# building a commercial kitchen from scratch for our restaurant



## aygen

Hello everyone. I am writing from state of Maryland.

Recently me and my partner have decided to open a Mediterranean restaurant. We are both originally from Turkey. My partner has experience in pizza, pasta and sub business as a cook but he has never owned a restaurant business before.

We will be serving  pizza, kebabs, pasta, subs, hummus, falafel...We have found a space for 2100 sqft in a shopping strip. Seating capacity will be around 60-64 people. Full service restaurant as well as delivery, carry out ...

We have not signed the contract yet. This week or next week we are planning to sign it. It will be 3 years plus 3 years optional.

However, before we go ahead I just wanted to double check our numbers with you guys who has much more real life experience in this than us. 

Kitchen will be around 700 sqft. 

These estimates are just for the kitchen and does not include the equipment such as walking cooler, freezer, ovens, friers, grill...

1500 lb Grease Trap (including labor) - $10.000

14' Hood including installation - $10.000

Plumbing / water lines (including labor) - $5.000

Fire suppression system (labor and material) - $5.000

Electricity (labor and material) - $5.000

Floors and walls (labor in it) - $5.000

What do you think; am I missing anything or underestimating any cost? I do not want get caught off guard after we sign the lease.

Below is a draft copy of the design. We will be building the yellow highlighted walls.

Thank you for any kind of input.

Larry


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## chefwriter

I have never heard of a grease trap costing as much as a hood system. What kind of grease trap is it? Why do you need one that costs so much?


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## aygen

Hello. 500 lb grease traps are running around at $4.500. Plus the labor. They will dig the ground and connecting the pipes I assume.....Not sure but I was told would cost around $8.000 - $12.000


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## chefwriter

My family owned a 40 seat place  The grease trap was a relatively small box,  hooked up to the waste water from the dishwasher and a couple of sinks and sat under the dishwasher on the floor. They cost around $1000-1500 with installation.  I cleaned it out every two months by unlatching the top. The new ones are heavy duty plastic that won't rot. The older model metal ones would get eaten by the corrosive greasy water and have to be replaced every 7 years or so. 

I understand that a larger one will not have to be cleaned out as often but is there a building or health code that says what size you have to have?  500 lb seems quite large and a buried one will be difficult to clean out or replace.


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## foodpump

All depends on the municipality codes. A simple surface mount 55 gallon one cost me 2 grand, and another 2 grand to install, this was in a brand new building. Local codes here state 55 gallon is the minimum size, even if I'm roasting weenies and grilled cheese sandwiches. If I wanted a submerged one--suspended from the floor slab it would be extra. It all depends on what the local municipality wants. For the first 4 years I was cleaning out the trap myself, then I got a wink from the health inspector telling me I _should_ get a licensed guy to do it, because city sewer&water boys will be coming around very soon looking for invoices and inspection stickers.

Aygen:

The floor plans look very good and a lot of thought and planning went into them.

If your place is a'la carte, I would move the d/washer up front, so the servers don't have to walk through the entire kitchen to drop off dirty plates.

The kitchen won't need heating, but what about a/c for the kitchen and heating and a/c for the dining room?

The drawing shows the walk-in with a top mounted compressor, and you have a lot of individual refrigeration equipment in the kitchen. This will really crank up the heat (and noise) in the kitchen, particularily in the summer.

Can you:

-Get a remote compressor for the walk-in (located outside of the kitchen)?

-Get remote compressors for the freezers and refrigerated prep tables?

-Move the ice machine and soda fountain to the dining room--drawings don't show a server's station, this would be the place for the soda fountain and coffee, and bottled beverages.

What does the landlord--actually the landlord's insurance co., say about the hood and ventilation? Some guys want self-cleaning hoods which are much more expensive.

Regards

Foodpump


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## aygen

Regarding to the grease trap: I just checked the code again. It says seating capacity between 25 - 150 requires 1500 gallons. I assume this will be a concrete one in this case. So $10.000 sounds reasonable.

We already have an AC installed for the space. Not sure it will be enough though. Do you think we will need a different AC system then we already have? 
 

About the remote compressor, we will definitely look into this. Thanks for the tips.

Yes we can move the dishroom, walkin ...around since this is just a draft design copy.

Yes I think we can move the beverage station inside and get some extra space too in the kitchen.


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## foodpump

AC may or may not be sufficient.  If the space was, say an office before, and has a 3 ton unit, it might not be enough to handle a room full of guests plus the heat generated by refrigeration.  Things like south facing windows, halogen lighting, and items like cappucino machines all have to factored in.  This is best done by a HVAC guy.

