If you work in the foodservice industry, there’s nothing worse than a key piece of equipment in the kitchen breaking down - mainly because you just know it’ll do it at the worst possible time.

This is particularly the case with accelerated cooking and microwave technology; so important are such devices when it comes to maintaining high levels of service, that any issues with reliability and performance can have a direct impact on the bottom line.

Thankfully, there’s something called Planned Preventive Maintenance (or ‘PPM’ for short), which relies on routine machine care that’s designed to prevent large, costly issues further down the line.

This is why PPM maintenance programs are such a common fixture in modern foodservice operations, but if you’re yet to invest in something like this yourself, here’s a few reasons PPM will offer you ultimate peace of mind.

PPM improves reliability

You count on the technology in your kitchen or behind the counter to deliver food safely and quickly to customers. Without it, you’ll suffer from bulging queues you can’t cope with and numerous customer complaints.

Planned preventive maintenance increases the reliability of equipment by ensuring parts that may one day fail are either serviced regularly or replaced.

PPM improves safety

Foodservice equipment that isn’t operating optimally isn’t only slow and unreliable - it can be dangerous, too.

The last thing you want to do is put your staff or customers at risk of injury, which is why a PPM program is vital for ensuring the kit you use day-in, day-out is free from defects that might present genuine health hazards.

PPM decreases equipment downtime

It goes without saying that PPM itself introduces downtime for specific pieces of equipment, but that’s entirely for good reason, and it has one major benefit over unscheduled downtime - you know it’s going to happen!

Providing you undertake PPM at strategic times to minimise the impact on service, you’ll significantly lessen the chances of your kit letting you down when you least expect it. And just think how much potential lost revenue you’ll save by ensuring your equipment is always ready to do the business!

PPM improves equipment efficiency

Foodservice equipment is put through an awful lot during a standard shift. The individual components may well be designed to operate flat out for extended periods of time, but their efficiency will degrade over time if not serviced regularly.

Planned preventive maintenance is usually made up of little fixes and servicing that ensure the piece of equipment in question can continue to operate efficiently, regardless of what your business and its customers throw at it.

PPM protects your assets

Accelerated cooking equipment and industrial microwave ovens are relatively big investments for most foodservice businesses, which is why protecting those assets is vital.

The more you invest in the on-going maintenance of equipment, the less chance there is of needing to replace it before it’s time has come. Business assets play a vital role on company balance sheets, and the sudden need to purchase a replacement piece of equipment unexpectedly can land you in hot water, cash flow-wise.

Wrapping up

There are so many benefits to PPM, and we’ve only scratched the surface above, but if this isn’t something you’re investing at the moment, we’ve hopefully demonstrated just how valuable PPM will be to your foodservice business.