What is a central kitchen setup? – Detailed insights

A central kitchen setup centralizes the cookery operations of multiple kitchens. It serves the major ingredients or components for effectuating other food items. The diverse restaurants may be present at the same or different locations as their commercial establishments. The central kitchen for chain outlets equips either the ingredients or the entire dishes for other outlets to utilise them but does not harness services to the individuals as retail or cloud kitchen outlet.

In the realm of F&B innovation, Yash Dalwani's leadership at DNY Hospitality has brought about a groundbreaking concept – the central kitchen setup. This ingenious system not only efficiently manages the distribution of culinary creations to respective locations or restaurants but also caters to the needs of small startup restaurants with limited operational space. The destinations for the output of a centralised kitchen can be fast casuals, hotels, food trucks, restaurants, or cloud kitchens. These kitchens also functions as storage windows for other restaurants with befitting amenities for food storage with the loftiest standards of Food Technology. DNY Hospitality proffers dedicated consultation services in all the versions of a central kitchen for chain outlets.

Why Need A Central Kitchen Setup?

The cardinal foundation to set up a centralised kitchen is to redeem operational and other expenditures. Central kitchens can be small or huge; however, they serve the purpose of administering supplies to other entities instead of individuals. The other major ground to opt for a central kitchen setup is producing in-house components and creating an original product according to the philosophies and vision of the food entity. It is imperative in lieu of escalating competition and quality standards. Only the distinctively qualitative brands are supposed to sustain in the final analysis in the food & beverage industry.

Prerequisites for a Central Kitchen’s Setup

There are two major prerequisites before you come to the decision of establishing a centralised kitchen. The first one is having a large scale of restaurant operations or multiple restaurant brands under the patronage of the umbrella brand. A central kitchen for chain outlets furnish services related to the components or ingredients for multiple restaurants. The owner of multiple restaurants, fast casuals, or cloud kitchens may decide to set up a central kitchen for his chain outlets and name them as one brand.

Another major requirement for establishing a central kitchen setup is having tie-ups with different restaurants to supply ingredients or components to them. A central kitchens for large-scale production bears scads of expenses for storage and maintenance of the food items that it supplies. It utilises world-class Food Technology to keep the food items in picture-perfect quality. The revenue to cellar the food items accompanies risk. The revenue generation banks on the restaurants ordering them. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to conserve lucrative business tie-ups.

Starting Central Kitchens

Inaugurate a central kitchen setup either before constituting multiple restaurant brands or with eventual progression. It is a historic decision and will have an extreme level of consequences on the pace of growth of your across-the-board business. The major points on the trajectory to commence a central kitchen are:

Designing the layout

Planning the equipment

Purchasing the ingredients

Employing Food Technology

Strategising storage

Developing transportation tactics

Recruiting the staff

1. Designing the Layout

Designing the layout of the central kitchen setup is the most significant and first step. It counts on the equipment, cooking procedures, and storage racks. One needs to work on the food items that the central kitchen would prepare using the equipment. The next is the cooking procedures and the placement of equipment with the best utilisation of space and the greatest productivity. The size of the storage racks also plays a fundamental role in contributing to the layout of the central kitchen setup. The racks and equipment are of very big size and therefore it is pre-eminent to design the layout keeping them in the mind.

2. Planning the Kitchen Equipment

Equipment is contingent on what restaurants or cloud kitchens you are going to serve. It will underline the essentials and expectations from the central kitchen for chain outlets so that your plan of action for the layout is exceptional. For instance, if you are going to cater to a restaurant that needs sauces of different kinds then you need racks to hold bottles. Similarly, if you furnish services to a restaurant that offers sandwiches and the central kitchen setup supplies loaves of bread to them then you are likely to invest in racks in shape with loaves of bread’ packaging. The same tenet pertains to the acquisition of kitchen equipment also.

3. Purchasing the Ingredients

The next is planning to obtain the ingredients. It should be according to the recipes the restaurants’ demands and central kitchens will procure the supplies. Sometimes the central kitchen setup may supply the food items partially or wholly. The central kitchen may cater to some restaurants for supplying the components of the final recipes or main also prepare the whole food item that is not perishable or time-sensitive.

4. Employing Food Technology

The central kitchen setup is a voluminous place with a variety of food items either prepared or stored. It is mandatory to use the latest Food Technology. Employment of technology enables the storage of food for a prolonged period and it also maintains freshness. Usage of technology also guarantees accelerated operations in manufacturing the ingredients for preparing and packaging the eatables helping a delivery service of a central kitchen setup for large-scale production of the dominant standards.

