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We recently received a comment from one of our readers asking us to recommend kitchen equipment manufacturers because he intended to import equipments for their restaurant. We posted the same question in our Facebook page and we received really great answers. Please visit our Facebook page if you would like to know what brands were suggested. We thought of doing equipment reviews and we intend to do just that, but we thought we’d first write about the best dishwashers for your kitchen and how to choose the right ones. Perhaps, this will help you choose the right dishwashers regardless of the brand.

There are actually several types of commercial dishwashers. Your choice will depend upon the kind of dishes or kitchen utensils you’d like to wash and the volume of dishes you intend to wash on a daily basis. These are two factors that you should consider when making your choice. Here are the different types of dishwashers for a commercial kitchen:

1. In-sink Dishwashers or Glasswashers. These are dishwashers that may be used for quick glassware cleaning. These are typically found in bars because they easily fit into bar sinks. These things also have rotating brushes that are set in hot water. These are operated manually, so they can handle only minimal load.

2. Undercounter Dishwashers. These are similar to residential dishwashers. They are placed under the counters and they can handle up to 35 racks of dishes every hour. These dishwashers typically use built-in heating to heat up dishes up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. This greatly helps sanitize the dishes. These are one of the best dishwashers for small restaurants.

3. Conveyor or flight Dishwashers. These are dishwashers that can handle large volume of dishes and glassware every hour. These things can handle up to 400 dishes every hour. These things are ideal for establishments like cafeterias. You would also need booster heaters for this. You need booster heaters for these dishwashers. These are equipment that can pre-heat water to 180 degrees Fahrenheit for sanitization. These are stand-alone equipments that are independent of your dishwasher. These things ensure that hot water is always available for washing dishes. These are usually used in commercial establishments that handle large volume of dishes every hour.

4. Door type Dishwashers. These are considerably larger than under counter dishwashers and they can handle up to 150 racks every hour. These are the most commonly used dishwashers in most restaurants. They are perfect for restaurants because they have large doors that allow racks to be placed inside or removed easily.

You can easily choose the best dishwashers for your restaurant depending on your need or the volume of glassware or dishes you need to clean on an hourly basis. Although we haven’t really recommended any brand. We hope this will help you make the right choice.

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We received an email from our reader Joseph asking us to write about Teflon cooking pans. We presumed that he wanted us to write about cleaning Teflon pans. We haven’t actually written about Teflon-coated cooking pans and pots before. This particular type of cooking pans have safe, non-stick surface which makes cooking such a dream. The smooth surface prevents food from sticking into the pan, so cooking and cleaning are incredibly easy. However, you need to know how to properly clean Teflon pans, so you will not scratch the surface or remove the Teflon. Removing the coating will ruin the non-stick surface.

Teflon or polytetraflouroethylen (PTFE) is actually the surface coating that is used in pans to prevent food from sticking. This type of pan is quite popular because it lessens the need for cooking oil. There are, however, issues concerning the dangers of Teflon pans to people’s health, but there are still a lot of people who prefer to use Teflon-coated pans for cooking. Most restaurant kitchens also use the same. Here are a few tips on cleaning Teflon pans properly:

1. Use a wooden or plastic spoon or spatula to scrape any food residue. If the Teflon-coating is still there, food residues come off easily especially after use. For greasy pans, you need to pour water and a cup of vinegar unto the surface and boil the mixture. Grease will mix with the solution. Pour it out and then clean the pan. This is the same thing that you can do for stubborn built-up or stuck-on food.

2. Clean Teflon pans after used. In restaurants, this happens on a daily basis. It is important to always clean these pans thoroughly in order to avoid food build-up. Ironically, it still happens that food sticks to the pan. They may not stick as much as they would in an ordinary pan, but there are still some food particles that could stubbornly hang on to non-stick pans. Use soap and mild water to clean the pans. Scrub the surface with soft sponge until it’s clean and then rinse it well. If there are still stuck-on food particles, grab a cup of vinegar, add water and two tablespoons of baking soda, pour the mixture onto the surface and let it soak for 10 minutes. Pour it out and clean the pan using water, soap and soft sponge. Dry the pan with towel and then store it properly.

2. Use nylon stocking for cleaning Teflon pans when a soft sponge won’t do the trick. They nylon material offers stronger scrubbing power, but it is soft so it is safe to use on Teflon-coated pans.

Cleaning Teflon pans is definitely easier. Anyway, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at stewardingdepartment@gmail.com if you have any suggestions. We definitely would love to hear from you!

