The Complete Restaurant Equipment Maintenance Guide You'll Ever Need

Why is Restaurant Equipment Maintenance Necessary?

FMI predicted the demand for restaurant equipment to climb by a whopping 8% by 2033.

This means restaurants must have enough equipment to serve all their customers.

‍Restaurant Equipment Maintenance or management includes tracking and managing all of the assets within a restaurant. It assures that the restaurant has enough equipment and ample ware for serving its customers.

Moreover, restaurant operators can verify that all equipment complies with regulations, is well maintained, and that any necessary repairs have been made promptly.

It includes regular service and inspections of the equipment and making sure you have a good working relationship with local equipment suppliers and service entities. 

Proactive equipment management helps to ensure that all food service areas have the right amount and type of equipment in good working order. It also helps to minimize costly downtime, promotes safety and health for workers and customers, and addresses equipment issues that can affect the customer base.

What Are The Key Challenges of Restaurant Kitchen Equipment Maintenance?

1. Maintaining Consistency

For restaurant owners, ensuring a consistent guest experience is a top priority. Unfortunately, maintaining consistency becomes difficult when a broken piece of equipment causes an interruption in operations. 

For instance,  when an espresso machine suddenly malfunctions during the morning rush and hinders the serving of coffee, it upsets the guest. Subsequently, the restaurant becomes less reliable and the customers become frustrated.

2. Scalability and Operational Challenges 

If you’re a multiunit restaurant owner dealing with equipment maintenance is one of the big pain points. 

Each site could have different needs and schedules for maintenance, making it hard to maintain consistency in the way equipment is kept up. 

The more sites you have, the harder it gets to track all the maintenance tasks that need to be done and ensure they’re coordinated.

3. Compliance Management Challenges

The food safety issue that most concern U.S. consumers is chemical contamination in food (29%). This is followed by concerns over the 2nd most common issue foodborne illness at 26%.

Ensuring restaurant equipment maintenance will not only prevent costly repairs and replacements in the future but also help keep your staff and restaurant compliant with stringent food safety rules.

As an example, let’s consider your restaurant’s refrigeration system. Regular maintenance checks need to be performed on your refrigerator to maintain proper temperatures. 

By doing so, you can prevent the growth of harmful bacteria on perishable food items. By identifying issues ahead of time, such as a faulty temperature sensor or a worn-out door seal, you are mitigating the risk of spoiled food and/or foodborne illnesses. 

If an inspection team finds irregularities in the implementation of the HACCP or HARPC program during an inspection you may face fines and the shutting down of your restaurant for a short time.

Hold on to your hat, things might get rougher.

The bad publicity that a foodborne outbreak can generate can damage the reputation of the restaurant and the client's trust, as well as legal actions from affected individuals.

4. Ensuring Efficient Servicing 

Failing to guarantee the efficient maintenance of their equipment can lead restaurant operators to disaster. 

Take for example, on the hottest day of the summer, and the customers are swarming to your fast-food joint, craving the cold relief only your ice cream machine can provide. Suddenly, in the middle of the frenzy, the machine quits. There are no service people available. The customers, disappointed, leave. You may never get them back. Soon the word is out. 

 68% of customers won’t return after a negative experience.

Given the potential impacts of such a decision, can you afford not to invest in equipment maintenance?

5. Enhancing Team Accountability

Transitioning onward, effectively manage team-level maintenance by ensuring that all staff members comply with maintenance protocols maintenance management. Nonetheless, doing so can be difficult at times. A lack of clear accountability measures would not be able to let anyone know when there is a problem with equipment, and therefore, it might result in a great loss of time, and money and might stop your work from letting other people get their jobs done.

Failure to follow maintenance procedures for the hood’s ventilation system can result in the build-up of grease, potentially causing a life-threatening fire. When a fire catches in a busy commercial kitchen during service, chaos ensues, and damages ensue, to a significant cost. The resulting closure and reputational damage underline the need for compliance with protocols to prevent disruption and to avoid possible OSHA scrutiny.

