My International and Intercontinental services are sometimes Hotel Kitchen Consultancy , sometimes restaurant consultancy in high kitchens or kitchen consultancy, and all kinds of titles you may need in the fields of gastronomy and tourism, hotel management and restaurant management, kitchen and cuisine types, which are included in my "Service Areas", are in the words Embossed as "RED" below. you can find. At the same time, when you " CLICK " on the red words, you can review the articles I have written on the relevant subject.
How to Make a Hotel Kitchen?
The title is a bit pretentious, but the article will contain the answers to the question of how to make a hotel kitchen, from the perspective of a cook and kitchen chef. Maybe it might be a little more than what a kitchen chef needs to know. My readers will decide this at the end of the article. My aim is to bring innovative hotel kitchen technologies to the agenda and at least share what I know, so that we do not make the same mistakes we have made before in new hotel kitchen construction.
Professional hotel kitchens, which I also mentioned in my 2024 World Gastronomy and Tourism Trends article, are taken into account with the same care as a hospital when today's gastronomy trends are taken into consideration. Architects and engineers take into account much more detail than before in the construction of hotel kitchens, which are built taking into account the latest technology hygiene and cleaning principles.
Kitchen planning and kitchen designs prepared by professionals are researched in great detail, and the seasonal characteristics that the accommodation facility will serve are also taken into consideration.
In addition to these factors in hotel kitchen construction;
* Seasonal Features
* Seasonal Hotels
* Boutique hotel
* Star Hotel
* Growth Possibility of the Hotel
* Portfolio of Guests to be Hosted
* Seasonal Densities
* Inner City Hotel
* Spa Hotels,
* Thermal Hotels
* Ski Hotels
* Deluxe Hotels,
* Hotels with Aquaparks
Hotel amenities are definitely some of the most considered factors. Because the kitchen is the heart of the hotel at some point, and it is one of the most important departments that must be planned according to the service areas of the hotel.
The kitchen chefs I usually encounter, including myself, who are included in the 2024 hotel trends and accommodation trends, always complain about the hotel kitchens we work in, and we always find something missing in the hotel kitchens resulting from hotel construction. Even though we make some of these complaints out of fun, most of them have issues and deficiencies that we are right about. In a medium-sized 5-star seasonal hotel, "raw food" consumption per person is 4,700 grams. and your net food consumption is 3,300 grams. Considering that this is the case, general kitchen planning needs to be done professionally and in detail.
In hotel kitchen construction, architects never think like a chef, and chefs never think like an architect. In fact, when you think like an architect, you are wrong as a chef, and when you think like a chef, the architect is wrong. While the architect makes mathematical calculations to ensure that the building remains standing and the most logical column locations, the chef complains about the shortness or length of the distances and the smallness or size of the kitchen sections .
I Can Name Some of the Most Common Problems, Especially in the Main Kitchen Section, as Below;
* Number and size of grease traps used in kitchen drains,
* Ensuring that the drain pipes are of appropriate thickness and determining the thickness considering the hotel's final limits,
* Using electrical panels that require separate control for each kitchen section,
* Use of special fuse panels and conditioners for machines that draw high electrical loads in the main kitchen,
* Calculating the required pressure in gas distribution well or making the installation in two stages and in a way that can be strengthened when necessary,
* Always have a spare ventilation motor.
* Having a second atomic thruster engine in the grill hoods that can be activated when necessary,
* A second submersible engine must be kept ready in pools where kitchen drains are located,
* Using the latest technologies in grease traps in water drains,
* If a garbage disposal is used, its infrastructure must be installed taking into account more than the general number of guests. (Especially in city hotels, the number of people at activity banquets and other organizations may be more than the number of hotel guests)
* Definitely diversifying the freezers and cold storages in the main kitchens of hotel establishments that will provide food and beverage services to more than 1000 people a day,
These may be some of the most important issues to consider in hotel kitchen construction, which I also mentioned in Restaurant Trends in 2024 . In every hotel kitchen , there are areas that were added after the construction was completed or were planned but later removed. I think that the hotel kitchen plan or the layout of the kitchen sections should be reviewed by an architect who is knowledgeable about the subject and a chef who is knowledgeable about the subject during the construction phase.
