Compliance with the standards set by the Environmental Health Department and other European laws is essential for any commercial kitchen flooring.
Unlike other industries, there are guidelines on what is acceptable for a floor.
Failure to comply could lead to a temporary closure of your business.
Suppose you are starting a new business or running a well-established one.
In that case, there are four things you need to consider before embarking on commercial kitchen flooring.
1 – Cost
You will have a budget in mind for your new commercial kitchen floor, which will determine your options.
Some floors have longer life spans than others.
These usually take a few days to install and cost the most.
However, suppose you choose a lower-specification flooring option; you will need to consider the later repairs cost and the impact that will have on your business.
An excellent example is an airline food manufacturer that produces meals 24 hours a day, 364 days a year.
The cost to that business of having a floor that needs attention is so high that it justifies spending more money on a floor that will last ten years+.
2 – Timescale
We know kitchens are busy places, so we must know how much time we have to lay a new floor.
Some systems, such as commercial vinyl flooring, can take hours to install.
Others are much more involved and can take up to five days to install, such as polyurethane screed.
Sometimes the customer has fewer options available based on the timescales they’ve given us for their project.
ATS specialise in commercial kitchen flooring for large heavy-duty kitchens and food and drink factories.
If you have space, it may be possible to section off kitchen parts to allow installation in phases to keep the kitchen operational.
We recently did this for Malmaison hotels.
3 – Substrate
What is the existing setup?
Is it timber, tiles or existing commercial vinyl flooring?
Removal of an existing floor is something that ATS would factor into the time and budget.
If that’s not possible, there are options available where we would install over an existing floor.
4 – Traffic and lifespan
How much is your kitchen used?
Again with airlines, these companies produce food stacked on pallets operated by a forklift truck and therefore receive hefty wear and tear.
Some larger food preparation kitchens can get wet and messy.
With these, being able to wash them down is a requirement.
Here we can install stainless steel falls and drainage systems, so there’s very little standing water, reducing the risk of slips and trips.
We hope you find this guide to commercial kitchen flooring useful.
Our experienced team at ATS can help with any commercial kitchen flooring; don’t hesitate to contact us today.
