There is a lot of equipment needed for a restaurant to run smoothly. If you are just opening a restaurant, you’re probably running through all the things you need, trying not to forget anything. And if you already have a restaurant, you may want to make sure your equipment is kept up to date to maintain a good working environment and an excellent dining experience for your customers.

Here’s a list of some of the essentials to keep you on track.

1. Refrigeration Equipment

Depending on the type of establishment you are running or plan to run, you may need a number of different types of refrigerators to keep all of your food and drink properly cooled.

In addition to a large walk in cooler, you should consider a prep cooler which would be located underneath the prep line and have all ingredients readily available for your cooking staff.

2. Freezers

There are also many different types of freezers available. A small chest freezer – one that opens from the top – may be big enough to hold all your frozen goods, or you may need a larger reach-in freezer. These come in a variety of sizes up to 78” – 81”.

3. Beverage-Related Equipment

Whether you’re running a restaurant without alcohol, or a resto-bar, people need to drink. Some drinks can be served from the carton – like pop or milk – if you choose. However, if there are beverages you are using frequently you may want to consider a cheaper or quicker option.

A soda or juice machine can be an excellent alternative. There are even milk machines which would be well suited for a restaurant specializing in breakfast, or that offers a cereal bar.

For these machines, you would buy your product in bulk, which is often cheaper than purchasing individual cans of soda or juice, for example.

4. Ice Machine

You will also need to look into purchasing an ice machine. There are many different options to choose from. Do you need a large or small capacity? Do you prefer crushed, shaved, or cubed ice? And how fast will the machine produce ice? These are all important considerations you’ll need to make.

5. Coffee Maker

Don’t forget about the hot drinks either. You’ll want to think about coffee, tea, and maybe even hot chocolate. How much of these types of drinks will you need and how would you like to store them? Will one or two drip coffee machines be enough? Or will you need a heavy-duty machine that can make significantly more coffee at a time?

6. Cooking Equipment

You may simply need a basic convection oven, however there are other types of ovens that are specialized to accommodate certain types of food. If need be, you could invest in a rotisserie, bakery, pizza, or potato oven.

Other cooking equipment may include microwaves, steamers, or stovetops. You will most likely not need more than two or three different cooking pieces, but the choices you make will differ depending on what you offer in your restaurant, and what kind of space you have to work with.

7. Cleaning Equipment

To finish it all off, you’ll need to clean all the dishes and equipment you have in your establishment. You’ll most likely want a heavy-duty dishwasher and a commercial sink. Having bigger and stronger machinery like these will speed up and simplify the cleaning process.

You may also need to consider grease traps. If so, they come in different sizes depending on your grease disposal needs. If low, a 10-gallon grease trap would probably be okay, but larger sizes are available if that is too small.

Having the necessary pieces of restaurant equipment in all these categories will help your restaurant succeed and run smoothly.