At the same time, the hotel owner or institution must inform the architect and kitchen chef exactly at the beginning of the work. To give an example, a hotel kitchen that will serve only 100 rooms has standard features. But after the hotel was built, there was a change of mind and in addition to a hotel kitchen, which was built considering 100 rooms;
* I will also provide banquet meals,
* I will also hold a wedding,
* I will also make an engagement,
* I will also host banquets and protocol dinners,
* I will also host congress dinners,
* I will demolish 4 rooms on different floors and build 2 a la carte restaurants open to the public,
* I will even build an à la carte restaurant in the lobby…
If you say so, a new adventure and a new story begins here. All the calculations made by the architect and the chef who are knowledgeable in the hotel construction are unnecessary garbage, and a new kitchen planning that can implement the menu trends of the future and a new construction period are required. To achieve this, it is necessary to think well at the beginning and evaluate every possibility three times.
If I were to give a few examples of these;
* Seasonal Hotel Kitchen
* 5 Star Hotel Kitchen
* Star Hotel Cuisine (Stars Can Be Purchased Later)
* Hotel (Tourism Facility) Kitchen
* Boutique Hotel Cuisine
*City Hotel Cuisine
* Congress Hotel Kitchen
Every mistake made and every wrong decision made in hotel kitchen planning will return to you as the following negativities in the future;
* Excess Staff,
* Energy Consumption,
* Lack of control,
* Prolongation of Work
* Delay of services,
* Lack of Communication Between Departments,
* Waste of time,
* Material Loss,
* Kitchen Chef's Inability to Control the Sections,
* Inadequacy of Storage Procedures and Failure to Provide Appropriate Conditions in General Kitchen Management ,
* Disruption of Basic Combinations in Culinary Principles,
While it may cause your success-oriented target plans to fail, it may also cause the general planning of the hotel manager to fail, making department managers who are actually successful in their jobs seem like failures.
At the same time, you can see the results of these deficiencies in the form of many electrical cables, water pipes and camera cables passed over the tiles after the hotel was completed.
Some Infrastructure Preparations Made Taking into Account the Catering Policy Can Make You Profitable in Many Areas in the Long Term in Hotel Kitchens;
* Short Term Stock
* Long Term Stock,
* Open Buffet Service Units,
* Cook-Freeze Units
* Cook-Cool Units
* Hot Stacking Units
* Vegetable Preparation Units
* Types of Food to be Served
* Available Restaurant Concept Types,
* Main Concept,
* How many people will be served,
* In Which Areas Will Service Be Provided?
* Number of In-Hotel A-la-Carte Restaurants
* Will there be tolerance for special services?
* To what extent will "ready" foods be used?
* Window, Ventilation, Drainage Expenses,
* Can the Main Kitchen and Other Kitchen Sections Benefit from Daylight?
* What is the Recommended Service Type? (All Inclusive, Ultra All Inclusive, Half Board, Bed and Breakfast, A la carte)
It is one of the issues that should be taken into consideration among general kitchen departments at the beginning of the work, with different reasons and priorities, and a good decision should be made.
Talking about General Kitchen Areas;
As the number of guests in the hotel increases, the available service areas begin to narrow. If the increase in service options is added to this increasing number of guests (additional weddings, meetings, congresses, banquet banquet meals, etc.), the areas in the main kitchen almost merge into each other. In limited kitchens, you should always be prepared for all kinds of accidents, losses, waste and abnormal developments. Machine malfunctions and fires that may arise from excessive electrical load in limited kitchens are among the most dangerous possibilities that can lead the hotel business to disaster.
The areas of kitchen sections and kitchen types to be determined with very good engineering calculations and architectural data can only be calculated with accurate data given to the relevant architects and engineers. Efficiency in General Kitchen Management can only be achieved so that Kitchen Staff can move comfortably without being affected by heat and cold.
The number of guests is not only a factor in calculating kitchen areas. It is necessary to get opinions from chiefs who are knowledgeable about the issue regarding the size of the areas that narrow in the workload. The most important issue in determining kitchen areas is also related to the number of service areas provided by the business in the field of food and beverage.
Taking into consideration the experiences I had in hotels before and after the opening in my professional life;
While this area may be 0.093 m2 per person in a cafe, it may be 1.67 m2 per person in a 5-star hotel restaurant. Some architects and engineers who are experts on the subject believed that in their calculations, the area per person in the restaurant section should be "one-half" of the area in the kitchen.
