When opening and stocking a restaurant, one of your initial investments will have to be in flatware. High quality flatware is well-worth the cost upfront, because it’s going to be used constantly and you aren’t going to want to be replacing it frequently. With that idea in mind, we’ve put together a list of practical tips to extend the life of your commercial flatware.
Understanding what stainless is helps you to properly maintain it. It’s steel combined with Chromium and Nickel. That might not sound like such a drastic idea, but it changes the composition of the steel, right down to the atomic level, and causes it to create a protective film. This protective film is what makes stainless so long lasting and such a good investment. It’s not impervious to erosion, however. Hard water, high chloride levels in detergents and long-term exposure to food particles will eventually break it down and erode it, hence the need for proper maintenance.
First of all, using portable racks in your bus-trays to help keep your flatware separate lowers the incidence of accidentally tossing out the flatware as plates are scraped or having flatware fall into mysterious and highly inaccessible areas of your dishwasher because it was, again accidentally, run through on the wrong rack.
Next, all the left-over food needs to be scraped from your flatware before presoaking. Many hectic kitchens will try to avoid this step with the presoak, but that doesn’t create the necessary impact to remove some thicker and stickier foods. After scrap removal, presoak immediately for at least 10 minutes. Use a good presoaking agent placed in a plastic or stainless steel container. (Aluminum or copper containers will react poorly with your solution.) Some presoaking solutions specifically advertise that presoaking in their product for 20 minutes is desirable, but independent sources say that soaking for more than 15 minutes can be harmful to your flatware, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Now it’s time for the dishwasher. Quality commercial dishwashers ensure that the timing and temperature for cleaning your flatware are spot-on. Flatware needs higher temperatures and should be washed at a temperature of at least 135F and rinsed at 180F for proper sanitation. As mentioned earlier, hard water quickens the erosion of your flatware, so if you have hard water in your area, you’ll need a water softener in your dishwasher.
The sooner you dry your flatware, the less likely you are to have spotting and erosion. Flatware should never be stored wet. Specifically designed flatware holders and racks help keep your flatware safely separate, because tangled masses in a drawer are another way of losing flatware to accidental damage. If it’s possible, storing a piece of chalk with your flatware helps prevent corrosion, because naturally absorbs moisture
Good luck with your flatware purchase! We hope your guests are using it for a very long time.
