Fast Casual Restaurants & Stainless Steel – What’s the Connection?
The fast casual restaurant concept has been around for decades & has quickly grown into the mainstream of American eateries. Restaurants such as Five Guys, Shake Shack, Chipotle, & Tropical Smoothie Café are becoming popular destinations for many diners. With that said, are there specific stainless steel items you should equip your fast casual restaurant with (in the front-of-house particularly)?
In this article, we’ll define what exactly a fast casual restaurant is & give you some front-of-house stainless steel items to consider. Let us jump right in.
What Does “Fast Casual” Actually Mean?
Ok, what makes a restaurant fall into the fast casual category? There are a few unique characteristics that the eatery must have:
- Self-service or extremely limited service (plentiful seating, but no servers anywhere)
- No drive-thru (although curbside service is usually a common staple)
- Made-to-order food with more varied, better quality ingredients
- Highly developed décor with emphasis on upscale aesthetics
With these four points in mind, fast casual restaurants are separate from the typical fast food restaurant where the emphasis is on speed & mass production.
Stainless Steel Suggestions
With the key factors of the made-to-order model & better ingredients, you’ll need the right equipment to house these items. Keep in mind these are front-of-house suggestions, so these items will be seen/used by employees & patrons alike.
Cold/Hot Food Counters
Certain food such as salads are best served chilled. This can be achieved easily with the use of a cold food counter.
IMC offers two cold food counters, Model #CFCR & Model #CRBC.
CFCR includes a fully integrated refrigerated cold pan. The unit can be fitted with 2-6 ice pans, depending on your application. The refrigerated unit keeps frigid air pumping into the ice pans for a constant flow.
For large & high traffic salad bars, we recommend considering Model #CRBC. CRBC is IMC’s premiere cold food counter. The unit is fully equipped with a mechanical refrigeration unit, cold pan & stainless steel panels welded to the framework. Here’s a peek:
On the flipside, several types of foods should be kept warm during operations. Meat, various breads & soups are just an example. To achieve this, hot food counters are recommended. They can safely organize & keep your foods warm while in the prep stage. They can also be used for buffet operations in the front-of-house.
IMC offers two main hot food counters – Models #SHF & #SHFC. SHF is a standard hot food counter that can be fitted with 2-6 wells, depending on your needs. SHFC is similar but includes a heated compartment that has a heated base with a pan slide assembly for back-up storage. Here’s a peak:
Condiment Counters
Condiments are the lifeblood of restaurants, so a condiment counter is a smart investment to consider.
IMC offers Model #CNC Condiment Counter. It is designed to function as a central hub for all of your condiments, large or small. CNC has an all-welded silverware enclosure with provisions for cutlery cylinders. This means you can stack up your condiments & silverware, all in one unit. The unit also comes standard with an undershelf for storing your extra supplies & items. Here’s a look:
Tray & Silverware Counters
Self-service means trays & silverware need their own special place during meal service. Dedicated tray & silverware counters are just the ticket. Equipping yours with casters will easily allow you to move your counter from area to area, if necessary.
IMC offers Models #TSC & #TSCL as its premier tray & silverware counters. TSC is a fully enclosed tray & silverware counter. 14″ x 18″ trays can be easily stored on this unit while a variety of silverware can be accommodated with the available 5-9 pans. TSCL has a smaller footprint & features a lowerator for trays plus all welded silverware holders. Here’s a visual:
Hand Sinks
Topping off the front-of-house equipment are hand sinks to keep the environment as sanitary as possible. The type of hand sink you want to invest in will depend on your facility layout & expected traffic throughout the day.
For patrons, consider a wall mounted or free standing hand sinks to facilitate washing of hands. For employees, we advise looking into multi-station hand sinks.
Have a look at a few select IMC hand sinks:
Fast casual restaurants are not going away anytime soon so choosing the correct stainless steel equipment is a key decision that will only lead to increased productivity & customer satisfaction. To learn more about how IMC can cater to your stainless steel needs, click here.
