Buying for a new hotel kitchen: a starter list
What to order first when you are equipping from nothing, and what can wait.
Fitting out a new kitchen is where budgets get spent badly — usually on breadth rather than on the few items that carry the service. This is the order we would buy in.
First: the vessels that run every day
Two patilas, different sizes. One for your normal batch, one about 50% larger. These hold dal, stock, rice and gravy and they are in use from open to close. Buy jointless — the seam is where catering pots fail, and these are the vessels that cycle hardest.
One deep kadai in 6 mm. Frying and bhuna work. Deep kadai in 6 mm if it will be on the fire for hours; 3 mm if the station is intermittent.
One tawa, 6 mm. Round or square depending on your layout. If you serve bread at all, this runs continuously.
One parath. Parath for kneading and mixing — cheap, used constantly, and always forgotten on the first order.
That is four items and it will run a kitchen.
Second: the menu-specific vessels
Buy these once the menu is fixed, not before:
- Biryani or pulao on the menu? Biryani degda with copper base.
- Slow-cooked meat, nihari, korma? Lagan.
- Sweets, kheer, milk reduction? Milk kadai in 6 mm.
- Chinese section? Chinese wok with a pipe handle.
- Fish or kebab counter? Mahi tawa.
- Paratha station? Parantha tawa in 10 mm.
Third: capacity and outside catering
- Cook & carry vessels if you do outside events. Cook & carry, 25 to 100 litres.
- Duplicates of your busiest items, so service continues while one is being washed.
- A second tawa, because the bread station is always the bottleneck.
What to spend more on
Spend on gauge and construction for the items in the first group. They are used the most and they fail the soonest if they are thin or seam-welded.
Economise on items used occasionally. A vessel used twice a week does not need 6 mm.
What people over-buy
- Too many sizes. Three well-chosen sizes beat seven poorly chosen ones.
- Vessels for the peak. Buy for the normal day; hire for the wedding.
- Speciality items before the menu is settled. Menus change in the first six months.
Before you order
Send us your menu and your covers per service. We will come back with a list, sizes and gauges, and tell you where you can spend less — get in touch.
Specifying cookware for your kitchen?
Every product on this site publishes its full size chart — gauge, dimensions and weight for every size. If you would rather just describe the job, we will tell you what to order.