Why Do Managers Need Restaurant Kitchen Equipment Maintenance?

1. Save Money 

Restaurant owners can sidestep expensive repair fees when they make a point to keep their restaurants functioning smoothly. 

How? Good question!

This strategy involves paying attention to small problems before they become big problems and costs add up. By keeping things running smoothly, owners minimize what they have to pay out. Restaurant staff can also save money by preventing energy loss. Avoiding excess energy use means fewer utility bills to pay each month.

Let’s discuss it in the context of the ice cream machine scenario

The terrifying situation could have been avoided if the equipment had been given proper care. Regular maintenance checks might not have saved us entirely from a complete breakdown, but they certainly would have caught the problems before they ballooned into the fiasco we found ourselves in. 

2. Enhance Operational Activities 

Restaurant equipment maintenance accelerates kitchen operations and improves the customer service experience. When machines do not undergo malfunctions, this leads to shortened downtimes. Consequently, the restaurant staff is more productive and, in turn, serves guests with the best quality they have specifically ordered. 

This satisfaction among the clientele will then encourage them not only to come back but also to bring their friends with them. 

That’s a double-edged benefit.

3. ROI on Old Kitchen Equipments

Timely tune-ups can extend equipment lifespan, saving you money on costly replacements. This not only maximizes your return on investment but also makes sure that resources can be allocated elsewhere. 

For instance, by keeping your espresso machine in good working order, you can avoid the need to buy a new one, freeing up funds for other needs.

4. Improved Health and hygiene 

Restaurant equipment maintenance of tools like refrigeration systems helps meet health codes such as the FDA's Food Code and regulations like HARPC. 

With thorough health checks, temperatures are always stable and the risk of bacteria on perishable items is reduced. The overall goal, after all, is to prevent foodborne illnesses, which in turn creates a safer environment for not only people who frequent the restaurant but also those who work in it.

5. Reduced Fire Incidents 

We examined FEMA’s 2011 report on restaurant building fires and found that out of the 5,900 fires reported, cooking caused 59% of all the incidents of fire.

However, the consequences can be less with recurring inspection of equipment.

For example, maintaining the ventilation hood is the first key to preventing grease from accumulating and reducing the likelihood of fire, which is important for preventive maintenance. This can also assist in maintaining the safety of personnel, customers, and others in the event of a kitchen fire as per OSHA regulation. 

What is Restaurant Equipment Maintenance Software?

With the challenges and proactive solutions already discussed, it is clear that adhering to traditional maintenance techniques could leave restaurant managers in a bind.

So, what’s the way forward?

Yeah, you guessed it right.

Equipment maintenance management software monitors equipment usage and manages both reactive and preventive maintenance. It identifies conditions that necessitate upkeep to maintain equipment at full capacity. 

As equipment maintenance management defines and follows resource-based maintenance requirements depending on calendar date, usage, and throughput, the associated resources are promptly updated with repair and service requirements. 

These three elements help ensure that maintenance is delivered in an integrated environment of shop floor services.

Let’s get into details

• Restaurant operators can maintain a comprehensive inventory of restaurant assets that highlights the levels of their usage. This innovative tool permits management to monitor closely impending maintenance or replacement needs.
• The monitoring of compliance requisites and planning of inspections are being rigorously seen to make certain that the restaurants adhere to every single safety standard.
• Managers use reporting and analytics to examine patterns, locate repeated problems, and create decisions supported by data to help reduce and save expenses. 
• To help build strong relationships with maintenance contractors and vendors, restaurant management can keep track of the history of services rendered, analyze the expenses incurred, and evaluate the performance of the vendors.
• Before causing costly breakdowns, potential issues are dealt with by making sure the equipment is inspected regularly and receiving the maintenance they need.

Is Your Restaurant Equipment Maintenance Checklist Complete?

Utilize this restaurant kitchen equipment maintenance checklist list to increase the lifespan of your commercial machines as well as diminish the necessity for repairs. Taking these actions at regular intervals, such as daily, weekly, and monthly, will enable every kitchen to reduce the number of service calls required, as well as make sanitization and cleaning.