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Many kitchen stewards do not bother with learning how to properly use the dishwasher beyond learning how to operate it.  There are do’s and don’ts when it comes to using the dishwasher.   There are some common mistakes that you need to know, so you will be able to avoid them.  Here is our own list:

1. Overloading the machine with dishes. There is nothing wrong with maximizing the space when loading dishes, but make sure that you don’t overcrowd the machine. This will make it very difficult for the machine to properly clean the dishes. This can also damage or even break the dishes. You have to space out the dishes properly, so that every piece of plate or utensil has the space it needs to have it properly cleaned. Although overloading is not good, you should also try to avoid partially loading the dishwasher. That’s a waste of resources.

2. Loading dishes with a lot of food residue. Although most dishwashers are great at removing food residue, it is important that you remove or scrape off food residue before loading the dishes into the dishwasher. Even the most expensive or advanced machine can experience troubles when too much food dishes are loaded into it. By scraping the food before loading the dishes, the dishwasher will be able to run more smoothly.

3. Using the wrong dishwashing detergent. You need to make sure that you are using the right kind of dishwasher detergent. It is also important that you follow directions when using detergent. Adding more detergent into the dishwasher will not clean the dishes better. Excess detergent use will only leave film of detergent on the plates and utensils. So, make sure to use only the right detergent and the right amount.

4. Loading the dishwasher with non-dishwasher utensils or items. Sometimes, there are stewards who give in to the temptation. They load the dishwasher with non-dishwasher items, so they will have to avoid manually cleaning them. Dishwashers, however, are not your all-purpose machine. There are kitchen utensils that you should not run in the dishwasher. These things include wood, cast iron, delicate glassware and copper. Wood can crack while delicate glassware can break. Cast iron and copper can damage other utensils.

5. Blocking the sprayer. Do not block the sprayer. You need to know how the sprayer works in your dishwasher. It should be able to reach every corner and every piece of kitchen utensil. If there is a large utensil blocking the sprayer, it won’t likely be able to clean everything.

6. Loading the dishes improperly. It is not safe to place dishes haphazardly. You need to know where to put certain items. For instance, glasses, bowls and cups should be placed on the top rack while plates and pots should be placed on the bottom rack. You should also avoid nesting utensils. Forks and spoons that are nested together can hold on to residues. You need to alternate forks and spoons with some pointing up others pointing down in order to avoid nesting.

You need to give your dishwasher a little maintenance every now and then. Check the manual to know how to do this.

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After frequent use of the dishwasher and its rack, they could get damaged and they won’t slide as easily or effortlessly as they did before. You will save yourself from a lot of trouble if you learn how to repair a dishwasher rack that sticks. Ignoring this problem can cause a lot of trouble in the long run. This can cause the rack to slide off the rollers and crash down. This probably happened to you before, right? So, it is a good idea to learn how to repair dishwasher racks. It doesn’t take longer than 10 minutes to fix a sticky rack.

First of all, you need to grab a steel wool, water, vinegar, paper towels, aerosol cooking spray or any type of all-purpose hardware lubricant and soft cloth. When learning how to repair a dishwasher rack, you also need to know what materials to use. Make sure to have all the necessary cleaning materials close at hand. You can then remove dishes sitting on the racks if there are any. If these are dirty dishes, just put them on the counters. You can wash them manually or you can put them back in the dishwasher after you’re finished repairing the racks. After removing the dishes, take the racks out of the dishwasher and place them on the counter. Make sure that you have a firm grip on each rack as you take them out and you are ready to support their full weight.

Dampen the steel wool and start to clean the tracks that the dishwasher racks roll on. Make sure to thoroughly clean the grooves inside and out. If the tracks are rusty, you should buff out the rust vigorously until they disappear. Using the steel wool, scrub the rollers located on the sides of the racks. Make sure to buff out rusts if there are any.

After you are sure, you’ve thoroughly scrubbed everything, grab the cloth and dampen it with white vinegar. Wipe down all the same areas you’ve scrubbed. Make sure to wipe off specks of rust. Once you are finished wiping all the areas, grab the can of aerosol cooking spray and shake it well and then spray oil over the rack grooves of the dishwasher. This serves as grease, so the rollers won’t stick when they move. Get paper towels and use them to wipe off excess oil. Make sure that oil does not accumulate on the walls of the dishwasher and the outsides of its grooves.

Once you’ve completely wiped off the excess oil, you can then put the racks inside the dishwasher. If you’ve completed the task properly, the racks will no longer stick when they roll. Return unwashed dishes, so you can clean them.

Maybe you can give us more tips on how to repair a dishwasher rack that sticks. Why not leave us a comment?

