Checkup or Check Out

Everyone knows caring for equipment remains vital for getting the most out of those items that serve as the backbone of any foodservice environment. Here are some lesser talked about tidbits on preventative maintenance to consider.

By Amelia Levin, Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 9/1/2007

“Preventative maintenance is like an ongoing program between a service provider and a preferred end-user customer.” John Sappo Operations Manager Daubers Inc.

There's a reason auto mechanics put a sticker on your car every time you get an oil change - it's there to remind you when to get another one, of course. And that's imperative. Everyone knows that if you neglect to change your oil, one day while you're driving on the highway the inevitable will happen. Your car will break down, long before it's due.

When it comes to commercial foodservice equipment, preventative maintenance is likewise imperative, not just to preserve shelf life, but also pocket books. Whether one chooses to pay attention to that fact, equipment, some more than others, requires regular cleaning and checkups.

"A lot of people don't think they need a PM contract until their warranty runs out," says Scott Hester, partner of Refrigerated Specialist Inc. in Dallas and certified CFESA technician. "But that's not true because most warranties don't cover that, so it's the operator's responsibility to schedule regular maintenance."

The PM Contract
By "PM contract," Hester refers to the type of contracts many service agents use and encourage for operators. Such contracts typically take the form of maintenance checklists for each piece of equipment in a kitchen. During scheduled visits, technicians run through this list while inspecting and performing maintenance on equipment.

PM contracts go beyond just the basic manuals that come with each piece of equipment. The contracts, in essence, serve as reminders for operators who might otherwise neglect essential cleaning, and they also serve as a vehicle for more thorough maintenance, going above and beyond minor repair instructions. Ice machines, for example, may require extensive checkups twice a year, while walkin coolers should be cleaned once a year, according to Hester. Filters need changing. Condensers require inspections. With so many different types of equipment in one kitchen, it's naturally difficult for operators to keep up with maintenance demands, and that's where the PM contracts come into play.

John Sappo, operations manager of Daubers Inc., a service agent based in Springfield, Va., says his company will work with the customer to create a binder with documents listing all the equipment in the kitchen, then send technicians out to inspect each item and either conduct repairs on-site, or come back within a day or two to replace any parts needed to finish the job.

To some, the importance of preventative maintenance may seem pretty clear, but that's not always the case. That's why Daubers Inc. outlines the reasons this makes sense on its web site: minimize the downtime of your equipment; extend your equipment life; provide you with preferred costs for service; allow you to reduce your utility costs; correct small problems before they become large, expensive problems; ensure a safe operation; keep equipment in top condition so it can produce optimum quality products; and allow you to keep your maintenance budget under control.

"Preventative maintenance is like an ongoing program between a service provider and a preferred end-user customer," Sappo adds. "Mutually, we build a relationship, not just focus on repair emergency after repair emergency."

Preventative maintenance, therefore, benefits both the operator and the service agent, he says. With regularly scheduled, PM visits, not only does the operator avoid costly emergency visits when something breaks due to neglect, but it also allows Daubers to maintain a regular schedule of service calls and allows them to focus on the real emergencies when they occur, instead of chasing one after another.

Following a service call, Sappo says, "All the history and work we do for each piece of equipment is recorded in a profile account that goes into a computer database." That way, technicians can pull up the complete service history of a piece of equipment to better serve the customer.

The database, in addition to helping customers, also helps service agents. "That information is very valuable to us," Sappo says. "The more familiar we are with equipment in our service area, the better we can build a parts inventory to address problems. We're able to use it to see trends."

“A lot of people don't think they need a PM contract until their warranty runs out. But that's not true because most warranties don't cover that, so it's the operator's responsibility to schedule regular maintenance.” Scott Hester Partner, Refrigerated Specialist Inc.

Cleanliness Is Godliness
"Cleanliness is a big, big reflection on how chefs are maintaining their kitchens," says Jean Choquette, president of Key Food Equipment Services Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. Choquette also serves as president of the Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA). "If they're not keeping their equipment clean, it's hard to believe that the mechanics of the equipment are in good shape."

