Design-Build Process for Quick-Serve Restaurant Kitchens

Quick-serve restaurants are known to most consumers as fast food. Prime examples include McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts. All the concepts offer relatively inexpensive food and drinks, typically made to order. While offerings vary, all quick-serve establishments need to be efficient, so their patrons can order, eat (if they’re even staying) and be on their way quickly.

While quick-serve restaurant menus primarily consist of selections that are fast and easy to prepare, kitchen layouts still need to be strategic to optimize productivity. Many quick-serve restaurants are also chains, so consistency is also important to the franchise and patrons alike. Also, in today’s culinary world where higher quality food is an expectation even at quick-serve establishments, restauranteurs may opt for an open kitchen design. This popular trend where patrons can watch as their food is prepared can influence kitchen layout and equipment choices.

Speaking of equipment, new technology plays an important role in quick-serve kitchen design. Restaurants can really impact their bottom line by incorporating new equipment in their commercial kitchen. New technology can help churn out food faster, meaning more patrons can be served faster, and it also can help drive workforce costs down. For example, self-cleaning deep fryers mean food is fresher and the job of changing the oil is eliminated, resulting in a more efficient team.

TME has a variety of experience designing and building efficient quick-serve restaurant kitchens. In fact, we created a commercial kitchen layout for one well-known franchise that was so efficient, it became the model for all their locations. Our team can also navigate you through equipment selection and we offer custom fabrication that enables us to maximize the footprint of your quick-serve commercial kitchen.