At one time or another, we all have that – a job we secretly hate. Perhaps, you’re one of those people who would say, “I would leave this job if I only have something else in sight.” Unfortunately, not every stewarding job is your dream job. In fact, a steward’s job is far from easy, so it is not really something you’d love to do or look forward to on a daily basis. However, in our article Why You Need to Love Your Stewarding Job, we list down all the reasons why you should love your job. So, here are our tips on how you can stop hating your job and start loving it.

1. Focus on the positive instead of the negative. Yes, you probably did not dream of becoming a steward when you were a little boy or girl; however, you can still learn to love – or at least enjoy what you do. You can start with changing your attitude towards your job. By doing this, you can infuse new life into your job. Turn your attention to what is good about your job and how it benefits you instead of constantly complaining about all the negative things about your job. Positive thinking can do wonders to your attitude towards your job.

2. Be more social. You will hardly love your job if you are hardly social towards your co-workers. You should start being more social because this will make your life more pleasant. This will also help greatly improve your work profile. Help out new employees or trainees – mentoring can help you feel good and this will also pay off down the line. You should also start to build a good relationship towards your boss. Our article How to Deal with a Difficult Stewarding Supervisor offers great tips on how you can build a good relationship with your boss.

3. Take a break and relax. Maximize your downtime when you could. You need to take a break and relax every now and then. A steward job can be mentally and physically exhausting. You need to make sure that you give yourself some downtime. Eat outside with your family, grab a beer with co-workers and spend time with your kids on the park. Adopt activities that can help you combat depression and job burnout. Add some fun activities into your daily routine, so you won’t have to spend your weekdays waiting for the weekend.

4. Try variations of your routines or tasks. If you are bored stiff with your routine or daily tasks, you should consider talking to your supervisor and asking for different tasks – even if it means extra work. You should also consider undergoing training, so you could learn new things. Training can help you move up your work ladder. Do not be satisfied with doing the same thing over and over again. Be willing to learn new things, so you would know more and perhaps, be more.

You can learn to love your stewarding job. You just need to have the right attitude. So, do you love your job? Have you tried to love it? Leave us a comment and tell us about your experience.

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It is not easy to find a job that you love or a job that allows you to do exactly what you love to do. And sometimes, your job can burn you out and then you eventually learn to hate the same job that you used to love. This is something that all stewards probably experience. So, why do you need to love your stewarding job?

You Spend More Time There Than Anywhere Else

Your workplace is where you spend most of your waking time in. If you hate your steward job, you will be expending your energy on something that you hate. You need to learn to love what you do. Success is not the key to your happiness. Your happiness is the key to your success. If you love what you do, it is doubtful if you would fail at it. There are people who do the simplest jobs which they love and they are happy with what they do. There is a woman in New York who gets paid a lot of money for plucking eyebrows. Celebrities line up just so they can get their eyebrows plucked by her. To some people, her job may be considerably simple, but she enjoys doing it and she gets paid for doing it. You spend most of your waking hours doing your job, you need to learn how to love it or at least like it.

You Need to Take Pride in What You Do

The difference between a home cook and a chef is this – the latter one gets paid. A home cook may not have the same skills that a chef may have, but a home cook can create delicious dishes as well. However, people will not go out and pay for a home cook meal. They will go out and pay for a chef’s meal. Chefs have that passion, the same passion that drives them to hone their craft and take pride in their creations. You, as a steward, should also take pride in what you do. There are skills that only you possess. Not everyone knows how to do the things that you easily do. So, take pride in that. Make sure that you do the best every time you do your job. You can only have this passion if you love your job. If you are miserable, this will reflect on your work. In the long run, you won’t be benefiting from your poor stewarding job performance.

No matter how your circumstances are, you are given an opportunity to provide for your family and for yourself. Love your job, change it or leave it.

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Do you have a steam cleaner – or are you thinking of getting one for you restaurant or department? Nowadays, many restaurants are using steam cleaners for restaurant cleaning. Restaurants often deal with heavy traffic in the dining area and even in the kitchen area. Foods are spilled everywhere and accumulation of debris is fairly common. However, cleanliness is the number one priority of restaurants and since food is prepared and stored in the kitchen, it is one of the areas that need thorough cleaning. Using hard surface steam cleaner will definitely help clean and sanitize the kitchen as well as various areas in a restaurant. These types of cleaners do not come cheap, so maybe you should consider the benefits in relation to the cost before you make your decision.

