Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late!

How using your eyes, ears and nose can help reduce the
service cost of your foodservice equipment service

By Matthew Beaton – Associate Brand Manager

Everyone who works in the foodservice industry knows that one bad experience can ruin hard-won customer loyalty. The food equipment service repair industry is no different. All too often we face situations where customers are disappointed by the size, complexity, and cost of their repair, and while these situations will never completely disappear, many can be avoided.

If you work in a commercial kitchen your eyes, ears and nose not only help with food preparation, but they can be a money saver too!

Calling for service quickly when you notice any of the following is the trick to cost savings.

• Noises – squeaking, popping, clicking, screeching, buzzing, anything that just doesn’t sound right or is a new noise.
• Smells – burning, chemical or metallic, basically anything that doesn’t smell like food!
• Time – pay attention to time, if things are taking longer to cook or cool then something is not as it should be.
• Errors and resets – equipment with electronics may need to be reset from time to time but if this has become a frequent occurrence then this is a sign of a bigger issue.

Don’t Ignore Your Foodservice Equipment Issues

These all may appear to be obvious but in a busy kitchen we understand how tempting it is just to keep going when you have customers to serve. Some of our recent experiences are great examples of how small issues can escalate into major headaches.

Issue – My microwave sounds angry! – Conclusion, build up in the microwave caused the unit to start to cook itself which damaged the cavity and magnetron. Result – Unit not worth fixing, client has an invoice but not a working microwave. Unhappy client!

Issue – My walk-in sounds loud – Conclusion, bearings in the fan are worn so the fan is not turning properly, these stresses damage the compressor. Result – Big bill and an unhappy client.

Issue – My steamer takes too long to cook or is not producing enough steam – Conclusion – Excessive lime scale build up in the boiler due to lack of routine maintenance and descaling. Result – High labor bill to chisel out scale build up; some cases result in boiler replacement.

The key words here are ‘unhappy client,’ because unhappy clients are a thing, we collectively work hard to avoid in our industry. It is no secret that post Covid capacity in the food equipment service repair industry is stretched, but by working together we can avoid many of these big issues and save time and money, everyone’s a winner!

Get Food Equipment Service with General Parts Group

If you think you have an equipment issue, or are interested in a Planned Maintenance agreement or if you simply need advice about your food equipment, refrigeration, ware washing, or HVAC please reach out to your nearest General Parts Group at (888) 498-1238. To learn more about our locations please visit, https://generalparts.com/locations/