10 Restaurant Supplies to Stock Up on for the New Year
With the new year underway, it's time to take stock of your the restaurant supplies you have on-hand. What did you run out of too quickly from the previous year? What did you buy too much of? Take this time to assess your inventory and buy new items for your restaurant for the coming year.
From food labels to smallwares, here is a list of supplies your kitchen needs for 2020.
Food Rotation Labels
Food rotation labels are a must for an organized kitchen. They will help your staff stay organized and avoid serving expired food.
When choosing your labels, you should keep the label material in mind. Choosing the best label material for your needs can help you avoid sticky residue or ensure they survive the freezer. If you’re not sure what type of label you need, check out our handy label quick chart:
Stock Labels
Restaurant supplies would be incomplete without stock labels. Choose between several different label categories to help you in your kitchen. These labels are great for labeling deli items and reminding workers which may contain allergens. They can also be used to show special requirements from customer orders – things like no pickles, extra cheese, or add ranch.
An often-overlooked form of stock labels is tamper-evident labels. Tamper-evident labeling, like Dot It’s SecureIt™ line, is a perfect solution for safe food delivery.
Label Accessories
Labels are a simple restaurant requirement, but you can dress them up to do exactly what you need. We recommend 2 accessories specifically: label dispensers and automated labeling kits.
Label dispensers help keep all your food rotation labels organized. Whether your original dispenser is old and greasy, or you don't have one at all, a new dispenser is a must. Organized and dispensable labels will help establish a great kitchen flow for the new year.
Automated label machines, such as the Date Code Genie, can help you start the year off by saving both time and money. The Date Code Genie is specifically designed to print food rotation labels, producing smudge-proof labels that can be applied instantly. See how much you could save with automated labeling using our calculator.
First Aid
While technically not restaurant supplies, per se, first aid kits are important. Are you ANSI and OSHA compliant? These guidelines can be tough to understand and maintain. Purchasing a new restaurant First Aid kit can make it easy to stay in compliance for the whole year. A program like SmartCompliance is also helpful if you find yourself forgetting to buy new Band-Aids or products when they run out.
Don’t forget that these first aid regulators also require specialty items, like burn and eye kits. A good, comprehensive first aid kit can keep you in compliance and help all restaurant operations when it comes to emergencies.
FIFO
FIFO bottles and accessories are one of those things you forget about until you need them. Caps can get old and stop working. Bottles can get beaten up with continual use. That means you may need to order some new FIFO materials for the new year.
If you’re not using FIFO, you should consider it. They minimize food waste and time spent rotating condiments. Streamlining back-of-house operations with smallwares like FIFO materials can save you time and money.
Portion Bags and Pan Liners
Portion bags help to measure food portions in your kitchen. This eliminates food waste and making sure you use the right amount of ingredients in each dish. The use of portion bags can keep your annual costs down for 2020.
Pan liners can be often overlooked in commercial kitchens. However, they are a great asset. They help immensely with cleanup, saving your crew time and energy. They can also be beneficial for food storage and intra-kitchen transportation.
Smallwares
This is the stuff that most often comes to mind when you think “restaurant supplies”. Gloves, utensils, timers, thermometers, and containers are all items that no kitchen can function without. Make sure you always have plenty of smallwares in your commercial kitchen. Spend time now taking inventory of your current smallwares, so you can order what you need all together and save on shipping.
Food Safety Training
A restaurant can lose its reputation quickly in a case dealing with contaminated food. Avoid those situations by keeping yor staff up to date on food safety training. Programs like Always Food Safe can track the progress of your staff as they learn the ins and outs of handling food properly in a commercial kitchen.
Packaging
With both Grab-and-Go and food delivery on the rise, it is essential to have plenty of premium packaging at your disposal. Carry-out or delivery customers don’t get to see your food plated, so the impression they get is based on the packaging.
You definitely don’t want their first impression to be food half-eaten by their delivery driver. That’s why tamper-evident labeling is so important. You don’t want your customers to get their food in grease-soaked packaging, either. This means you need to think about liners to absorb excess greasy and wick moisture.
Presenting portable food options in a nice way is essential. Bonus points if the packaging is compostable, as a big trend of the restaurant industry is green thinking and environmentalism.
Signage
Signage is not a typical form of restaurant supplies that comes to mind, but it’s important, nonetheless. Good restaurant print items can elevate your marketing efforts to new levels. Revamp your restaurant signage for 2020 to draw attention from hungry customers. Don’t forget that signage opportunities involve front and back-of-house print items, as well as outdoor banners and local marketing materials.
Dot It is a restaurant fulfillment company specializing holistic restaurant needs. Let us help make sure your restaurant marketing campaigns are a success! Shop now for all your smallware needs.
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