BK Best Practices

Why Maintenance Matters

An Automatic Broiler is generally considered a long-term investment that has a significant impact on a restaurant’s success. Broilers operating at optimal levels consistently cook menu items and increase speed of service, resulting in higher profits and happier customers. Because of this, it would seem that making a commitment to properly maintain a kitchen’s Broiler would be a good decision.

In reality, among kitchens worldwide, what is considered “proper maintenance” varies widely from kitchen to kitchen. Maintenance isn’t free. It requires staff time, the occasional part replacement and the occasional service call. Neglected maintenance, however, ultimately costs more.

Businesses that chronically under maintain their Broilers may require emergency service calls to fix Broilers that experience issues mid-service. Broilers that are not properly maintained are also less efficient and cook product more slowly over time, meaning a slower speed of service, unhappy customers and reduced revenue for your restaurant.

To avoid the outcomes above, it’s important to follow these maintenance best practices:

Make sure your kitchen staff is closely following manufacturer instructions for daily, weekly and monthly cleaning, and that appropriate cleaning tasks are happening on schedule.

Train kitchen staff thoroughly on how to disassemble the Broiler for cleaning, and reassemble it for cooking.

Make sure your Broiler’s cleaning chart is prominently displayed near the Broiler
Nieco offers helpful videos showing step-by-step instructions for disassembly, reassembly and cleaning (see videos below)
Nieco also offers staff trainings with our technicians or partners
Always take care to put parts back on correctly according to cleaning chart instructions.
- Reminder: Putting parts back on the Broiler upside down or backwards can affect Broiler performance and damage the unit

Practice preventative maintenance. Avoid possible Broiler downtime by spotting worn parts and replacing them before they fail.

Nieco offers daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual guidelines with suggestions for when to clean, inspect or replace worn items (see preventative maintenance schedules below).

Maintaining your Broiler makes good business sense and good fiscal sense. If you have questions about what you should be doing to properly maintain your Broiler or need assistance, please contact our Support Department today.