In very small businesses serving less than 60 people, a kitchen area of ??0.84 to 0.93 m2 is required per person. This is proportional to the decrease in kitchen staff and the decrease in the number of Kitchen Units and Cooking Equipment generally used. In other words, the growth of the business is not proportional to the growth of the fields.
For example, in the construction of a hotel kitchen for 1000 people, you cannot take it into account by saying that the average cafe per person is 88.5 m2. As the number of people to be served increases, the dimensions of the public areas also increase periodically. In hotel kitchens of normal standards, taking into account the service areas, it can be evaluated as 15% to 19% of the total area. Of course, I'm not talking about a skyscraper hotel or golf hotel here. Such calculations require special engineering skills and superior qualifications.
Planning, Workflow and Method Study in Hotel Kitchen Construction…
Although kitchen chefs who do not provide pre-service service are internationally popular, their opinions about the planning of hotel kitchen construction may turn out to be unfounded. In this regard, chefs who set up pre-opening kitchens can come up with more accurate possibilities. To be more precise, chefs who know the "catering" system can provide more accurate data due to the loss of space and time associated with the Characteristics of Kitchen Staff and Receiving Procedures in Kitchen Management .
So, if we take into account the Hygiene Rules in the Gastronomy Sector and add the HACCP principles to these, the product will come from the very outside to the heart of the kitchen, after being disinfected and processed using different methods. The road map here is very important. This road map is urgently needed in the construction of kitchen sections. Opinions of professional kitchen chefs as well as food engineers should be sought.
In my opinion, the people who will be involved in planning a kitchen project focused on absolute success should be as follows;
* Architect
* Engineer
* Business owner
* Hotel manager
* Chef
* Food and Beverage Manager
* Kitchen Consultant
* Restaurant Consultant
* Gastronomy Consultant
The most important task of the hotel kitchen project control team is to equip the relevant architect and engineer with the most accurate data. Because they are the ones who will draw the project. When answering the question " What Should I Pay Attention to When Building a Hotel Kitchen ?", no question should remain unanswered in the minds of the architect and engineer.
In the workflow in the main kitchen, preparation units, different cooking equipment for cooking techniques , and work benches should be placed in a way that will accelerate production in the most rational way in Kitchen Management . Unnecessary distances should be avoided when placing kitchen equipment, and even when placing sinks, the distances to main worktops and cooking equipment should be carefully calculated.
In the placement of kitchen equipment in kitchen types, the previously prepared Hotel Kitchen Organization must be taken into consideration and its accuracy must be rehearsed by experts. As an equation, it is beneficial to have it checked by a chef with international experience, in addition to the chef who makes the planning. This idea should not be seen as an understanding of insecurity and should be seen as a principle and control mechanism.
When placing kitchen units, the heat they will generate during use must be carefully calculated and ventilation supports must be provided accordingly.
Features to be taken into consideration in offices, kitchen areas, connection roads and working corridors in hotel kitchen construction…
One of the elements to be taken into consideration in hotel kitchens built with hotel operating principles and service areas in mind are the features of the Food and Beverage Department Organization Chart . For example, foldable wall tables placed in the corridors during banquet dinners are of great importance and can turn unnecessary spaces into the most productive work areas when the time comes.
Architecturally, unnecessary long corridors should be avoided when building kitchen offices, cold storages and dry food warehouses. Long distances are always a waste of time and mean delays in service due to staff hierarchy and staff duties . All these storage areas, warehouses, cold weather and work offices can be built in a hierarchical manner on the main flow path coming from the outside to the kitchen. The main corridor should also be built large enough to handle the traffic in question.
The dining hall, toilets, changing rooms and showers, which are the general needs of the main kitchen staff, as well as the rest areas they can use during their breaks, should not cause loss of time due to distance, and "stash" areas should not be left as much as possible for security and personnel tracking.
Those responsible for product acceptance and delivery should definitely be located closest to the parking area. With the same logic, cold and dry food stores should have the features to apply the necessary hygiene principles and be ahead of the preparation kitchens. Main material warehouses should be built according to the procedures for entering the material into the kitchen and the ordering should be strictly taken into account.