5. Planning the Storage

Cultivating strategies for storage of ingredients for either supplying or utilising them in recipes demands adequate concentration. If there are more ingredients than required in the storage area, there is a risk of them getting perished or rotten. The managers at the central kitchen setup need to anticipate the demand in coordination with restaurant brands. It may otherwise lead to a sizeable downturn in the annual balance sheet.

6. Developing Transportation Tactics

If your central kitchens deliver food items to restaurants located away from the central kitchen then it’s of utmost importance to devise tactics for transportation. The tactics must be in order to facilitate a product in the original quality as it leaves from the location of your central kitchen. It depends on the distance to be covered. One may employ services by professional transportation companies if there are contracts with restaurant brands. It is also feasible to own a transport vehicle for outstanding time coordination to perpetuate the brand name of the central kitchen setup.

7. Recruiting the Staff

The next step is the recruitment of the staff members who are well-versed in the operations of a centralised kitchen. If they have experience, nothing can be the best. However, they must have the required qualification. Maintaining a central kitchen setup is of complex procedure that needs appropriate planning and an elevated sense of responsibility to maintain the central kitchens.

8. Managing a Central Kitchen Setup

The management of a central kitchen needs a, altitudinal level of business acumen and command over logistics. The manager necessitates showing involvement and multi-orientation towards a multiplicity of operations. If consistency is achieved in supply chain management, success is all yours. DNY Hospitality provides a systematic program for efficiency and effectiveness in preserving a central kitchen setup.

1 - We recommend investment in POS systems for the integration and consolidation of restaurants of other brands and your central kitchen for large-scale production.

2 - Processing of the orders between different branches of the central kitchen for chain outlets or between restaurants and central kitchen setup can go smoothly provided there is no room for confusion.

3 - Check the status of inventory every day or set the frequency of checking according to the workload.

4 - Keep an eye on the latest equipment and development in food technology to bring maximum efficiency and reduce costs.

5 - Always keep abreast of the operations taking place at your central kitchen remotely also.

6 - Employ appropriate software or intranet for internal communication to bring transparency and avoid misinterpretations.

Benefits of Central Kitchen Setup

The decision to lay the foundation for a central kitchen for large-scale production takes enough courage. The advantages associated with it are sufficient to encourage you and feel optimistic about it. The central kitchen has the aptitude to absorb the risks of other entities and therefore, it holds sky-high demand. It completely validates its name that has ‘central’ in it because it acts as a centre for key components of the final food item. Here are some more benefits of a central kitchen setup

Reduced costs

Smoother operations

More income

Prosperous business

Consistent Taste

1. Reduced Costs

Making an allowance for a central kitchen, they costs condense the expenditure to a high extent because a typical retail outlet, fast-casual, restaurant, or cloud kitchen must invest an enormous amount in the marketing of the restaurant to lure the customers. There is a peaked level of competition in the food & beverage industry due to which the operational and other costs may get upbeat.

However, in a central kitchen, there are the slightest operational and staff-related costs because a central kitchen only claims for the chefs and only one watchman, if it is under surveillance 24/7. A central kitchen setup only has to swallow the costs interconnected with upholding hygiene and freshness of the food items at hand at the premises.

2. Smoother Operations

The number of departments in a central kitchen is lesser as compared to some other entities in the food & beverage industry. It manufactures the components of food items as per the magnitude expected or forecasted. It either goes to storage or to the restaurant for which the central kitchen setup has created it. The managers plan and instruct food preparation appropriately. Then the packages set off to the transportation vehicle for reaching the destination.

3. Increased Revenue

A central kitchen can avail you more income with hassle-free operations. It entails a reduced amount of physical effort and impediments but a rigorous mental endeavour. The top managers must be at their best to make sure the middle and lower management execute their duties promptly. There is a lot reliant on the timely deliverance of the food items because of concerns like change of taste with time. It depends on the order of the central kitchen setup to select whether to provide storage facilities, prepare components of food items, or prepare inclusive food items depending upon the potential of management.

You may embark on the food & beverage industry with a central kitchen for chain outlets by determining any one of its functions and then inflate the business operations later on, once you have established business tie-ups with legal contracts for a considerable period of time. For instance, if you have a central kitchen setup with storage facilities, you don’t have to put much operational effort and it can painlessly fetch you more proceeds. 

4. Prosperous Business

Overall business operations can take the track of affluence, if all the managers and staff members accomplish their responsibilities well. A famous proverb says ‘Well Begun is Half Done’. Therefore, make no negotiation in investing your time and effort in fabricating and launching the business plan. DNY Hospitality works for you with complete perseverance because we comprehend the significance of a magnificent start for a central kitchen setup.

