Let’s take a look at some common food prep flow plans you’ll discover inside the kitchen. The most basic and desirable flow plan is the straight line flow, also known as assembly line flow. Materials are constantly moving from one procedure to another in a straight line. This type of style minimizes recoil; save prep time and confusion about what leaves the kitchen area and what comes back.

The straight-line layout works great for small installations because it can be placed against a wall and accommodate cooks’ tasks. When there is not enough space to organize food preparation in a straight line, a highly appreciated and efficient option is the parallel flow. There are four variations of the parallel style:

1. Back to back. The equipment is arranged inside a long center counter or island in two straight lines that run parallel to each other. Sometimes a four or five foot room divider or low wall is placed between the two lines. It is primarily a safety precaution, keeping noise and mess to a minimum and preventing liquids spilled on 1 side from spreading on the other. However, the placement of a wall here also makes cleaning and sanitation very difficult. The back-to-back arrangement centralizes plumbing and utilities;

You may not need to install as many drains, sinks, or outlets since both sides of the counter can share the same ones. A back-to-back arrangement in which the walk-through window is parallel to (and behind one of) the production locations is sometimes recognized as a California-style kitchen. When the pass-through window is located perpendicular to the production line, it could be called a European-style kitchen area style. The benefit of the European style is that each cook in the line can see the progression of the various dishes that make up 1 table’s order.

2. Face to face. In this kitchen area setup, a central hallway separates two straight lines of equipment on either side of the room. Sometimes the aisle is enough to add a straight line of workbench between the two rows of equipment. This configuration works well for high volume power facilities such as schools and hospitals, but does not benefit from single source utilities. Although it’s a great design for worker supervision, it forces people to act with their backs to each other, in effect separating the food kitchen from the rest of the distribution process. Therefore, it is most likely not the best style for a restaurant.

3. L-shaped. Wherever space is not enough for a straight line or parallel layout, L-shaped kitchen layout is well suited to access various groups of equipment and is adaptable for serviced restaurants table. It gives you the ability to fit more equipment inside a smaller room. You’ll often find an L-shaped layout in dishwashing areas, using the dishwasher located in the center corner of the L.

4. U-shaped. This arrangement is rarely used, but it’s ideal for a small room with one or two employees, like a salad prep area or pantry. An island bar, such as those found at TGI Friday’s restaurants, is a further example of the U-shape in performance. There are also circular and square kitchen area designs, but their limited flow patterns make them impractical. Avoid wasted room if you can by making your kitchen area rectangular, with its entrance on one of the longer walls for stair storage.

The more food service establishments you visit, the more you will realize that the back of the house is a separate and distinct entity from the rest of the industry, with its own peculiar difficulties and unique solutions.

Proper flow planning occasionally means breaking down each kitchen area into a department, after which deciding how those departments should interact with all the others. They must also interact with the other external departments of the facility: its dining room, bar, cashier, etc. A great way to start the design process, both for the company as a whole and for the kitchen, is to create a bubble diagram. Each region (or workstation) is represented as a circle, or “bubble”, drawn in pencil within the location that you have decided would be the most logical for that function. If two different workstations share some equipment, you can let the sides of their circles intersect slightly, to indicate where the shared equipment can be located.

The finished diagram will seem abstract, but the exercise allows you to visualize each action center and think about its needs in relation to the other centers. You can also design a kitchen using a diamond configuration, placing the cooking area at one point of the diamond shape, and other important areas relative to it at other points. Keep in mind that this layout minimizes confusion (and accidents) with a separate kitchen entrance and exit. This allows the people cleaning the tables to deliver the dirty dishes to the dishwashing area without having to walk all the way through the kitchen to do so.

An alternative to drawing diagrams is to number each performance center and then list any other work centers that should be placed adjacent to it. Conversely, list any performance centers that should not be next to it. For example, it’s most likely not a great idea to have the ice maker and ice storage bin adjacent to the fry and roast center.