Main warehouses with scales and acceptance devices monitored by cameras at the entrance. Building the main warehouses, which will be used once a day by employees according to the daily needs of the main kitchen, in the outermost parts means saving on labor, time and personnel. One of the warehouses that should be built at the outermost part is the refrigerated garbage tanks.
All main warehouses should be on the same floor if possible. One of the most important features in the corridor main flow path and warehouse roads is the use of non-slip, hygienic and easy-to-clean materials.
When we consider the size of the main kitchen in total storage area stock management, 1/4 of the dry food storage may be 10% to 12% of the total area, but the height should be used to the fullest extent. In medium-sized hotel establishments (500-600 people) - it means 0.10 m2 storage space for vegetables and 0.15 m2 storage space for dry food. I can calculate these areas as food that needs to stay in cold weather for 4 days and dry food for 10-12 days. These calculations can be considered as 0.40m2 for all-inclusive medium-scale hotels where 3 meals a day or more are served. The above data is invalid for long-term stocking methods.
* Preparation Unit
* Cooking Unit
* Waiting Unit for Ready-to-Service Products
* Dish Washing Unit
* Warehouses
* Offices
A Medium-Sized Hotel Kitchen Sections Can Be Created As Below…
* Main Kitchen
* Hot Kitchen
* Cold Kitchen
* Patisserie Kitchen
* Butchery
* Fishhouse
* Vegetable Preparation
* Breakfast Kitchen
* Banquet Kitchen
* Room Service Kitchen
* Pool Bar Kitchen
* A la carte cuisine
I would especially like to point out that there are many more cuisine types that we can add to these cuisine types. But a hotel with 5-star international standards should have these kitchens.
Features Required in Materials to be Applied on Flooring and Walls in Hotel Kitchens…
One of the most important issues, especially in order to avoid occupational accidents, is the properties of the materials to be used in the places. At the same time, the type of material to be used on walls and ceilings for cleaning and hygiene purposes is equally important.
* Good Clean Appearance,
* Non-slip Surfaces,
* Easy to Clean,
* Materials that are easy to clean and will not retain stains,
* Materials That Can Reflect Light
The main theme may be some of the basic characteristics of the materials to be used on the floor and ceiling. Of course, the most suitable materials will be determined thanks to interior architects and experts who follow developing technologies.
Ventilation System and Its Importance in Hotel Kitchens…
The most important feature I should mention at first is that the ventilation system is gradual. It should be reinforced if necessary during busy business hours. Another feature is that the hoods on the grills have the ability to draw in air and pump air in at the same time.
Maintaining good air temperatures in the butchery and fishery sections is always among the most important details in success-oriented Culinary Trainings . The intensity of the kitchen staff in terms of efficiency in kitchen management is increased or decreased by the heating and ventilation settings of the kitchen.
Kitchen ventilation will provide a comfortable working environment in terms of the efficiency of the kitchen staff, prevent condensation, and it should be sufficient to collect cooking odors in the kitchen. It will be healthier for the system to provide air to the interior as well as the air drawn from the interior.
Some of the fixtures and kitchen equipment that can be used in the types of kitchens serving in hotel kitchen departments may be as follows. The tools and equipment to be used in hotel kitchens may vary depending on the hotel's concept, standards and quality, as well as the diversity of service areas.
Finally, some of the tools, equipment and fixtures that can be used in hotel kitchens may be as follows...
Note;
If you would like to get answers to the following questions about how to make a hotel kitchen, you can get consultancy by contacting me via my contact information...
What are the essential equipment pieces needed for a hotel kitchen?
How do you design an efficient layout for a hotel kitchen?
What are the safety regulations to consider when setting up a hotel kitchen?
How can technology be integrated into a hotel kitchen for better efficiency?
What are the best practices for inventory management in a hotel kitchen?
How do you determine the size and scale of a hotel kitchen?
What are the environmental considerations when setting up a hotel kitchen?
How can a hotel kitchen ensure food safety and hygiene?
What are the staffing requirements for a hotel kitchen?
How do you maintain sustainability in a hotel kitchen?
What are the latest trends in hotel kitchen design?
How can a hotel kitchen manage waste effectively?
What are the cost-effective solutions for running a hotel kitchen?
How do you choose the right suppliers and vendors for a hotel kitchen?
What are the challenges of managing a hotel kitchen and how to overcome them?