The value of making a great commencement is noticeably discernible in the profits of the first quarter. Our specialization in equipment selection, food technology, space utilisation, and recipe formulation is apparent in the projects we have done so far by incorporating excellence in each one of them.

5. Consistent Taste

Most of the time, many restaurant owners may establish a central kitchen setup for manufacturing an end-to-end product. This is a step towards branding. McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, and other international brands manufacture their products entirely in their in-house operations and therefore they can serve a distinctive taste for which the world is crazy. It requires multiple attempts for recipe development and menu designing. Our team of experts stands by the clients until we build up the taste that they want.

6. Central Kitchen Layout

The layout of the central kitchen setup depends on the workflow pattern that initiates from receiving the raw material, breaking them down, producing them, and then putting them to storage and sending them to their respective destinations. The central kitchen may have one of the functions added or subtracted. The layout may need a place for specialised ovens, steamers, rotisserie, etc; according to the food or food components to manufacture.

The layout is unsurpassed when it has the competence to adjust in proportion to the changing volume and needs of production. The demand for the products may be more during occasions or particular seasons. One uncomplicated step to make the entire area of the central kitchen setup functional at all times of the year is to create bigger sections for variable sizes of equipment and storage facilities. This way; two undersized sections of equipment or one big one can fiddle with at one place.

Terms of Use

The central kitchen setup is for other restaurants, corporate offices, universities, colleges, restaurants, hotels, fast-casual restaurants, cloud kitchens, retail outlets, etc. The idea is to distribute food products to other entities and not individuals. A central kitchen for large-scale production acts as backend support for other entities dealing in the food & beverage industry.

How can DNY Hospitality Help in Central Kitchen Setup?

We have been serving and industry for more than a decade and you can count on us while establishing your central kitchen setup with the following empowered areas of services.

1- Brand Positioning Ideation and Concept

2 - Kitchen planning

3 - Menu planning & recipe standardisation

4 - SOP’s & Training

5 - Procurement & Liaison

6 - Culinary training & Management

1. Brand Ideation & Concept

You are welcome with an idea of your central kitchen setup to our team and we make sure to define the core identity and endow you with a apposite name to the brand for recognition to create the persona of the brand with vision, uniqueness, and values of the brand. We will make your brand appear loyal, credible, recognisable, and consistent. We extend our services for designing brand logos, signage boards, designing, packaging & uniforms, and overall presentation of the company.

2. Kitchen Planning

Kitchen planning is one more segment of a dedicated service by our ingenious team. It is the most multifaceted step because we pledge optimum space utilisation, training for multi-use of kitchen equipment, right drainage, and storage planning, diverse sizes of kitchen equipment, planning exhaust and fresh air system, the accurate choice of coolants for effective storage, making the kitchen suitable for cooking, etc. In the same direction, we offer numerous layout designs for commercial central kitchen setup. Some of the layout designs are allied to storage, electrical, technical, plumbing, civil, exhaust, etc.

3. Menu Planning and Recipe Standardisation

Menu planning has a straight association with the restaurants for which the central kitchen setup will prepare the food items or components. We help you with creating menu items, recipe development, costing evaluations, guidelines to recipe standardisation and everything that keeps the consistency SOP’s going.

4. SOP and Trainings

SOP’s are standards of procedures present in every industry entailing food & beverage. We provide you training in 15 vital restaurant standards of procedures for swift operations in your central kitchen setup. We cover SOPs related to hygiene & safety, food production, storage, inventory, cash handling, wastage control, etc.

5. Procurement & Liaison

We are committed to becoming a one-stop solution for our valuable clients by helping them to procure & liaison whatever they demand in carrying out their operations. We have already established business tie-ups with all kinds and categories of vendors for Restaurant & Hotel supplies. Our association will make the supply chain management of your central kitchen setup far easier without any quality concerns. We may help you with procurement related to the kitchen equipment, food packaging, staff hiring, raw material, staff uniform, fire safety, cutlery & crockery, etc. 

6. Culinary Training & Management

Culinary training & Management is one of our standardised services that cover menu planning, culinary training with all the required steps. Your central kitchen setup will have standardised recipes, multiple food trials, training of your kitchen teams, industry-wise cutting and chopping, feedback analysis, etc. Our proactive measures in correspondence with industry standards will keep you flabbergasted.

Conclusion

The design of the kitchen captures the most attention of our creative heads while taking a project of central kitchen setup. We are affluent in experience and can help you with our business tie-ups to procure the. A central kitchen is an ambitious project that claims your time, money, and moreover your endeavour on precedence. Allow us to make the most of what you plan and evade taking a risk by utilising the best of our services because there is a gigantic risk on financial and poignant investment if anything goes off the track.