Cleaning of the Vent, Hood, and Duct 

Regularly clean the vent, ductwork, and hood to eliminate grease buildup and lower the possibility of fire.

 If you schedule regular cleanings, all of your staff and clientele are protected with the improvement of airflow and safe cooking conditions.

Cleaning of Grease Filter 

Kitchen equipment, like fryers and grills, depends on grease filters to prevent the buildup of grease in ventilation systems. 

Maintenance is essential - cleaning and changing grease filters regularly can improve equipment performance and protect against grease-fueled fires.

Inspection of the Deep Fat Fryer 

A fundamental equipment in numerous kitchen workplaces, the deep fat fryer necessitates routine examination to ensure that it runs smoothly and securely. 

Assessing the fryer for any indication of attrition, such as damaged heating elements or worn-out fry baskets, becomes imperative in preventing any future glitches and prolonging the fryer's life.

Automatic Extinguishing Systems Services 

Essential for avoiding and putting out kitchen fires, automatic extinguishing systems, including fire suppression systems, necessitate recurrent examination and upkeep to make sure they are in good working order and meet safety standards. 

By retaining these systems, eateries can decrease the likelihood of blazes and safeguard their personnel and premises.

What to Know When Maintaining Restaurant Equipment?

Having been briefed on the restaurant equipment maintenance checklist, restaurant owners must be mindful of certain aspects to ensure the quality and prolonged use of their equipment.

• First thing first, use the manual from the manufacturers to maintain your product and solve any issue 
•  knowing what’s covered in the warranty can help you get a quick fix if the equipment is hiccupping.
• Provide comprehensive training to kitchen staff on equipment operation and routine maintenance tasks.
• Moving on establish sops for cleaning to prevent grease buildup, ensure food safety, and prolong equipment lifespan.
• Another important factor in maintenance is to not try to make repairs by yourself if you do not have the knowledge or expertise to do so. For example, repairing commercial cooking equipment can be dangerous, and trying to do a repair that you are not qualified to make may result in damage to the equipment, or can be hazardous to yourself.
• Develop a structured maintenance schedule to track tasks, monitor equipment performance, and plan future maintenance activities.

Best Restaurant Safety Software For Businesses In 2024

Let's dive into the best restaurant equipment maintenance software to get an idea of how these solutions pan out against different real life use case scenarios.

1. Xenia- Overall Best Restaurant Equipment Maintenance Software

Designed specifically for the restaurant industry, Xenia is a unified multi-unit equipment maintenance software ensuring consistent quality, rigorous food safety, staff training, and efficient task completion. 

This restaurant equipment maintenance software simplifies, updates, and clarifies the process of managing equipment and assets in your restaurants. The platform's dynamic design with a mobile-first focus makes it so much easier for managers to conduct equipment inspections and audits.

The result? Shift managers can deal with any problems or worries as they develop, making sure that kitchen equipment operates smoothly, thereby preventing downtimes and costly penalties

That's just the kickoff; there's a long game ahead.

The end-to-end safety solution guarantees that your workers are trained and responsible for keeping a secure work environment. By having checklists and templates at your fingertips, you can easily hold regular safety checks and ensure that the safety regulations in the industry are met.

Xenia assists in maintaining the utmost food safety protocols i.e. HACCP, FSMA, and ISO 22000. Through the consolidation of temperature supervision, sanitation programs, and pest mitigation, our software guarantees a kitchen that's consistently sterile and sustainably safe cuisine.

Let’s get into the details of what this app has to offer for Restaurant operators 

Why Choose Xenia?

The software promotes restaurant safety and operational efficiency by ensuring your staff performs their duties. With Xenia, you can:

Ensure Equipment Maintenance and Safety Inspections 

Restaurant managers can plan and monitor maintenance duties for all equipment, making certain proactive repairs and minimal disruption. 

Customizable checklists for safety investigations, machinery maintenance, and daily activities certify regularity and adherence. The automated prompts and alerts guarantee that obligations are handled discretely and are easily charted for performance scrutiny and highlights for improvement.

