Unless your restaurant runs exclusively on takeout, you are no doubt familiar with the stack of rapidly accumulating dishes that appears every service - where do they come from? and why so many?! - not to mention pots and pans and other food prep material that needs to be cared for every few hours.
Just as the home dishwasher revolutionized how we take care of domestic cleaning, the commercial dishwasher does the same in foodservice. How many dishes you can clean in an hour dictates how many customers you can cost-efficiently serve. With models suitable for the mom-and-pop restaurant and cafeteria alike, a good dishwasher will help you keep customers satisfied and safe, meet government regulations and make life a whole lot easier on your staff.
Finding the Restaurant Dishwasher That Fits Best
Whether small or large, fine dining or casual, there's an industrial dishwasher that can work for you.
Undercounter Dishwashers
A great choice for a bar, sandwich shop or a compact kitchen. These are convenient units, typically with a single front door, that you can even place in the front of the house. They can handle about 25 to 55 flatware or dish racks an hour and clean a rack in as little as 2 minutes. Ideal if you are serving under 100 meals per hour.
Stationary Door/Hood-Type
Manually loaded from the front with racks, these dishwashers are great for small to medium-sized restaurants. They can clean about 175 racks an hour, cleaning off dishes in just a minute or two per rack. Ideal for about 100 to 500 meals per hour.
Rack Dishwasher
This is like a mini version of a conveyor dishwasher - put a rack in, close the door, then open it when the cycle is done. This can do about 175 racks per hour and a rack a minute. Great for a spot serving 100-500 meals per hour.
Glass Dishwashers
Keeping glassware clean can be a challenge between lipstick stains and how easily it can break. A glass washer can handle the task with ease, cleaning thousands of glasses per hour and finishing a cycle in just over a minute.
What to Consider When Selecting a Commercial Dishwashing Machine
As you will have noticed, one thing all commercial dishwasher units have in common is blistering speed! That's because the amount of dishes you can clean in an hour directly translates to the amount of meals you can serve.
Capacity and speed matter in choosing a dishwasher, then, because you need to be able to plate your food - or your whole operation will be in trouble. Take a look at the guidelines above for the number of racks each type of unit can handle. Individual commercial dishwashing machine units will vary as to whether they hit the top or low end of what each type can do. Mixing and matching can work for many smaller establishments - an undercounter and a glass washer could work great together at a pub, for instance. Since a quality machine will last at least 5 to 10 years or longer (and a quality machine is what you will receive from Eleven36!) budget for at least a 20-25 percent increase in potential capacity.
Energy efficiency and water saving is also a big deal for restaurants, which use a great deal more power and water than most commercial establishments. Every buck you can save by investing in an eco-friendly unit will pay off in the future. The best commercial dishwashers will recycle hot water into a holding tank, for instance, among other water-saving technologies. According to Energy Star, one of their government-rated dishwashers will be about 12 percent more energy efficient and 50 percent more water efficient than a standard model and also save more than $3,000 in utility bills over the product's lifetime.
How a Commercial Dishwasher Can Help Your Business
Remember that pile of dishes we talked about before? Imagine if you had to pay staff to keep up with the glass and flatware you need to wash each day! A commercial dishwasher maximizes efficiency but also guarantees hygiene, especially when it's a high-quality model supplied by Eleven36. There are always plenty of dishes to wash, like pots and pans and prep surfaces (although there are also dishwasher models that can help with this) - let your staff focus on those while the dishwasher gets to work (much, much more quickly) on what your customers use.
How Do Commercial Dishwashers Work So Fast Anyway?
They use exceptionally strong detergent to sanitize dishes according to FDA regulations and have powerful jets, far more powerful than what you have at home. Most models also use much higher heat than a home unit while the dishes move through the clean, rinse and sanitize cycle.
Tips Before You Buy
How do you choose the right machine? If you are looking at anything other than an undercounter washer or a glass washer you will need to consult an electrician to help with installation - a practical point that will help dictate your options. Consider your business plan and how you think your meals served per hour will grow over the decade. Choose a unit that can do about 125 percent of what you currently do (see the capacity and racks per hour guidelines by type above!).
Accessorizing a Commercial Dishwasher
Yes, even a dishwasher has accessories! To comply with federal and local regulations, you may have to install a booster heater to help heat your water or a condensate hood to process all the steam and moisture and keep your staff cool. Other helpful tools include cleaning tools (you'll need to clean the dishwasher frequently to ensure it rinses and sanitizes properly) and replacement materials like curtains and rods. Eleven36 can provide expert guidance on exactly what is necessary for the unit you are considering.
The Most Important Consideration of All - Dishwasher Temperature
For all the bells and whistles an industrial dishwasher can offer, the most important thing it has to do is get dishes up to at least 160 F - the FDA established temperature for considering a dish sanitary. To ensure you are meeting these requirements, always have a dishwasher thermometer in place and checked frequently to make sure your unit is meeting the mark. Some dishwashers (particularly ones that don't need condensing hoods) operate at lower temperatures. These will need to use special sanitizing liquids, usually containing chlorine, and will need to be tested regularly for appropriate sanitizer levels with a test strip.
There's a lot to mull over when selecting a commercial dishwasher that will be a good match for your customers, meal types and plans for growth. Reach out to Eleven36 for a dishwasher that will help your business reach its full potential.