Design Your Restaurant for Hygiene and Comfort

Design for Hygiene

On 24^th February, 2009 one of the leading restaurants in the world – The Fat Duck, located in a county near London, shut down operations for more than a fortnight because of a health scare. Forty of its customers had complained of getting ill after a meal. The management could not find the cause. They closed down operations and called for a health inspection. No reason was discovered. The Fat Duck is reputed to have self-imposed the most rigorous process of health monitoring. The cause was never found out and the restaurant was re-opened in mid-March, after incurring a loss of 100,000 pounds in lost revenues.

Hygiene and health issues can never be taken for granted, and hence a deep concern about it from the design stage will pay rewards later.

In India, water-based pollutants and vectors are a big cause of spreading disease and sickness. You should consider installing a reverse osmosis (RO) plant to ensure that food items and crockery are washed and prepared in treated water.

Ensure that the flows of food under preparation and clean plates do not overlap in anyway with the removal of dirty plates and leftover food and disposal of waste. Ensure that stations where raw meat and fish are prepared do not overlap with vegetables and fruit, to prevent cross-contamination. Set up separate sinks for kitchen staff to wash hands in the back of the house area. Institute surprise checks to ensure that processes set up for hygiene are strictly followed. In matters of hygiene, prevention is the only solution. The example of the Fat Duck tells us that finding a cure is too expensive.

Design for Comfort

As with most production spaces, special attention should be paid to design proper ventilation. The intense operations of a restaurant kitchen will call for chimney hoods, exhaust blowers and ducting to ensure that all smoke and cooking odours are directed outside. Good ventilation will enable that conditions do not get too intense and impact the preparation and cooking processes.

It would be useful to designate areas for staff where they could keep their belongings and, if possible, change and wash up. In full-service restaurants, staff would need a separate restroom. This will clear other areas for smooth operations.

Understanding a Restaurant.

As an ordinary customer the impression we have of the restaurant business is made up of a few scattered images based on our experience as customers. A successful restaurant is one that is consistent in all that it does. If we intend to start our own restaurant, we need to understand what makes a restaurant in greater detail, so we can design for consistency across all aspects of its operation. There are two aspects of a restaurant, these are food production and service; to this we should add a third aspect: the theme.

While the quality of the food and drink you present to your customer and the polite efficiency of your service must be superior by default, the differentiator in your restaurant is the theme around which you design both. It is the theme that will determine the overall experience and will eventually help customers rate your restaurant above your competition. Places that make your customers happier and more fulfilled are those that have the greatest positive impact.

Food and Beverage Production: Food and beverage production lies at the core of the restaurant business. Culinary excellence, thus, is the default function and has to be the top priority in restaurants. While all the three are interconnected, special attention should be paid to the freshness of the raw material used, hygiene and ultimately the taste of the food. Never use food supplies that are past their expiry. Ensure that all food served is freshly made and not stale. Washing hands before and after handling the food is another consideration, while food items as meat and poultry must be cooked to the correct internal temperature.

Food and Beverage Service: The level of service depends on the type of restaurant that you want to start. Having said that, there is a minimum standard of politeness and service that customers across all categories expect from the staff members. The service should be perfect! The basic elements of service are: speed, accuracy and politeness. Speed of service is default. An allied attribute to speed is accuracy, and regardless of the category of restaurant all customer dealing requires basic politeness.

Theme: As mentioned above, high quality in the production and service of food and beverage is the default need of the day. No restaurant venture will be successful without this. However, to build the differentiator that will ensure growth and brand building, special attention has to be made on creating a theme for your restaurant that will make a unique experience for your customer. The theme needs to match the type of restaurant you will be starting. While designing the theme, you need to keep in mind three elements: concept, uniqueness and consistency.