up over time.

Other issues that you may run into? Not being able to find the parts you need, sudden failures (that need to be repaired quickly), and the fact that kitchen technology has changed a lot over the years are just a few reasons why regular updates can a huge advantage to your kitchen.

Commercial Appliance Maintenance Agreements in Mid-Missouri

Fast Fix offers maintenance agreements on an individual basis. An information list is available outlining what we do to promote the health of your kitchen. One of the hardest things to do in a busy restaurant is to maintain a lot of the equipment that you use daily. With our help, we schedule Preventive Maintenance for your restaurant(s) that includes HVAC, refrigeration, cleaning and replacing filters throughout your restaurant. This reduces waste, down-time, energy usage, and improves the bottom line of your business. Our new customers will receive a discount on their first service call. We want to ensure that you are satisfied with the service that we provide.

We offer competitive rates to all restaurants, school districts, senior care facilities and commercial businesses that provide and produce food.