My name is Kevin Loving and I am a maintenance man at a four diamond hotel and convention center in Galveston, Texas. I have been asked to write a few articles concerning general maintenance on kitchen equipment.

In General:

There are many maintenance tasks that can safely be performed by restaurant owners that would save you a substantial amount of money on service calls. I will attempt to describe some of the things you as the owner can do to keep service calls to a minimum.

You and what you are comfortable with:

I have no way of knowing how “mechanically inclined” you or your staff might be. I can tell you from experience that not everyone is. That said, you might be surprised to find many of the “service technicians” you routinely pay over $100 a hour might have only a high school education or less.

I do not say that to put these people down in any way; I make this point so you won’t be under the false impression that it takes a great deal of education to perform credible restaurant maintenance. The vast majority of these technicians learned from other technicians or attended a short school offered by their employer to attain enough knowledge to work on restaurant equipment.

Some have attended a specialty course at a local college to be able to work with refrigerant (freon) or some other area. Most “learn by doing” and the longer they have been working in the field, the more they know.

Informing yourself:

Most of the information you need you already have (or should have) in the form of the manual that came with your equipment. I know it’s a boring read but you should read through these manuals when you receive a new piece of equipment. Some are just installation guides that will offer almost none of the information you need. The user’s guide, on the other hand, can have a lot of very useful information.

Most companies offer an additional manual that may or may not come with the equipment. These manuals are full of good information that is very useful in maintaining equipment. Most of the time you can get a copy downloaded free of charge from the manufacturer’s web site. I have also been able to obtain a copy from salespeople who had contacts with a given equipment manufacturing company. Inquire about it, it is often called a “service manual” or “parts and service manual.”

This is the most useful manual you can own for the repair of a piece of equipment. It will have a “parts breakdown” that will show you drawings of every part and how the parts fit together. Often it will have a “troubleshooting” section that will identify a specific problem and give you possible remedies to fix it.

I know of only two books available on restaurant equipment. These books were written years ago by a guy named Don Walker and are dated but I still keep a copy of both.  He gives great general information that is timeless and does it in a sometimes humorous way.  One book covers gas equipment repair and the other one is about electric equipment.  If you are going to work on your equipment, I suggest you buy one or both of these books.

The last way to become informed on your specific equipment is by the use of the technical service line almost all manufacturers offer. I list this last because these lines are set up for service personnel but I can tell you from experience that as an owner or manager you will not be turned away if you call. If it is a good company, the person you speak with will have worked on that piece of equipment before and will know enough about it to understand what you are trying to explain even if you don’t know the technical terms to use.

If you call, you will need the model number and serial number along with any other information you can get off the equipment. It is helpful to have a parts break down (drawing) of the equipment in front of you so you can see what the various parts look like and be able to call a part by name. You should also be able to explain to the technician on the other end of the line what the machine is doing (or not doing). You can usually find an 800 number for tech service on the manual or by using the “contact us” section of the company’s web site.

In the next article I will start addressing specific things you and your staff can do to prolong the life of your restaurant equipment. Please feel free to respond on the blog with any questions you might have. I will check it as often as possible.

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