Neha James
Getting your preventive maintenance program up and fine-tuned is an excellent way to improve both your restaurant’s efficiency and boost customer satisfaction.
The advantage of using maintenance management software is that there is really no limit to the applications that exist. For example, if your restaurant has an indoor play area for children, cleaning, inspecting and maintaining that area for safety can be included. If you run a drive-thru window, you may have additional preventive maintenance tasks for the outdoor ordering or payment kiosks. Outdoor patio areas may require additional maintenance tasks during the warmer seasons. Exterior building maintenance, parking lots, landscaping, and all those other areas that require attention can be incorporated into a central system.
Your restaurant’s back-of-house crew uses dozens of food preparation appliances each day. Keep your fryers, ovens, microwaves, grills, and ice cream machines operating reliably with a good preventive maintenance routine. Having a good preventive maintenance strategy is beneficial to keep reactive maintenance at a minimum and your back-of-house crew is part of the team that makes that happen.
Start by inputting recommended maintenance, inspection and cleaning tasks listed in the operating manuals of your equipment into your maintenance software. Your system can then automatically schedule tasks on a regular basis so important maintenance items are not forgotten. It is important to then remind and teach your back of house crew the importance of tasks that they do for preventive maintenance.
When an ordering kiosk or a point-of-sale computer fails, you’ll want it repaired as soon as possible. Consider using your computerized maintenance management system software to track issues that come up with your customer-facing technology. This will allow you to determine preventive maintenance tasks that can mitigate future issues. At the very least, you’ll have an accurate record of the time, labor and costs associated with repairing these technologies. This data can help you determine when to upgrade systems.
Sensor technology has advanced in performance and dropped in price, making it an excellent investment for restaurants. For example, a temperature sensor can be used on both freezer and refrigeration equipment, constantly monitoring these assets to ensure that food products are safe. As soon as one of these key assets falls out of the acceptable temperature range, an alert can be sent to your computerized maintenance management system software. This allows you to address the critical maintenance item immediately.
No longer will you need to rely on an observant employee wondering if the refrigerator feels too warm or discard large quantities of spoiled ingredients. Reduce or eliminate the risk of sickening your customers or failing to pass health department inspections. All of these consequences are costly and can be prevented with a reliable maintenance management solution and integrated sensor technology. With the many different advances in technology allowing for internet and computerized sensor technology to integrate with your cloud-based maintenance system, all this information is right in the smartphone of anyone who needs access to the information.
Your heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system may operate in the background, but if your air conditioning goes out in the heat of the summer, you can be sure it will impact your bottom line. Customers prefer a restaurant that has a cool but inviting climate and will not continue to eat at a balmy restaurant on an even hotter day. By employing a computerized maintenance management system, you can easily schedule routine maintenance items such as filter changes, seasonal tune-ups, and regular inspections to keep it running reliably.