Streamline Your BOH Activities

This effective solution converts and organizes list-based operations, trimming away strenuous efforts and elevating the output.

You can create digital forms and create checklists and reports, upload files and images, and assign tasks to your employees. 

Customized Checklists and Templates

Xenia enables the creation of custom checklists and models for daily tasks, safety checks, and machinery maintenance. 

This ensures coherency and adherence to the standards. You can generate personal schedules and questionnaires for cleaning schedules, opening and closing processes, and food precautionary measures.

Schedule Equipment Maintenance 

As a shift manager, delegate assignments and monitor employee progress, establishing responsibility and certification of training and adherence. 

On top of that, You can make unique lists of tasks for each individual, assign tasks and due dates, and keep track of progress without any delay.

Monitor Food Safety and Temperature Control 

Shift managers can supervise temperature measurements and ensure adherence to food safety standards, consequently lowering the danger of contamination. Moreover, they can create customized temperature supervision plans and monitor current readings while getting informed of any deviations from a safe range.

Analyze Reports in Real-Time 

Provide relevant statistics and data analysis to assist you with recognizing patterns, measuring growth, and implementing decisions based on data. Assessing staff performance, managing equipment, upholding hygiene standards, and employing data-driven strategies can help bolster restaurant functionality.

But hold on, there’s plenty more in store for you

Staff training and accountability: To improve the output and performance of your team, the tool provides a platform that ensures staff receive the necessary training and are held accountable for their responsibilities. 

Inventory management and ordering: This comprehensive solution helps area managers manage inventory by using automation to ensure they always have the stock that they need.

Customer satisfaction and feedback tracking: To help you understand how your clients feel and to understand what new things you can add to your business, the solution enables you to see customer feedback and also to see their happiness.

Communication and collaboration tools: To ensure that chefs and other stakeholders in the business can communicate effectively, the tool ensures schemes and features to help your team communicate more effectively and collaboration is easy.

Customizable dashboards and reports: Operational professionals can store data and retrieve data whenever required. The customizable dashboard enables you to see the most important information about your restaurant quickly.

Pricing

• Free Plan: Kick off at $0 for the first 5 users, and instantly obtain limitless access to rudimentary functions. 
• Starter Plan: Initiate your journey for $99 per month for the first 15 users, and you will be equipped with all the essential functions you need.
• Premium Plan (*Most Popular): With $199 per month for the first 15 users, you will immediately be granted full access to all the basic and advanced functions that are available.
• Custom: Do you need a custom plan that is specific to your requirements? 
• If you’re a multi-location restaurant owner in need of special packages, contact our sales team

Book a free demo today!

2. Upkeep

UpKeep, our next best restaurant manager software, is a top Asset Operations Management solution built specifically for Maintenance and Reliability teams. 

No matter where users are in the world, UpKeep can guarantee that all users will be able to streamline their maintenance tasks. With this user-friendly interface functionality at all user access points, users can know that their operations will be running around the clock. 

From creating work orders on their mobile device to receiving critical real-time alerts when assets fall out of specification, this restaurant equipment maintenance software streamlines your kitchen equipment maintenance.

Additionally, users can inspect upcoming scheduled tasks, dates that are due, the level of importance assigned to them, and the assignment of different workers and assets. Users can prioritize the importance of certain tasks, by coding them in different colors; they can also add extra notes, attach images, and tag assets. This makes the task management system even more effective since team members are all collaborating, creating a highly synchronized workflow.

Key Features

• offers comprehensive preventive maintenance feature so you can proactively keep tabs on issues before they result in equipment downtime
• use a robust downtime tracking feature so you can stay on top of those downtimes and ensure any disruptions to your restaurant's operation are kept to a minimum
• An efficient and user-friendly interface will ensure you stay on top of your work orders so tasks are completed within time and any adjustments can be made on the fly and prioritized
• the asset management feature is perfect for any restaurant operator, it allows you to keep an up-to-date list and status of all of your equipment which is aligned with a complete but very uncomplicated maintenance history

Pricing 

• Lite: $20
• Starter: $45
• Professional: $75
• Bussiness+: Custom

3. FMX

FMX merits inclusion on our list of restaurant equipment maintenance software.

