How Do I Make My Restaurant Dishwasher Better? (11 Simple Tips)

You can follow the following tips to make your restaurant dishwasher work better

1. Pre rinsing

The first and the most important step for any dishwasher owner should be to pre-rinse the dishes first and then put them in the dishwasher to clean. If you don’t do that, the leftover food will get stuck and gather on the filter of the dishwasher and will cause blockage in it, whether it is a commercial dishwasher or a domestic one.

So, if you want your dishwasher to run smoothly and do its job properly, then you must pre-rinse the dishes and make sure to remove every leftover food or bones. It will save your dishwasher.

2. Pre scrubbing

Some dishes need scrubbing as they have hard and tough stains that cannot be removed with rinsing only. There is a lot going on in restaurants, and every item needs to be cooked as fast as it can. Of course, this process involves high flame cooking.

The pots and pans used in a restaurant have tough stains due to the high flame cooking that cannot be removed easily unless they are scrubbed off completely. Firstly, pre-soak them for some time; it will be easy to scrub off those stubborn stains, and then put them in the commercial dishwasher to clean.

3. Clean the dishwasher

Restaurants serve almost all kinds of dishes. Some are dry and some dishes involve frying, while some have too much fat and oil in them that usually leaves the plates very oily and greasy. Commercial dishwashers wash these greasy dishes with high-pressure hot water.

This can also make the inside of the dishwasher oily and greasy, so a dishwasher should be cleaned at the end of the day. This will keep your restaurant dishwasher run perfectly fine for long term.

4. Right detergent

Well, detergent is the main player in washing anything (dish related of course :P). All the machines have their own specific preference over detergents. There is a variety of detergents that are available in the market with different properties.

Always choose the right detergent according to the need of your dishwasher. This will not only give you crystal clean dishes, but also a long durability to your dishwasher.

5. Rinse aid

You can also make your dishwasher do its job properly by refilling the detergent and rinse aid before it gets finished. Rinse aid is very important for those restaurant dishwashers that have to use hard water. Rinse aid removes the stains and cloudy thin sheet of minerals from the dishes that get on the dishes when washed in hard water.

6. Good supply of water

Commercial dishwashers are heavy-duty dishwashers that wash almost 40+ racks in an hour (which is much more than the regular home dishwashers). It requires a lot of water to wash this huge number of dishes. In order to maintain the pace of your dishwasher, always make sure to have good water supply to your restaurant dishwasher.

Another reason is the use of high-temperature water. Most of the time, people prefer commercial dishwashers that work with high temperatures because they wash as well as sanitize dishes properly. These dishwashers need even more water to wash the dishes. So, if you have one of these kinds, then always provide your dishwasher with a good amount of water.

7. Clean spray arms

Spray arms are the main part of a dishwasher that wash the dishes by spraying water with good pressure. This removes the remaining stains and grease from the dishes completely.

If, by any reason, there is some blockage in the holes of the spray arms, then the water will not be sprayed with the required pressure on the dishes and it will give you dirty dishes in the end (which is the biggest downfall for a restaurant in my opinion). If you clean the spray arms daily, you can keep this from happening.

8. Clean drainage system

For a dishwasher to work properly, its drainage system should be clean and tidy. Any blockage in the drainage system of a dishwasher will cause it to reuse the already used water to wash the dishes again. This will make the dishes even dirtier along with the dishwasher.

Also keep in mind that for a commercial dishwasher, the drain of the kitchen should be wide enough to take all the used water easily. Because these commercial dishwashers use a lot of water to wash the dishes, thus they need a good wide drain to drain all of that used water.

9. Empty the filter

There is a filter in every dishwasher (whether it is commercial or for home use). This filter helps in keeping any food particle or junk from entering the dishwasher and blocking its drains while removing the used water. If this filter gets blocked by a big pile of junk or food debris, then it will stop the water from draining.

This will make your dishwasher reuse the same water again and again and it will be a mess to clean both the dishes and the inside of the dishwasher afterwards. It will be too late to realize then. So, to avoid that from happening, empty and then clean the filter after some time regularly.

10. Air-dry the dishwasher

Germs and bacteria grow in the closed moist environment. It is necessary to air dry your commercial dishwasher at the end of the day. After the restaurant is closed, leave the dishwasher open for some time and let it air dry. This allows the air to circulate through the dishwasher and it reduces the growing bacteria inside it.

11.Monthly service

In restaurants, the workload on dishwashers is sometimes too much and the commercial dishwashers run a lot. Every machine needs maintenance after some time. So, try to service your commercial dishwashers every 2-3 months of its usage.