Benefits of Steam Cleaning

Steam cleaners are really great if you’re going to use it to clean various hard surfaces. There are products that come with anti-bacterial technologies which can also help sanitize and not just clean kitchen surfaces. These cleaners can actually help eliminate 99% of germs and bacteria in the kitchen. This is not something you can probably get from manual soap and water scrubbing. Often, when you sanitize manually, you will need to use cleaning detergents which may contain harsh chemicals. This is one of the biggest drawbacks to manual cleaning. On the other hand, you can probably use natural cleaning products or organic cleaning products, so you can avoid using toxic materials when cleaning the kitchen. On the other hand, it is actually that high steam temperature that helps loosen and dissolve tough dirt, grime and deposits on hard surfaces. This is something that manual scrubbing cannot completely do. It is doubtful if you can get the same level of cleaning when you do manual cleaning.

There are steam cleaners that can even help eliminate diseases like E. Coli, MRSA and salmonella. Rather than use toxic detergents or cleaning products to rid your kitchen of these diseases, you can probably just use a steam cleaner to do the job. You wouldn’t have to use harmful chemicals. Of course, you can always add organic or green chemicals to enhance the efficiency of these equipments.

Making Your Choice

There are actually several steam cleaner options available to you. There are steam cleaners for exhaust hoods, freezers, refrigerators, grout, grills and countertops. These steam cleaners will clean grime and root out molds and spatters. Steam cleaners can remove stains and debris as well. You can even use them to clean, sanitize and defrost refrigerators and deep freezers. We are not actually selling steam cleaners. We’ve actually received comments asking us for prices of kitchen equipments. We are not selling anything, but we enjoy giving you your options when it comes to kitchen equipments that can help you do your job easily, thoroughly and quickly.

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It’s that gorgeous time of the year.  Flowers are blooming everywhere – well, except if you are in a tropical country where flowers are seemingly in bloom all year long –but for countries, with four seasons, it is spring time!  And spring time means spring cleaning even for restaurant owners and stewards.  No time to sneeze now.  We have a lot of spring cleaning to do.  So, here’s our spring cleaning checklist for restaurants.

1.  Start with your hood system.  This can be a fairly messy job.  We have written several articles on how to clean your hood system like How to Steam Clean a Kitchen Hood.  If you feel that you are not equipped with the skills and materials to do this job, you should look into hiring an outside contractor to help you clean the restaurant hood system.  It might cost you more than usual, but you can be assured that the job will be done right.  This is why it is a good idea to train your stewards how to clean the hood properly.  It is also a good idea to equip your restaurant with the proper cleaning tools.

2.  Clean out shelves and storage areas.  Spring is the perfect time to clean out your shelves.  Check out items that are way past their expiration dates and throw them out.  You probably cannot do this without coordinating with the chef first.  But take the time to clean and organize shelves for a better storage system.

3.  Remove dirty and grime from the fryer and grill areas.  Because of how they are constantly used, these areas are the prime spots for grease build-up.  A build-up like this can be very dangerous because they pose as fire hazards.  Get a couple of stewards to move these equipments and then completely scrub the area, under and above.

4.  Give your ice machine and your freezer that good loving.  Most restaurants use its ice machine and because it is used often, it needs to be well taken care of.  Empty the machine and sanitize it properly.  You also need to empty your freezer, defrost it and give it a good cleaning.

5.  Move kitchen equipments and clean hidden or hard-to-reach areas.  Most restaurant kitchens have areas that are hidden or are not easily reached.  Grab a ladder and clean and sanitize these areas or move kitchen equipments to get to these areas.  When you are doing spring cleaning, take the time to give these areas the special attention they need.

6.  Clean the dumpster and wash down the recycle area.  Ironically, you also need to clean your dumpster or recycle area; otherwise, they’d become homes to pests and animals.  A warmer weather will allow pests and animals to come out and look for food.  They can be easily attracted to garbage in your dumpster and recycle area.  So, take the time to hose down, sanitize, empty and clean these areas.

7.  Clean the dining room area.  Don’t ignore the dining room area.  This is where your customers actually sit down to eat.  Deep clean the carpets.  You can even hire a professional if you feel you cannot do it and get rid of dirt that may have accumulated during the winter months.  Clean the windows to let the spring sunshine in.  Don’t forget to clean the restrooms as well.  Take extra time to completely clean this area.  Restaurant cleanliness is often judged by how room your restrooms are.

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It is not uncommon for people to experience stereotyping at work. Yes, unfortunately this still happens. People have their prejudices and biases against race, age, sex, language and others. It is not just the management’s job to be on the lookout for stereotype vulnerability in a workplace. You should also be concerned with this problem. This vulnerability can actually cause employees not to perform up to their ability because they are afraid that they could be stereotyped.

