Reopening Your Kitchen After Lockdown

Very few professional kitchens are shut down for longer than a few days in normal times – but these times are far from being normal.

This means that as the country begins to reopen, many kitchen professionals will be reopening kitchens after an extended period of closure for the first time in their careers.

Below we outline a few of the essential checks and practices that we advise customers who use our kitchens and kitchen equipment follow if they are opening up after a long period of downtime:

Water Supply / Water-using Appliances

Turn on water supply and check for any leaks
Open all hot and cold water taps to flush through any standing water for several minutes
If any appliance has a water tap or spray gun, turn on to flush water through the system
Run dishwashers/glasswashers through a minimum of 3 fill, run and empty cycles to flush water through the system – we recommend 5 to be sure
Flush water softeners and filters
Run combi ovens on steam cycle for approx. 30 mins

Gas Supply / Gas-using Appliances

Gas supply – IF YOU SMELL GAS, IMMEDIATELY ISOLATE THE GAS SUPPLY AND VACATE THE PREMISES. Call your tech support line or gas supplier
Turn on gas supply/gas bottles – Make sure LPG bottles are not empty
Turn on extraction system
Light gas equipment and test all functions. Combi ovens may require resetting a few times whilst the gas is pulled through the system

Refrigeration

Deep clean all refrigeration units before turning on
Turn on and let the appliance come down to the correct temperature before loading.
Don’t load a freezer completely with non-frozen items: it will cause the unit to ice up making it less efficient

Electrical items

Clean all appliances using manufacturers’ guidance for new appliances e.g. season griddles
Turn appliances on low power to warm up, after approx. ½ hr turn onto max for a further ½ hr. Item is then ready for use.

Opening after a long shutdown should be a methodical and straightforward process. Simple things like heating up appliances slowly, turning on the extraction and deep cleaning your premises can help to avoid major issues.

Take each of the steps outlined above and contact the relevant group if you run into any problems – especially if the problems involved gas, electricity or water supplies.