Kitchen Tips for College Dining Services

Dining services at colleges and universities are an important part of campus life for commuter and on-campus students. So when your school’s cafeteria experiences downtime, nobody’s happy. Equipment problems are inevitable over time, but you can do your part to ensure equipment lasts as long as it can between maintenance calls by following some basic maintenance and best practices.

Leaks & Water Issues

Descaling or deliming equipment that uses water is vital to keeping it in good shape. Whether you have a steamer, ice machine or commercial dishwasher in your school kitchen, you need to keep up with a set schedule for descaling. Lime scale can reduce efficiency by up to 48% and can cause failure in water heaters in less than 2 years. That’s a 75% reduction in lifespan for a product that should last 8 years on average. Depending on your region’s water quality, you might need to descale more often than other businesses.

When it comes to your ice machine, remember that all models are different, so check our vast library of manuals for the specific steps on how to clean and sanitize your ice machine. Keep in mind that if your school cafeteria makes a lot of baked goods or pizzas, the wild yeast in the air will get into ice machines, meaning they’ll need to be cleaned more frequently.

Check for leaks in your water lines. Equipment that doesn’t get the proper flow of water will malfunction, and wasting water is wasting money.

Gaskets

Gaskets might be the most commonly replaced part of any equipment in the kitchen. That’s because the constant opening and closing of doors along with normal kitchen messes can really take a toll. With mild soap and water, clean your gasket and the area the gasket touches when the door is closed. If there is sticky residue or dirt, the gasket will wear out faster. Be sure to clean out crumbs from the top folds of a gasket, particularly in undercounter units.

If the doors on your unit aren’t sealing properly, inspect the gasket. If it looks to be in good shape, it’s possible that your doors are misaligned. That can occur from an unleveled unit or damage to the hinge. It’s also possible the door just needs some adjustment. If the door gasket is worn out and needs to be replaced, check out our guide on replacing commercial door gaskets.

Handles & Knobs

If you notice any handles or knobs are loose on your units, be sure to tighten them immediately. Failure to do so can result in damage to the handle, or worse, to the door. That’s an expensive fix for something so easily solved.

Filters & Dusting

Some ice machines have air filters which need periodic cleaning, while others do not. However, any units that have refrigerant will have condensers that need to be dusted. In addition, if the fins on the coils are bent, you will need a tool called a fin comb to fix them. If air cannot flow through the coils, your condenser will work harder at a higher temperature. Check out our guide to cleaning condenser coils for additional tips.

Proper Disposal

Never dispose of grease, fat or other solid waste down your drains. This is especially true for steamers and combi ovens that have built in drains; blockages will cause water to back up into the steam condenser and ruin it. Some units can take items like jelly packets, plastic utensils, aluminum foil and bones. If that’s the case, be sure your staff is properly trained on exactly what can or cannot be disposed of in the unit.

If your school kitchen has a garbage disposal, avoid putting things like large bones, metal, glass, wood, plastic, or grease into the grinder. Be sure to run the disposal a bit more at the day’s end so it can clear out debris. Turning the disposal off early can allow leftover waste to harden and bind, which could prevent the unit from starting.

The Bottom Line

Reading through the manual for each of your units is an integral part of understanding basic user maintenance. It’s very important to train your staff and ensure you have a set schedule for inspecting and cleaning each and every piece of equipment your cafeteria has. Most pieces of commercial kitchen equipment will cost thousands of dollars to replace, so it’s never a waste of time to ensure you’re doing all you can to make equipment last.