Definition and Types of Equipment

Definition and Types of Equipment

Food service equipment may be defined as all tools, utensils, crockery and cutlery necessary for the preparation, cooking, holding, serving of food and washing.

Equipment should be designed, constructed and finished that it can be easily cleaned, disinfected safely without any specific tools.

1.  Types of Equipment

Equipment may be divided into three cat-egories based on their size.

·        Large equipment – Range, steamers, boiling pans, refrigerators

·        Mechanical equipment – Peelers, pin-cers, mixers, refrigerators

·        Small equipment – Utensils, pots, pans, bowls, spoons

Based on the mode of operation there are 3 types namely, 

1.     Hand Operated

2.     Semi-automatic

3.     Fully automatic

1. Hand Operated – It consists of mechan-ical pieces such as beaters or whisks, hand slicers which require greater effort to use than the semi-automatic types.

2. Semi-Automatic – This kind of equip-ment requires electric energy but need to be monitored carefully. These include mixers, electric whisks, fryers etc.

3. Fully Automatic – These include sophisticated equipment with thermo-static controls and timers which can be adjusted to require time and temperature.

Semi-automatic and fully auto-matic types are motorized and therefore require less attention and effort to operate. Whatever may be the method of classify-ing equipment it is important to remem-ber that every food service establishment will have different needs in terms of size, workers and types of equipment required.

A number of multi-use equipment are also available and used in food preparation and service.

Based on the purpose the food service equipment is classified as given below:

1.     Receiving and measuring equipment Eg: Trolley and weighing scale.

2.     Storage equipment Eg: Refrigerator, freezer, racks and shelves.

3.     Pre-Preparation equipment Eg: Dough making machine, mixer/grinder.

4.     Production equipment Eg: Range, Steamers and Boilers.

5.     Holding and serving equipment Eg: Bain-marie, chafing dish, hot cases.

6.     Washing equipment Eg: Sink, dish washer.

7.     Garbage equipment: Eg: Garbage bins, incinerator.

2. Food Service Equipment

Different types of equipment used in dif-ferent food service areas.

General points to be considered while purchasing equipment: – A thorough knowledge on the equipment is required for this task and can be purchased based on

·        Menu

·        Price

·        Flexibility

·        Purpose for which it is used

·        Type of service offered

·        Design and attractiveness

·        Spare parts available for replacement

·        Ease of maintenance

·        Safety and space availability

·        Source of supply

These basic factors help for smart selection of equipment. In simple words selecting equipment should be based on capacity, good quality, simple design ease of cleaning and budget availability.

The work areas are essential to per-form various activities in food service oper-ation. The flow chart (Figure 4.1) shows the work areas in food service outlets.

The equipment commonly needed for the work areas determine the success of food service operation.