Clean-Up With Warewasher Sales
By Staff -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 1/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
One of the most essential labor-saving pieces of equipment in any professional kitchen, warewashers are also extremely helpful in maintaining food safety. Among the most customizable pieces of kitchen equipment, as well, these machines come in many different styles and sizes, which together can be made to meet nearly any individual operation's needs.
Arguably the most significant factor for DSRs to ascertain when selling a warewasher is the volume of dishes to be cleaned. Undercounter and door-type warewashers typically handle between 21 and 55 racks per hour, and are generally best suited for smaller foodservice programs.As a rule of thumb, undercounter machines are most appropriate for restaurants and foodservices with 75 seats or fewer, while door-type machines can support operations of up to 150 seats. DSRs should understand, however, that some operations that fall into these categories, such as white-tablecloth restaurants, may require more capacity from their warewashers because they use more dishes per customer.Flight-type or rackless conveyor warewashers can handle nearly 22,000 dishes per hour, while single-tank and multiple-tank rack conveyors can clean 28,000 dishes per hour. These types of warewashers are best suited for catering facilities, as well as noncommercial use, such as foodservices in schools, healthcare and military institutions.All warewashers provide a wash cycle and sanitary rinse cycle. Additional cycles can be added to some warewashers, including a pre-wash, an extra rinse and a drying function. While these features increase the cost of a machine, DSRs should stress that they can lower the amount of labor needed for operation.Because of the significant amount of space they require, there has been a move away from flight-type warewashers in recent years. Many operators and consultants now believe that any extra space should be dedicated to the front of the house.One of the most important questions DSRs should ask their customers is also one of the most overlooked: "What do you need to wash?" Different wares have different washing requirements. Plastics, for example, do not retain heat well, so they often do not meet NSF standards for surface temperature after cleaning. Customers should be encouraged, therefore, to purchase a warewasher with a drying cycle if they need to clean plastics.Similarly, there are many types of warewashers that are designed to clean specific types of items: pot and pan washers, utensil washers, glass washers and the like. One reason for the existence of specialized machines is that water comes out of a warewasher's cleaning arms in a specific pattern. The farther away the arm's nozzles are from the wares being sanitized, the more that pattern is lost. Cleaning is then less efficient. These specialized units, therefore, have arms positioned as close to wares as possible while still allowing room for clearance.Another fact DSRs should seek out is how often an operator's dishes are used during a given period of time. A catering facility that uses each dish only once per night will not need a warewasher with as much capacity as an operation that reuses the same dishes several times.As a rule of thumb, local codes require that a warewasher's water temperature reach a minimum of between 160oF. and 180oF. Using a building's water heater to reach such temperatures can result in patrons being burned when they wash their hands. DSRs should, therefore, encourage operators to add a water-temperature boosting device, of which there are several types, to their warewashers.Warewashers typically reuse some rinse water in the next wash cycle and, despite filters and tanks, some food waste can find its way into this water. DSRs should tell operators to clean their machines' screens and drain their water tanks as often as every shift, depending on volume.In addition, washing arms should, ideally, be removed daily and their nozzles cleaned of any food waste. These nozzles should also be delimed on a regular basis, as needed.
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