sequence of equipment
If you are a Barista (which most of your are) when your espresso machine is right in front of you... Is your grinder to the left or right of the espresso machine? Where is your rinse sink? Does your under-counter frig. have hinges on the left or the right of the door. Do you like your current layout? Are you left or right handed?
Thank you for your help.
Thank you for your help.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Benza Lance on
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3 grinders to the left of the machine, with knock box HANGING OFF THE BAR (cool, eh?). Under counter reefer directly underneath Linea, side hinges. To the right of the machine, pitchers, chocolate, to-go cups.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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Front bar, from right to left:
Cashier, go cups, espresso machine (with its beans undercabinet), knockbox, 2 grinders, drink assembly area with syrups lined up at back of the counter, customer drink handoff area at leftmost side. Rinse sink on back bar directly behind barista with water/ice on its right, fridge and cold drink zone on the left. 48" fridge, milk on the right, smoothie base + iced tea on the left.
It is a rounded bar - the whole thing is about a quarter circle. Front bar to back bar spacing is around 40", wouldn't want it any tighter.
This is a really functional layout for us. We are all right handed. Drink flows from my right to my left, and they can hang out on the other side of the espresso machine so you can talk to them while making their drink.
We mostly run a 2 person bar (cashier/barista), but it also works well solo or with three. Doing it over again I'd maybe rather see 2 small fridges - 1 for smoothie/blended/iced tea behind the cashier and 1 under drink prep on the front bar. That'd be the only change though.
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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on
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Thank you, all who have replied to this thread. It's been very helpful. I hope if there are others out there designing their barista stations that it's helped them as well.
We matched front and back counters but still had an issue with microwave location for pastry warming... easy solution flip the order of all the stations on the front counter so that the pastry cabinet was the closest to the kitchen and the microwave could go just inside the kitchen door. The order of is now Pastry, POS, Barista, Gelato (from kitchen outward). That puts that lovely Gelato with it's bright colors on show where it needs to be to draw the customers and showcases the Barista station more then before. I'm happy with it (on paper). Now if the rest comes together and we get the funding we need... the biggest bump in the road wont be our consulting quitting and trying to keep our money, it will be the loan ($$$) for the building.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Milletto on
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Denise, thanks for bringing up some great topics and I also hope many people benefit from the info generated from your questions. Again, sorry to hear about your bad experience with a consultant, I hate to hear that type of thing. Best of luck with your start up phases, keep in touch!
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Something that I found to be really, really helpful when doing the layout for our bar was to do a "paper doll" model. I took a couple of sheets of those Avery perforated business card blanks and drew up the different equipment groups on them - one for the drip brewer, airpot station, espresso machine, espresso grinders, POS, etc. I hung a big sheet of paper on the wall in my living room and then taped the blocks up there (a big white board would have been better, but I don't have one available).
Once I had a good looking layout, I'd run some scenarios with different tickets, count walking steps, and look for places that different peoples' workflows crossed. Check flow for different staff levels, and make sure you capture all of the steps for each drink's prep. Play with the arrangement until it works. Make sure you capture things like open fridge doors, where people will be standing, that there are no fridges under sinks or ice bins, etc. (I have personally never understood how the whole "fridge under espresso machine" layout was functional).
You could do the same simulation to a professionally done layout too, just to get a feel for how it will function. In any case, its your workspace you are talking about, and it is worth taking the time to make sure that it works for you.
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Permalink Reply by For Now on
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Boy, I just finished reading all the replies for Dennis' Question and everyone is so cool and open ( I love this site) I too need to figure out what is where and the three sink seems to be moving around all over the place. Do you think that 3' is enough open space from one side of the bar to the other side?
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For Now said:Boy, I just finished reading all the replies for Dennis' Question and everyone is so cool and open ( I love this site) I too need to figure out what is where and the three sink seems to be moving around all over the place. Do you think that 3' is enough open space from one side of the bar to the other side?
Glad you've found the discussions useful.
No, I don't think that 3' is enough. I believe that is the minimum ADA doorway width, but there may be a "turnaround circle" requirement as well that I can't recall the details of right now. 3-1/2 feet is narrow but workable to me as long as the bar staff has a great awareness of where everyone is.
Good luck.
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FYI: the feminine of Dennis is Denise (also spelled Denice or Deniece).
Thank you for replying to the post. ~80)
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Mark,
Thank you for the tip about the microwave. I really did not want one in the place but I wasn't sure what to do. I have wanted a toaster oven but then our 'consultant' (you know the one who quit) said that we needed a small commercial microwave. I will recheck the counter layout... I think we can put it on the same shelf and we will be able to use it for other things.
I was just looking at the Sodir, Melt N Toast... more then $50 though. What about codes for equipment... doesn't it have to meet the food standard codes?
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Permalink Reply by Trevor on
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Denise~
I noticed you didn't get a solid answer regarding placement of grinders during competition. Competitors are given the option of right or left for competition. Strictly preference.
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Mark Engels said:Another way to do this is to cut out life size pieces of kraft paper, or cardboard, to match each piece of equipment. Do the same with the counters, etc. Place these on the floor, then the equipment on top.
Now, imagine walking through each process. Move pieces as you see fit.
This is good too, once you can get into the space, though I suppose you could always do it in the yard or a parking lot... good luck explaining THAT to the neighbors.
We used a bunch of moving boxes to mock up our cabinet positions, just to double check shape and spacing. It was way useful.
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Denise Smith said:Mark,
Thank you for the tip about the microwave. I really did not want one in the place but I wasn't sure what to do. I have wanted a toaster oven but then our 'consultant' (you know the one who quit) said that we needed a small commercial microwave. I will recheck the counter layout... I think we can put it on the same shelf and we will be able to use it for other things.
I was just looking at the Sodir, Melt N Toast... more then $50 though. What about codes for equipment... doesn't it have to meet the food standard codes?
A microwave would still be useful - at very least for making krispy treats, boiling water for thermometer calibration, etc.
Our small appliances were not required to be commercial, which let us save lots of cash on microwave, toaster, etc. Your mileage may vary though, so check with your health dept.
What about an Otis Spunkmeyer? Then you could bake off IQF stuff too.
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