Hello, I hope i posted this in the right place. I have an opportunity to open a small pizza shop with a partner who wants to gut the walk in cooler( which is missing its compressor) and use the space for storage.(small shop) He feels the the three door reach in and the doors on the make table would provide enough refrigerated space. I am fearful this will not be near enough. looking for any thoughts or comments from anyone who has faced this situation or operated successfully without a walk in cooler. thank you for thoughts.
I don’t know your situation regarding forecast sales so take with a grain of salt: Your partner is nuts.
Where would you cross stack dough to cool?
Where will you back stock cold beverages? (Our beverage cooler holds maybe 2 days inventory and I want the other stock to be cold too!
Your prepped food might fit… for example we have 8 full pans of cheese when we are ready for the night… but where would I put the 20-30 cases of cheese we have on hand right now? Same with prepped veggies…
I want to be able to have all food and supplies on hand for my biggest 7 days of the year and prepped cheese, sauce, dough etc for about 1.5 days. Why 7 days? 1. Cushion for under forecasting, 2. Covers me if food truck does not arrive due to weather or other factors (yes, this has happened 4-5 times over the years)
Figure out how much that is and I doubt it will fit in a reach in. Unless you are planning really dinky numbers, your make-line will hold most of what you need for a day of many things, but not of sauce, cheese and dough.
No way I would operate without a walk-in.
Don’t do it. Dry storage is way easier to find a spot for than items that need to stay cold.
Not sure how small your place is but we have a location that is also small and I couldn’t imagine not having a walk in…
Is it impossible? Probably not. But i wouldn’t want to work out of reach ins if I didn’t have to.
Do not get rid of a walk-in cooler, In my opinion, you can never have too much refrigeration space!
Dry goods can be stacked almost anywhere, I’ve seen places that use their canned/dry good inventory as part of their decor.
Hi Kozz:
The above members are correct;
A walk in is a necessity for a pizza shop.
Some do it with door refrigeration but we do not recommend it.
George Mills
I’m going to pile on too. I probably do less volume than most people here, but I can’t imagine not having my walk in. I would get a compressor for it. When we bought our building, the large walk-in was the main selling point, and what I would say is what most of the purchase price went towards. If replacing the compressor isn’t an option, I’d look for another place. Or if you have the place and are just looking for something to put in it, I would say something besides a restaurant.
my 2 cents too. It’s not just about the storage, It’s about rotation too. refridgerated goods HAVE to be rotated to avoid spoilage, in order to do this properly in a reach in and the coolers the doors will be open for extended amounts of time and compromising all the cooled goods. I too would be investing in a compressor and getting the walk in working before getting a reach in.
Keep the Walk-in. Pay to get it fixed. If possible, shelve the outside of it and make that yor dry storage. If you don’t have a walk in cooler, you’re not setting yourself up to grow/do any volume