As with any kitchen equipment, buying a dishmachine is more than a solitary choice- it actually involves several decisions.  Each of those decisions can either facilitate or encumber your business.

For example, a new restaurant with a bar finds on opening night that their dishmachine (which can only do 45 racks/hour) can’t keep up with the demand. That’s a BAD way to be- probably should’ve done their homework first.

To keep something like that from happening to your business, how would you know which dishmachine is right for your restaurant?

First, find out how much customer traffic you can expect. You can research public records, evaluating demographic business data- altogether a pretty good idea… but be sure to also physically go “next door” and talk to other restaurant owners in the area. Yeah, you read that right… just ask- it really is that simple.

Ridiculous?  Not really. Something you need to keep in mind is that not ALL restaurants are necessarily in competition with each other, as each business has something unique to offer.

BK vs. McD’s- we could totally understand… not much difference between their menus (besides the “tasty fries”).  However, notice that both are usually on the same city block- in any given city- and neither of them are suffering a loss. Coincidence?  Not likely. They both did their research and found that area to be ideal for their business- just some food for thought.

Being familiar with your rate of business, you need to choose kitchen equipment (in this case, your dishmachine) that can handle your customer demand. For that, we should get ourselves knowledgeable of some characteristics and types of dishmachines. One common mistake restaurant owners also make is that they try to fit their “dish pit” into an entirely too small of a space. Make sure to have enough room for your soiled dishtable, as well as your clean dishtable, while leaving space for your employees to work.

The first thing to consider is the dishmachine’s load time and/or the rate at which it can clean dishes. Load time is simply how long it takes to clean and sanitize through one full cycle of one load, or rack of dishes- particularly with door-type and undercounter dishmachines.

Bear in mind that one cycle, in some larger models, may consist of the rack actually passing through a series of chambers of the machine specialized for each stage of the cycle. In this case, each load does not have to wait a full cycle before beginning the cleaning process of the next- hence, the rate in terms of racks/hour.

In peg-type or flight-type dishmachines, dishes are loaded onto a belt that runs through the entire machine. These machines are designed for extremely high volume, and have a capacity to cycle well over eighteen thousand (18,000) dishes per hour. These machines usually need a person on each end in order to operate it.

Flight-type dishmachines can be customized, in that sections can be added, but it is recommended to work with a sales representative to help with sizing and configuration. Flight-type dishmachines also come with several safety features, to include a “kill switch” that stops the entire machine if dishes are not removed from the clean end- so they’re not falling onto the floor and breaking.

The most versatile dishmachines (and some of the hardest working) are the conveyor dishmachines, and they move dish racks from left to right, or right to left (left feed or right feed, respectively) through three to four chambers. Conveyor dishmachines, too, can be customized to your restaurant’s needs by adding sections.

Because of their massive productivity, they may not be the best choice for small restaurants, but in large commercial kitchens and cafeterias, they are revered as God-sent.

Door-type dishmachines are simpler, smaller, and moreover manually operated. Typically, they are single-load and pass-through, but there are corner types available as well. Door-type dishmachines typically use higher volumes of water over the ware, and cycle times are shorter (about 1 minute), but also usually do only one rack at a time.

Undercounter dishmachines can be free-standing or built into a counter, and are best used for smaller businesses- like a corner diner that seats fifty or less. The cycle time for undercounter dishmachines is around two to three minutes, or about twenty to thirty racks/hour.

Undercounter dishmachines and door-type dishmachines are both loaded and unloaded manually, so when figuring your washing capacity for that machine, be sure add that in as well.

Now that we’re more aware of what types of dishmachines are available to you, and what each can handle, you can better match your business needs to the appropriate machine. Be sure to look into optional features for your dishmachine that may allow a smaller or less expensive model to accommodate your needs just as well as a larger one.

You might not want to go overboard with your choice of dishmachine, but you want to be sure it can handle your business volume.