ALL food businesses must put in place, implement and maintain food safety management procedures on the HACCP principles.

^{It is therefore of paramount importance in the planning of a kitchen that consideration is given to the ‘flow’ within the kitchen to allow the safe passage of food stuffs from goods in to service ensuring the avoidance of cross contamination.}

^{Regardless of the type of catering outlet, the food flow requirements and storage requirements are fundamentally the same.}

^{Space is always of a premium in kitchens – no matter what area is allotted for the operations - and there never seems to be enough of it!}

^{Imagine a motor vehicle with all the interior plush surroundings and leg room and then think of that little compact item under the bonnet which is expected to support and propel the vast area around it.}

^{Now imagine a restaurant area whether it be for an hotel, bistro, bar meals, theme foods, European or Ethnic foods and then imagine the little ‘engine’ which has to support them!}

^{It is here, that, due to the popularity of eating out, pressure is applied to the ‘engine’ to produce more food faster than ever before with the possibility of a lax of effort in basic functions.}

^{Now as always, Chef and his catering colleagues require the management team to ensure that due diligence is expressed in affording safe food handling facilities by means of the provision of safe, hygienic working conditions with the correct type of equipment and working areas.}

^{The best kitchen is a working kitchen and not a walking kitchen which, is just as well in as in most cases, space / circulation areas are limited in the kitchen precinct– almost the smallest room in the house! Therefore, the siting of the appliances and work stations can assist greatly with the food production operations.}

^{A typical flow would generally be thus:-}

^{Goods Received, weighing, quantity check, quality and temperature checking when required.}

^{Dry Storage, enclosed if possible to ensure security and stock rotation of tinned goods, cartons, flour, pulses etc.}

^{Refrigerated Storage, requiring the correct refrigerated facilities for the safe holding of the various food types at the temperatures demanded. For example, raw meats @ -2°c to +2°c, dairy products, vegetables etc @ +1°c to +4°c and frozen foods @ -18°c to –21°c.}

^{Preparation Areas, affording segregation of food stuffs especially for high risk products – raw and cooked meats – poultry and fish - vegetable preparation and sandwich preparation. Stainless steel work surfaces, sink units, wash hand basins, flying insect eliminators, door / window fly screens and colour coded chopping boards.}

^{Cook Line, how long is a piece of spaghetti? There has never been a time when such a vast choice of cooking equipment has been available for the professional kitchen.}

^{The advent of the multi grid combination oven, convection oven and bratt pan allow bulk food production whilst the smaller combi’s and convection ovens coupled with the work horse six open burner oven range, salamander, fryer and griddle provide sterling service for the smaller and medium duty outlets. Oh, and don’t forget the professional microwave oven for any situation.}

^{Pizza production kitchens can now reap the benefit of installing conveyor pizza ovens - providing production, production, production or, profit, profit, profit!}

^{Portioning / Holding Facilities, with the necessary supplementary heating or refrigerated provisions to hold the plated or portioned meals at the required temperatures before serving to the customer.}

^{Pots Wash, generally carried out by auxiliary kitchen staff, (pot boy) in the smaller kitchen although, automatic utensil washers not unlike a dishwashing machine are available for the larger kitchen.}

^{Dishwashing, machines provide speedy, hygienic sanitation of crockery and glassware.}

^{Two minute, automatic cycles diminish the need for auxiliary staff thus reducing overheads.}

^{Kitchen Operatives, trained for their specific functions and food handling. Must be fully au-fait with hygiene and food handling requirements.}

^{Ingredients, as the old maxim goes, if you put inferior ingredients in you get inferior results out.}

^{Equipment, likewise, if inferior ‘ingredients’ of equipment are installed, poor results will abound.}

^{At Buy Catering, we can provide all the correct ingredients!}