# equiping a new banquet kitchen



## moxiefan (Jan 31, 2002)

Hello --

I have to oportunity to build and equip a new kitchen. The kitchen will service parties of 300 or so, plated. I need to generate a wishlist of equipment, which will doubtlessly be negociated down based on price and space restraints. I think I've got a fair idea of what I'd like for standard stuff: convection ovens, steamers, fryers, grill, range, tilt skillet, hot boxes and I'll really push for a second walk-in for storage of speedracks distinct from the storage of received whole products. That said, I think there's products out there that I haven't even heard of yet. Has anyone worked, for example, anywhere where food is plated cold, racked and heated for service on the plate? How did it work? What equipment did you use? Does anyone have any suggestions for stuff they've found invaluable beyond the basics? conveyor belts? Combi 0vens? (I've personally never seen one that worked) Broasters? Thoughts?

cheers,
P


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

The piece of magic you're looking for is called a Rational combi oven. You can push in a rack of dressed plates, press a button, and 10 minutes later pull out the rack of perfectly heated dinners. You will pay for this technology, but the benifits are enormous--the oven is multi-purpose, not a dedicated fancy hot-box, and with sit-downs of around 300, you could pay off the oven inless than a year. Conveyor belts are a nice compliment to any high-volume place, combi-ovens or not.

Check out the local factory rep for Rational, get him/her to show you a similar institution where the oven/system is in use, they also have some very nice training videos. I repeat, these ovens are expensive, but the benefits far outweigh the price.


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## lum0 (Jun 26, 2008)

I can only agree with the other comment. The Rational combi ovens are a must for increased speed in preparation and pefect finishing. They have a handbook espically for this kind of stuff on the website.


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## bob vaningan (Jul 2, 2013)

I am designing a banquet kitchen that will seat 1,000-1,200 people.

I am working on ideas for a Navy ship Galley style kitchen. The Navy kitchens feed 5,000 people 3 meals a day.


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

You probably don't have the staff to fully exploit a rolling line. Combined ovens will allow cold plate prep with less people. Just make sure there is enough capacity. Banquet and massive steam tables seem to go hand-in-hand.


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

I've worked in/visited a few banquet kitchens from hotel to college environments. The common theme is workspace. Just keep in mind that all those equipments are no help if there is no assembly areas. Is your banquet running food stacked on speed racks or rollers/cambros, or walking plates to table? If it is a walk-everything arrangement, be sure there is enough space to assemble at least half if not all of the window. Make sure servers are not bumping your line to pickup. That would make sense, but I've been in a kitchen where plate assembly was mid-kitchen, between two hot lines, with asses bumping cooks on the turn. Not good.


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