Your food stockroom should have everything in its place to maximize its space. It means you should be able to finish orders easier, run your stockroom smoother, and find your tools quicker. That way, you can have an efficient storage room.
On the other hand, having a cluttered food stockroom will affect how you run your kitchen since you may have difficulty finding the necessary tools and ingredients. You can prevent such by considering these tips for maximizing your food stockroom:
1. Use Vertical Storage
You may consider vertical storage, such as moveable racks and shelves. They can help you save time rummaging through piles of equipment or ingredients since it’s easier to find ingredients and other food items. You can maximize your vertical space by making your food stockroom accessible and easy to move.
It would be best to consider what equipment and items your kitchen staff needs and use daily. Quickly rearranging your kitchen to become mobile is possible with shelves on rolling wheels. That way, your employees’ most used items, and equipment are more accessible and moveable without rummaging in your stockroom.
You can also mount kitchen racks onto walls above the food prep station so that employees can place items they use to prepare food. They no longer have to go to and from the stockroom to retrieve and store such items.
Doing this will also help your employees have a tidier and more spacious working area while maximizing the space on your walls. If you place them in easy-to-reach locations, you can remove items that may be making up too much space.
In addition, you’re helping them improve their productivity because the time they spend finding items is reduced. They can spend more time performing their primary responsibilities as kitchen staff.
2. Buy Proper Storage Units
Storage units come in different shapes and sizes. You don’t need to buy the latest on the market, but buying the most suitable storage units can help clear and organize your food storage room. It’s also a good way to make your business more cost-efficient.
The bins, drawers, racks, or shelves you buy can help keep your stocks safe from perishing quickly or being contaminated. You should also choose food-friendly ones since your stockroom may consist mainly of perishable goods.
For instance, you may want to use mobile storage units and the space on your wall for extra space. It can also help you maximize the floor space of your storage room since you can move them. Your employees can slide the units around on their tracks to quickly find items or stocks they need.
3. Organize Supplies By Category
After choosing the right shelving solution, it’s best to organize your supplies according to their category. Place each ingredient by type or frequency of use so your staff can quickly locate them as needed. They won’t be disarranging all the ingredients to find what they need because they know the categories on each shelf or storage unit.
It may also be best to separate equipment depending on when needed. For instance, keep the equipment you need for breakfast preparation from the tools used for dinner entrees. And, of course, you should avoid contaminating ingredients, food, and supplies by sanitizing and cleaning the tools and equipment after each use.
If you have valuable and expensive equipment, you should consider locking it in a separate storeroom or cabinet. That way, only allowed employees can access them, especially if you have bar supplies. It’d be the best way to prevent theft or accidents since it is secured and locked on separate shelves.
5. Keep Floor Space Clutter-Free
Whether you use a floor stacking or a racking system, your floor space in a food stockroom is valuable. With a clutter-free floor space, your team will be more efficient, and accidents can easily be avoided. Here’s how you can keep your floor clean to maximize space:
1. You should remove obsolete inventory or supplies that may be stacked for months or weeks, especially perishable stocks.
2. Determine whether or not the equipment taking up too much space is still usable. If your staff no longer uses it, but it’s still usable, you can sell it. If they only use it once in a while, find a location to store them so it won’t get in the way.
Conclusion
Your food stockroom must always be tidy and organized to avoid spoiling food supplies and ingredients. It will also help your employees if they’re properly stored because they can easily find what they need without spending too much time searching. And by maximizing the space, you can store more supplies, making everyone’s job easier.
