We’ve used scales for a little over a year now. Bodegahwy is right, it does slow you down a bit. For us, the reason behind weighing toppings wasn’t as much cost as it was for consistency. We’re about to start pre-weighing cheese in cups though, just to speed the process.
The other MAJOR hassle that we didn’t consider is that the scale needs to be stable to be zeroed out or even give you a decent weight. How often during a rush is your make-table sitting perfectly still, with nobody leaning on it to get toppings, spoon sauce, etc? The scale that we have on the far right of our make table is almost impossible to ever zero out because it sits above the compressor. That little vibration makes it oscillate ± 1 ounce or so and hence won’t tare.
If you do decide to go with scales, I’d like to recommend that you NOT buy Detecto brands. We started with three, and I’m currently down to one about a year later. I’m hoping the other two can be repaired. I’ve had no luck getting them to fix them on warranty, despite the fact that they were still in warranty when they started breaking. Detecto customer service has been non-existent.
Beyond the actual scales, I have had to fix the foot switches about every week. The internal switch becomes separated from the housing, making the switch useless until you open it and reset it in place. Very poor engineering on those.
Unless you have cooks that handle everything China dishes, these scales are not durable enough for this application.