Let’s take, for instance, a hypothetical new steward named Amar. Amar is working in the kitchen of a Michelin-starred restaurant. He speaks English as a second language, but Amar notices that second-language speakers are stereotyped and are considered less valuable. If Amar is to receive an instruction from his English-speaking supervisor, he might be afraid to ask for clarifications out of fear that he would be stereotyped as well. And because he did not clearly understand the instructions, he would underperform when he could have excelled at the task. If reprimanded, he would likely refrain from pointing out his lack of understanding. This sets him up for further failure in the future. In the end, he would end up perpetuating the same stereotype he was avoiding at the very beginning.

If you are the manager, how would you deal with this situation?

It is actually very important that stewarding supervisors or managers are aware of this potential problem. Instead of waiting for Amar to ask question, his supervisor should have asked Amar to repeat the instruction, so the supervisor could ascertain for himself if Amar understood his instructions. This is referred to as the paraphrasing technique and it is a very effective technique in making sure that your employees understand your instructions and directions.

There are actually different kinds of stereotyping in a workplace. Employees who are younger or older than most employees would likely be affected by ageism. For instance, older employees will likely avoid asking questions or refusing help for fear that they’d be thought of as “too old for the job”. Younger employees will likely take up too many tasks so that they won’t be disregarded for being “too inexperienced to handle the job”. Unfortunately, it is this vulnerability that eventually causes them to make mistakes.

As a stewarding supervisor, you have to demonstrate tasks, particularly new skills to all employees regardless of age. You need to check in with all employees in order to make sure that all of them are developing these new skills and workloads are distributed among them equally. It is important that everyone feels valued and respected by their supervisor and employer.

Stereotyping is not just limited to language and age. Women, in particular, are very susceptible to stereotype vulnerability. It is up to everyone in the company to make sure that policies are in place, so that everyone will be protected against discrimination and stereotyping. Stewarding supervisors should also learn how to deal with stereotyping and should make sure that they do not discriminate against anyone in their company.

Have you experienced being stereotyped or discriminated in your company? What happened? How did you handle it?

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Giving performance evaluations can be quite stressful for a stewarding supervisor. In fact, a supervisor has to prepare ahead of time in order to this task properly. This can be quite stressful and it is not easy at all for anyone to give these kinds of evaluations. Managers and supervisors need to be prepared for these types of evaluations. They have to be able to anticipate the possible reactions of stewards who will likely receive less than glowing evaluations. Here are a few tips on how to give performance evaluations properly.

Preparing for the Meeting

Get to know your employees. Know their job, abilities, skills and attitude. Are they good at their job? Do they come to work promptly and leave on the dot? What is their attitude towards you, their co-employees and their work? How well do they follow directives? Do they work well with others? Do they adhere to policies? Do they observe procedures?

Take note of their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. It is important that you can give concrete examples of things they did that affect the outcome of their evaluation, so familiarize yourself with your employees properly. You must be able to point out their areas of improvement and be able to explain the problem correctly to them. You need to give specific details, so that they would be able to understand and accept your observation. By knowing the areas of improvement, you will be able to suggest possible solutions.

You need to be impartial and objective in your evaluation. Try not to let the fact that you are friends with most of your stewards cloud your judgment. Accordingly, do not let your personal feelings toward certain employees affect your judgment when it comes to assessing their work performance. By being objective, you will also be able to fully anticipate their reactions to your assessment especially if they will be hearing a poor evaluation. Make sure that you will be able to handle everybody’s reaction properly. Not everyone will be pleased, but you will not likely deal with a violent reaction if you know how to give a thoughtful, kind but objective evaluation.

Before you start your evaluation, give your stewards a few minutes to complete a self-evaluation of their performance as well. This will help you see where you differ in opinions and accordingly, you will be able to prepare yourself for their possible reactions.

Giving a Performance Evaluation

Here are a few tips on how to give a performance evaluation properly:

1. Meet your employees/stewards privately. Nobody wants to have their weaknesses or inadequacies hash out in public, so make sure that you provide them with a little bit of privacy.
2. Make sure to focus on their strengths as well. Although you will have to tackle their weaknesses or areas of improvement, you need to remember to acknowledge their positive contribution to the company as a whole.
3. Be conscious of the words you use. Words can hurt a lot and they can inspire or demoralize your employees. So, make sure to choose your words properly. Phrase your words in a positive way. For instance, instead of telling your employee “not be late”, you can say, “always be punctual.” Take note of your tone of voice and your demeanor as well. Avoid belittling your employees or insulting them as well.
4. Be direct but kind and make sure to listen to what your employee has to say as well.
5. Set goals with your employees.

It is not easy to give performance evaluations, so make sure you prepare for it before you call stewards in for an evaluation.