Obviously, equipment that's cleaned regularly will function longer. Choquette says he's walked into certain non-commercial facilities and noticed their kitchens are especially spotless. "You could practically eat on the floor in these places," he says. "All their equipment looks like new even after 30 years."

In addition, operators and their supply chain partners should not overlook the importance of descaling boilers on steamers and dishwashers as well as other equipment using water. "Steam requires regular descaling especially in an area where there are a lot of minerals in the water that can lead to increased calcification," Choquette says. "Where there's lime buildup, there's a bad heat transfer. Operators using steamers intensively, especially schools, really should have a program in place to delime their equipment. Some steamers need to be descaled three or four times a year depending on the hardness of the water."

Most equipment manuals instruct on cleaning and those steps can be rather simple and straightforward. But, in Choquette's opinion, those pieces of equipment that use boilers feature certain intricacies and dangers not found in other items. "Unless you're a service agent, no one should really be touching boilers," he says.

Use and Abuse
There's more to preventative maintenance than just cleaning and hiring technicians to conduct inspections and checks. Proper daily use of the equipment also plays a key factor in maintaining equipment. "The past weekend we had a call from an operator about a combi oven that's critical to their operation," Sappo says. "Turns out, a key switch on the machine was shut off, affecting the gas flow. In other cases, sometimes operators think they're descaling something properly, but they're not and it creates a meltdown. Misuse of equipment can lead to a very expensive, major delay, and a big upset for everyone."

That said, avoiding abuse reigns just as important. "If operators see breakage after breakage, they should be talking to technicians to find out what the problem is, and importantly, if there was any abuse to the equipment," Choquette says.

Carbon buildup, kinks and marks on the equipment can be the first indicators of equipment misuse. Doors not closing properly indicates that someone might have been closing the doors with their feet, or kicking them. "A door that's even slightly ajar will ruin the gas valve and cause additional breakage," he says.

While all pieces of equipment come with an operator's manual, there are a few things operators can often overlook or forget to check on a daily basis that would otherwise help extend the life of equipment. The CFESA web site, www. cfesa.com, outlines several of these maintenance checks for different types of equipment that operators and chefs can do during food production and afterward during cleaning as part of daily preventative maintenance.

Key PM Equipment
Aside from steamers and other equipment using water, according to Choquette, two other equipment types require extra-special attention: gas-powered equipment and clamshell grills. Clamshell grills? Sounds unusual, but Choquette says these grills rely on protective seals that prevent grease migration. "The seals need to be replaced on a regular basis," he says.

Relative to their electric counterparts, gas-powered equipment also requires additional, regular checkups. "Pressure valves need to be adjusted on an annual basis or twice a year," Choquette says. "The combustion chambers need to be checked. Soot buildup needs to be removed. Operators should also make sure the flames are at proper levels. A simple gas range can malfunction if the gas isn't adjusted properly or open-top burner parts are blocked by spillage of food and grease."

“If you're not doing a good job of maintaining your equipment, in five years you'll have to replace a lot of it. That'll hit your bottom line right there.” Jean Choquette President, Key Food Equipment Services Ltd.

Poor maintenance when it comes to gas grills not only translates into poor performance, but also higher gas and energy costs. Although it seems like a simple and obvious statement, operators and chefs often overlook this fact as they focus intently on just getting the food hot enough, and out to the customer in a timely fashion. And that's a reasonable concern, so it's easy to forget about the added duties of preventative cleaning, repairs, checkups and tuneups. But operators looking to extend their equipment for the long haul, enhance their total cost of ownership and, basically, stay in business over time, really should pay attention to preventative maintenance, Choquette says.

"A restaurant of a fair size, of about 120 seats, spends at least $250,000 on equipment, if not $500,000," Choquette says. "If you're not doing a good job of maintaining your equipment, in five years you'll have to replace a lot of it." That can potentially double your expenses over the years, thereby negating any worthwhile investments an operator made on topquality equipment. "That'll hit your bottom line right there," Choquette says.

