# Ceiling height



## coregonus (Aug 10, 2007)

Hey everybody! Desperate for professional advice!

Switching back to catering. Plan to build own hot/cold prep kitchen, small production. Found nice space. Basement - low ceiling. For hot line, a la carte, would definitely not work but what are my chances in that business? Would that be a problem lately? Smell, stain, condensation, overheating, anything else I should expect and be affraid of?

Option is to dig couple of feet towards Australia (hits construction cost badly).

Thank you ahead!

C


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

are you asking if we have experience with CATERING out of basements? or working out of basement kitchens....
I have been around basement kitchens enough to know not to willing go there....flooding, sewers backing up/sewer pipes leaking, no windows, schlepping up and down stairs....(ok my kitchen is on the 3rd floor so stairs/schlepping are apart of life)..... I've just seen buddies who've had prep kitchens in basements for their restaurants (one I was in alot) and it was undesirable.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Low cielings are one thing, from a cheapo's point of view they're great: less money to pay for heating and airconditioning! Unfortuneatly that's the only thing they have going for them. Access is your biggest worry. for goods coming in and goods going out. If there's an elevator, that's so-so, because you have to share it with whoever presses the button on the other floor. Ventilation is another worry, as it will be more costly to run the intake and outake shafts through walls and floors.


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## coregonus (Aug 10, 2007)

OK, we'd better call it cellar. It's inside historic building. There are 6 windows, two 10-steps-down entrances for deliveries along with entrance from lobby (no elevator needed). There is also an old chimney going straight to the top, no sewer pipes close by, gas, plumbing, vents, restrooms in separated areas. I called it basement with only thing in my mind - there is nothing below that!

All I worry about (put aside things that obvious for CATERERS) is possible sanitary complications (mold, absorbed smell) from general use (cooking), not the toilets (got it covered) :smoking:

BTW, if you'll take a look at most successive NYC kitchens (Restaurant, Hotel or Mansion) - lots of them are below street level. They sure don't look like bomb shelters! I've been to crappy ones but never stayed.

Thank you for help anyway! Foodpump, I appreciated your hint on savings!

C


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Hire short cooks


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