Are you shopping for a new commercial dishmachine? Here are a few quick tips to get you started on making the right choice for your foodservice establishment.
Your first consideration is what size dishwasher do you need? To determine the right size for your operation, you need to determine the capacity you need. With commercial dish machines, capacity is typically calculated in racks of dishes per hour. To estimate the number of racks per hour your operation will generate, you can use this simple equation:
# of pieces per person x # of persons per hour / 20 pieces per rack = racks per hour required
It is important to consider the volume of customers you anticipate at peak times rather than averaged over a day, so that you aren’t running out of dishes at your busiest day part. To walk through the equation, if you have a place setting that includes a dinner plate, salad plate, bread plate, soup bowl, water glass and wine glass, and you are serving 200 people an hour, you will need a dishmachine that would accommodate sixty racks per hour, or 6 x 200 / 20 = 60.
Do you want a high temp or low temp machine? A high temp dish washer sanitizes the dishes with the heat of the water. The advantage of a high temperature dish machine is lowering expenses because you do not need to purchase chemicals for sanitation and it eliminates chlorine damage to you dish machine. If you are unable to get your water temperature to the level needed to run a high temp dishmachine, you need a low temp machine which utilizes chemical sanitation for your dinnerware and serving ware. Nationwide, health inspectors require that dish machines rinse temperatures be verified to reach between 170 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the range that is sure to kill bacteria. Dish washing Test Strips can be used to measure and record the temperature of your rinse cycle and are a great tool when record keeping for health inspections.
What should you consider when selecting dish racks? When you buy a dish machine you will also need dish racks. To make sure you’re purchasing the right racks, you will want to consider the following:
• What sizes are the different glasses that you will be washing?
• Do you plan to use the dish racks for storage as well as in the dishmachine?
It is important to consider these points before you make a purchase. Glass racks are sized according to the size of the glasses that you will be placing within them. If the rack is sized too large, you have the potential for breakage during the wash cycle. If it’s too small, you will need new racks or new glasses. If you are using the racks for storage as well as washing, then you will need to increase the quantity of racks that you purchase, you will most likely want dollies and covers so that the stored dinnerware or glassware can be easily moved and stays sanitary until used.
You can ask any customer service or sales person at Cook’s for assistance in selecting the proper dishmachine and racks for your foodservice operation.