Moreover, the ironic part is that operators and chefs who ignore maintenance because they're too focused on the food production, will actually slow their food production over time. "Chefs will get irritated that the equipment's not working properly, and they'll have poor results during cooking," Choquette says. The more operators reduce their "emergency" calls for service, the more they'll "reduce the stress of people working in the kitchen," he adds.

Temperature control and food safety issues take the forefront of operator priorities these days, but regularly calibrating temperatures is a common task they often overlook or miss. Even with a staff properly trained in food safety procedures, regularly calibrating walk-in coolers is just as important a part of the equation, says Hester, who taught a refrigeration training program through CFESA for several years.

Although he no longer runs CFESA's program, the association still trains service agents and informs operators on the proper setup of a variety of cold equipment, from walk-ins to ice machines, as well as the fundamentals of good preventative maintenance, which includes calibration, cleaning, lubricating, and identifying the wear and tear of parts, Hester says. It's as simple as this - operators who neglect to calibrate their walk-in coolers run the risk of their food temperatures rising above 41°F. and into the danger zone of making customers sick.

Plus, Hester says, neglect can lead to workers' comp issues. Say, for example, the deflector on an ice machine starts to fall apart. "It needs to be replaced, and that might cost $700," Hester says. The restaurant's not running out of ice, so fixing the machine is not thought of as an emergency. But every time an employee comes over to refill the ice, he interacts with the deflector that's not holding on. Now you're dealing with employee hazards, he says. Sometimes, poor temperature readings on cold equipment are actually symptoms of a larger problem, like the HACCP program itself or the cooking processes within the operation. That's when service agents become teachers, essentially enlightening operators on these shortcomings. "Technicians repair equipment that's broken, dirty or miscalibrated," Hester says. "If we find that the controls are fine, the machine is not dirty, and there's nothing the technician can fix to solve the problem of low temperatures, it becomes a question of what are the food handlers doing that results in the temperature being out of compliance?"

For example, in one case, Hester went on a service call for a walk-in cooler with unsafe temperature readings. What appeared to the operator as a problem with the equipment, actually was a problem with the way the line cooks handled the food. In this case, Hester says, a line cook was letting prepped products from the walk-in cooler sit on the line while he went about other tasks, rather than immediately transferring the products to cold pans before performing the other tasks. "At that point, the food temperatures would get above 41°F. Cold pans tend to hold food where it's at, rather than cool it down further," Hester says.

Opening the walk-in doors frequently during the day can also lower food temperatures to unsafe levels. If that's the case, the service agent might recommend installing an air curtain or purchasing a different walk-in that can better meet their demands.

Kitchens Getting Smarter
What happens when a walk-in cooler fails overnight? A potential for a tremendous loss of food, and dollars. Enter the topic of "smart kitchen technology."

In the last year or so, there's been a growing push by the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers to adopt the NAFEM Data Protocol, a software that connects commercial equipment through a common computing language to accomplish five major monitoring tasks, including tracking assets, energy consumption, labor, inventory and food safety, according to Charlie Souhrada, the organization's director of member services. In short, NDP-approved equipment, or such that's been retrofitted with the technology, sends alarms to foodservice managers or other kitchen directors during equipment failures or malfunctioning. Sending these types of alerts can save thousands of dollars in waste by letting the operator and, subsequently, the service agent know of any potential problems before the food items enter danger zones associated with improper refrigeration.

It's fitting to end this article on the NDP note. While operators can regularly clean, descale, train their employees in proper equipment use, and manually check temperatures all they want, the future of preventative maintenance seems to go hand in hand with this technology. It's as if kitchens are getting smarter and smarter so operators can focus on other things. And when kitchens are smarter, equipment functions better, service agents can do their jobs easier, and operators can rest-assured they won't have to double or even triple their budget long before it's, well, ever due.