The design of a professional kitchen for LA Project is the result of intense teamwork, in which the people leading will have to be involved above all for the organization of spaces and functions: a badly designed kitchen is in fact a source of disservices for customers and frustration for the staff, who are constantly being diverted from one point to another.
Layout
The kitchen is the area intended for the preparation of meals and as such, it must have some characteristics that make it safe for workers and that allow to protect the food safety for consumers. It is the heart of the exercise.
Its right size and correct location within the building will lead to rationality and hygienic safety of processing and suitable food routes from the arrival of raw materials to the administration of ready meals, saving resources and time.
For this purpose, the kitchen must be placed in such a way that it does not have to be crossed by the entrance of goods and in such a way as to respect the forward movement in the production cycle; therefore the professional kitchen must be built in such a way as to avoid as much as possible return paths with respect to the flow of treatment and sanitization of the food and divided into processing sectors, among which at least those intended for washing and preliminary processing,such as meat and vegetables respectively; said sectors, according to the dimensions of the kitchen complex, may consist of autonomous rooms, in compartments separated from the rest of the kitchen by washable panels or functionally well defined areas.
The professional kitchen can be located in a single room, but if the number of seats is greater than 100, it is necessary to create additional rooms, using panels or masonry, earmarking them for processing meat and washing vegetables.
A square shape or in any case structured so as not to have narrow areas or bottlenecks difficult to sanitize should always be preferred.
details
The minimum size of a kitchen accommodating up to 50 seats must be at least 20 square meters including the washing area. For greater receptivity, 0.5 square meters per meal are calculated. For accommodation of more than 100 places, an area reserved for washing dishes must be set up.
In the case of smaller dimensions, a case-by-case assessment must be made, evaluating structural, plant and organizational-managerial requirements. For the pizzeria alone, the minimum size is set at 12 square meters (excluding the cooking oven).
The structural requirements must be the same for each workplace and all equipment and furnishings must be positioned to allow for cleaning and sanitation of the premises.
The average height of the kitchen is calculated exactly as for the dining room of the restaurant, so the minimum is 3 m, with the possibility of derogation in the case of particular urban and structural situations.
For rooms of modest size and in which no more than 5 employees are employed, the minimum habitable height of 2.70 m may also be considered. The minimum height of 2.55 may be accepted in existing and restricted premises, and in buildings located at an altitude above 1000 m above sea level.
The lighting and ventilation surface must communicate directly with the outside and to calculate the proportion between the area of the room and the illuminating / ventilating surface, it is also possible to consider the doors, provided they are equipped with vasistas or skylights.
In general, the ratio between the kitchen surface and the illuminating surface must be 1 to 10. All openings must be equipped with insect and rodent nets.
The kitchen must have extractor hoods that send fumes to the outside. The ratio between the room surface and the ventilation surface must be 1 to 20.
The hoods can be of two types:
- Extractors with outlet in the flue or on the wall
- Activated carbon filters and wall outlet
The choice can be free, the important thing is that all hobs, fryers and rotisserie ovens are equipped with hood
The floor must be in smooth, washable and waterproof material, with light-colored rounded corners and edges and inclined towards a siphoned manhole fitted with a fine mesh grid.
The walls must be smooth and washable and disinfectable in light color with rounded edges and tiled or enameled with epoxy resins up to 2 m from the ground (the standards do not specify the obligation to tiling, but this solution is preferable over others due to the ease cleaning and long service life).
Accessory rooms such as pantry, washing area, cold storage area and the like can be connected to the kitchen area, which will be taken into consideration and added for half of their surface in the calculation of the 0.5 sqm / meal parameter that we have mentioned regarding the minimum size of the kitchen.
The storage must be located in an independent compartment; it is also possible in the basement or underground as long as they are healthy and with sufficient height.
It must be a room that is not accessible to the public and where no type of food handling is possible, but intended solely for storage of these in special cold rooms. Floor and walls must be smooth and washable.
The warehouse must be equipped with suitable and sufficient shelving in washable material, intended for the storage of non-perishable food (raw wood shelving is not allowed).
Food storage in the kitchen is represented by 4 equipment:
- a cold room or refrigerator for cooked products, ready meals and semi-finished products
- a cold room or refrigerator for meats
- a cold room or refrigerator for vegetables
- a cold room or refrigerator for other foods such as cold cuts, milk and dairy products.
For deep-frozen and frozen foods it is sufficient to have a single freezer, although it is advisable to have another one in reserve.
The washing area is the room for washing dishes and cookware. No type of food processing is allowed in this compartment. The minimum surface must be 5 square meters and in particular cases it can be located in the same space as the kitchen.