I’ve always wanted to own a small lounge restaurant. You know, a lovely place where you can sit for a glass of wine during a windy autumn day and have a snack while there. Or maybe if you want a cosy, private atmosphere for a date night with your loved one. The right wine paired with a bowl of sea food deliciousness, or maybe a piece of cake would be a good date night as a whole. And with the addition of some soothing jazz or blues to it – pure perfection.
While my picture-perfect lounge restaurant sounds great in theory, in practice it would need a lot of hard work and research to be turned into reality. Besides designing and decorating the guest space, there is the kitchen, which is a story of its own. I talked to an entrepreneur in the hospitality business to gather information on the matter, and he only proved my theory: there is a lot of work to be done: from thinking and calculating to choosing the proper amount and type of commercial hospitality supplies, the process asks for time, money and effort.
Things to consider
Before going shopping for commercial hospitality supplies, as an owner of the place, you need to settle a few important questions and consider them in your purchasing decision. For starters, how large of a capacity are you going to be attending to? This will determine whether you need to get more than one piece of a certain equipment or not. Because you know the rule: guests should not wait for their meal order more than 15-20 minutes. Next thing, what will you be serving? Are you going to limit your offer only on desserts and drinks? Maybe you’ll have only pasta, only pizza or maybe just salads? This will help you focus your purchase and cut the unnecessary cost. Finally, before you start buying commercial hospitality supplies, consult your chefs. They’ll be the ones working with the tools, so they should certainly have a say in choosing what they’ll need.
Basic equipment
OK, kitchens are large and you’ll always need something else to add to it whether you’re at home or working in a commercial kitchen, such as one in a lounge restaurant. But, some pieces are essential, which means you can’t start a kitchen without them. In categories, those would be the cookware with all the pots, pans, lids, fraying baskets, BBQ cookware pieces.
From kitchen accessories, you should have all the cocktail shakers, the measuring cups, the slicers and cutters, the cutting boards and similar. There’s a large palette of products for bakeware if you do decide to include baked stuff on your menu. You’d want to get some fancy cutlery which you’ll serve to your guests in accordance with the fancy dishes. In addition, get some good bread holders, holders for napkins and nice salt/pepper canisters. Make sure all these things have a cool design, as the little details in a restaurant’s design and décor can really help get good reviews. And finally, don’t save on the glassware; there’s nothing worse than serving red wine in long, narrow glasses made for sparkling champagne. Get the right glassware to give your guests the delightful and pleasant restaurant experience they’re paying for.