What I like to do with kitchens is to draw out the basics (walls, existing plumbing, windows etc.) to scale on a piece of paper.  Then I make myself some "furniture"--equipment drawn to scale (fryers, fridges, etc) on paper and cut them out, remember to include the dimensions of any doors that open. Then it's just a matter of shifting around the pieces and seeing what fits best.

For instance, if you moved your office to where your walk-in was and the walk-in to where your office was, you wouldn't need the 2 door fridge--You just need to install a reach-in door into one wall of the walk-in, and keep the main door of the walk-in opening out to the aisle of the kitchen.

By shifting around the pieces on the paper you can make thousands of "changes" very quickly and easily.


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## tjsbeer

Hoods are running about $100/ft 

I agree with checking your A/C capacity. 
Surprisingly, many A/C professionals don't understand the load restaurants require. 
Make sure they know about air balancing with regards to the negative air pressure caused by your hood system.


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## petemccracken

Are you sure you didn't misplace the decimal? In my area it is closer to $1,000/running foot. That includes the hood and fans. ANSUL is extra.


TJsBeer said:


> Hoods are running about $100/ft...


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## aygen

PeteMcCracken said:


> Are you sure you didn't misplace the decimal? In my area it is closer to $1,000/running foot. That includes the hood and fans. ANSUL is extra.


$800-$1000/foot including labor and the equipment except fire suppression system sounds right. LA


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## fooskey

I live in Maryland and just had two 8 foot hoods shipped down to Georgia for a project. They are complete, including two fans. Paid less than $3500, including shipping. Installation took three guys less than four hours. I think rules of thumb are a horrible way to estimate, especially something like this as there are different points in length where you can go additional feet for almost nothing, and then you suddenly hit lengths where the price jumps. This was also a new build, so I am not sure how much you were building in for other potential issues in a retrofit.





  








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fooskey


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Feb 25, 2013


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## arugula

There's a company in the states that makes hoods. The name is failing me right now. But you can probably find them threw google. And they estimated me $2400 for a 9 foot hood. Fire suppression should only land you around $2000 installed. After all said and done $6000 should get you a 10 foot hood installed with suppression. 

I also didn't see you mention a hot water booster. Something to look into maybe for your dishwasher?


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## foodpump

Ahh, you guys!

A hood is just a hunk of s/s with a plenum.

The shaft is where the money gets spent.  Most municipalities want a mech. engineer's stamp on the drawings for the shaft before any permits are issued.  Calculations for how much air is removed and how much make up is returned, and how it is cooled.  If the shaft is only 4 feet long and goes through one cinderblock wall and exhausts in the back lane, it's a inexpensive and easy job.

If the shaft goes through a "flammable wall", (wood construction) goes up 16-20 vertical feet and makes a left turn and goes another 12 feet, it's gonna cost a lot more.  A lot depends on the local fire code.  If the shaft goes through a poured cement wall, or god forbid, a load bearing wall, you will need structural engineer's reports, then you will need to scan the wall with x-rays before you can drill for the shaft.

Hanging a s/s box with all-thread from the ceiling is easy, all the money is spent on the shaft............


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## kuan

You need a dish rack for the dish area.

I would set up the kitchen for one person operation since it's so small, but because it's so small it seems doable for one person.  But there's no harm in setting it up better so one person can manage everything.


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## aygen

OK. I just wanted to let you guys know what we decided and this might help other people. The plumber asked about $20.000 for grease trap (1500 lb), pipes, gas lines ....and the electrician asked for $15.000 for the project. We figured these were more than we were expecting. $35,000 for plumbing and electricity. We decided not to convert an empty space into a full service restaurant. Too expensive and not feasible.


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## tjsbeer

PeteMcCracken said:


> Are you sure you didn't misplace the decimal? In my area it is closer to $1,000/running foot. That includes the hood and fans. ANSUL is extra.


Oops, yep, that's supposed to be $1000/ft.
Thanks Pete


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## meezenplaz

Plumbing maybe..... but that seems high to me on electrical, based on what we've done,

even though some codes (though more with plumbing) have become a bit stricter and

more $$$. Presumably  you shopped around a bit....


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## mustafa

Hi, 

Me and my friend are also planning to open a restaurant but in VA, Harrisonburg

Your post is from 2013 so I am assuming that you already had your restaurant up and running

I am still looking for companies which will help build the commercial kitchen, 

Can you please let me know what is the best contractor that helped you with the commercial kitchen installation

thank you

Mustafa


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## mustafa

Guys, can you please send me names of companies for hood installation (or kitchen installation) in va


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## someday

That information might not be available on ChefTalk. You might try a straight up google search or asking around local businesses. You are asking a very narrow question.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=commercial+restaurant+hood+installation+Virginia


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## amyssammies

Hello,

I know this post this old. @ Mustapha, did you get an answer to your question yet?


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