Queensland Catering Equipment – What You Need to Get Started

The catering equipment you need to get started will depend on what type of catering you are planning to do. It’s just going to be a waste of money to go inside a restaurant supply store and start buying everything when you won’t even use half of it. The best thing to do before purchasing or renting anything is to figure out what type of caterer you’re going to be.

In any given location, there will be plenty of demand for different types of caterers. There are catering services specializing in weddings and big corporate events, caterers who prefer to host intimate gatherings, cocktails, and informal get-togethers, and those who are more interested in buffet catering or food delivery service.

You need to do some research on which Queensland catering equipment will be most suitable for your type of catering. We have prepared a general overview of what you will need, but keep in mind that you can always add or remove items on the list depending on what your budget dictates or what your preference will be:

·         Food preparation – You will need to buy food mixers, blenders, slicers, and food processors. Of course, knives and cutting surfaces are essential items here. The scale and complexity of the equipment you buy depends on the specific catering service you’re providing. For example, if you tend to bake a lot of pastries or cakes, a commercial grade mixer will be more suitable for you. If you just bake mini-muffins for special occasions, a countertop mixer will be enough.

·         Cooking – Depending on what kind of food you usually prepare for your clients, you will need an assortment of stove tops, range ovens, pizza ovens, bratt pans, griddles, fryers, induction hobs, and char broilers. FYI, a bratt pan is a commercial grade appliance used for several types of cooking, such as braising, steaming, boiling, stewing, poaching, deep frying, and shallow frying.

·         Food service – Most of the equipment listed above can be applicable to commercial kitchens, but foodservice items are the nuts and bolts of catering. If you’re compiling a list of the most important Queensland catering equipment to buy, here is what you need: serving trays, soup bowls, soup wells, and salad bowls. Depending on the food, you might need to get Japanese noodle bowls, wooden or bamboo sushi trays, salsa dishes, etc.

·         Buffets – If you’re more into buffets, you will need carving stations, steam tables and salad bars, dessert stands, punch bowls, chafers and chafing dishes, cutlery racks, plate dispensers, beverage dispensers, beverage coolers, portable bars, and condiment pumps.

·         Food transport – You will need to get the food from the kitchen out to the venue as fast and efficiently as possible. For that, you will need insulated food delivery bags, transport carts, insulated food pan carriers, beverage service carts, and bus tubs or tote boxes. For food pan carriers, pick out the ones that can be loaded from the front. High quality food carriers are insulated to allow your food to stay hot or cold for up to 4 hours or more while protecting the meals you’ve prepared.