This all-in-one solution helps you increase efficiency, work smarter, and save money as it relates to managing the maintenance and facilities within your restaurants. 

The platform focuses on getting your work orders resolved quickly, organizing your preventative maintenance tasks, and providing the tools and power required to fully manage your assets in a user-friendly format.

Key Features

• Run facilities proactively using scheduled preventive maintenance to keep the restaurant equipment functioning properly and avoid surprise breakdowns.
• Manage all maintenance tasks, including repairs and service history, for all your equipment in one system that was designed specifically for restaurants.
• Quickly analyze facility data to gain insights that can be acted upon to find the root causes of poor facility performance and optimize your maintenance strategies.
• Easily plan and budget for equipment upgrades and replacements with capital planning tools that show the lifecycle of your restaurant equipment.

Pricing 

• Contact Vendor

4. BlueFolder

The next strong contender in restaurant kitchen equipment maintenance software, BlueFolder, offers a field service management solution that organizes your business. 

Restaurant managers can easily organize busy restaurants by efficiently tracking, scheduling, and organizing all your technicians.

 The cloud-based system is accessible to the entire staff whether they are located in the office or logging in remotely. As a comprehensive restaurant equipment maintenance software, BlueFolder not only simplifies your maintenance tasks, it also makes it easy for team members to collaborate, improving overall operational efficiency.

Key Features 

• Efficiently be able to manage work orders, once generated dispatch the correct technician to the job and notify the technician of the work order (SMS essential required)
• Process payments instantly with integrated billing functionality ensuring your revenue flows within the business
• Capture the customer’s signature within the restaurant design software, showing their acceptance of the tasks/work done with the electronic signature
• Easily create and Manage Work Orders (WO) for all maintenance tasks/activities to provide better visibility and business purpose

Pricing 

• Contact Vendor

5. eWorkOrders

Rounding off our list of restaurant equipment maintenance software with eWorkOrders.

The tool provides a cloud-based CMMS/Enterprise Asset Management System, with comprehensive, yet easy-to-use features and functions.

 With full-scale mobile capabilities, the app ensures you have all the tools you will ever need to streamline your maintenance operations. Ideal for restaurant owners, managers, tenants, property owners, engineers, contractors, vendors, and dedicated maintenance teams.

Moving on, it centralizes and simplifies service requests & tasks with an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution. View and organize upcoming or past activities from anywhere with our text, calendar, or map viewing options. Access additional data and reports or records on your maintenance activities.

Key Features 

•  Use intuitive tools that include a maintenance calendar, vendor information, and a tracking system for items that Kitchen needs.
•  Generate reports that tell you what items have been maintained. What items our keeping up with the maintances? Also a maintenance report on what items are costly to take care of.
• Use Cell Phones because the information is also available to them via the internet or a company link specifically for the applications.
• Predict the failure points of any piece(s) of equipment in your kitchen, and determine what needs to be completed for each maintenance.

Pricing 

• Contact Vendor

Over To You!

To wrap it up, we have discovered that maintaining your restaurant equipment will help your restaurant succeed down the road.

When you properly take care of your kitchen equipment, your restaurant staff can work easily in your kitchen and stay organized. As a result, you can focus on creating outstanding customer experiences. 

With regular maintenance from a technician, you can avoid costly repairs for your restaurant. Having a professional to care for your equipment means you can have a long lifespan for each piece of equipment. 

Lastly, you need to perform a consistent maintenance strategy to meet food safety standards and pass inspections. With a variety of tests to consider, your kitchen needs to be at the highest standards when it comes to safety, and taking care of your equipment is a huge part of that.

On that note, the above-mentioned restaurant equipment maintenance software effectively schedules tracks, and optimizes repairs in a cut-throat industry. 

With these tools, restaurant owners can promptly respond to repair needs and prevent downtime and costly repair expenses.