Wallin Foodservice Resources

Summer is almost here, and demand for all kinds of outdoor dining is ramping up!  Outdoor dining can provide a refreshing change of pace for diners and staff alike, but it also creates a new set of operational considerations. When resources and facilities aren’t as accessible as they are for indoor dining and events, maintaining safe food temperatures, hygiene, and overall sanitation for outdoor dining takes a little extra planning. Whether you’re in the restaurant, catering, fair, or festival business or noncommercial foodservice, here are a few ideas to make serving outdoors safer and easier. Eye-catching Disposable Serving Alternatives When ware washing isn’t feasible, disposables can save the day, yet they typically fall short when it comes to sophistication and environmental friendliness. With these versatile serving options, there’s no need to choose between single-use convenience and a stylish presentation. Easily serve a wide variety of tasty finger foods, sid...

Every day is a good day to find new ways to save money and natural resources in foodservice. Yet, over time, it’s easy to become numb to established processes or long-running equipment that are quietly sapping the budget and working against the environment while they’re at it. Money wasters are often hidden in plain sight because staff are used to seeing them every day. Our team has visited a LOT of kitchens over the years, and since we’re seeing them with a fresh set of eyes, we notice different things. Here are just a few of the places we find the repeat offenders and what you can do if you unearth them in your operation. Where to Look for Savings:  Dry and Cold Storage Areas Does your dry storage area look like the paper products aisle at a grocery store? There’s no denying the convenience of single-use cups, containers, plastic wraps, and foils, but they cost a fortune, especially when you add up the cost of the product itself, the large amount of space it occupies...

Small, individual serving pieces are surprisingly versatile, supporting a wide variety of applications.  They can help you make the best use of available labor and enhance safety at the same time. Whether used for serving side dishes, tasting flights, mix-and-match samplers, or on a buffet, small serving vessels present a wide range of benefits: Efficient use of labor: Kitchen staff can pre-prep and hold at the appropriate temperature prior to serving. Portion control and uniformity: No additional measurement is required to ensure consistent presentation and portion size. Enhanced presentation: The vessel serves as attractive packaging, adding elegance or a fun factor to even simple or monochromatic dishes without the need for advanced plating skills. Reduced food waste: Smaller portions are more likely to be finished, so less time is spent scrapping and less food goes to waste. Increased buffet hygiene: Single serve portions can be picked up without serving utensils...

A lot has changed in the last couple of years, but one thing seems to have returned to normal: people are back to being overscheduled.  Whatever type of foodservice you’re in, you’re feeling it: school lunches crammed into short meal periods; employees of all kinds squeezing in a quick bite between work, meetings, and appointments; parents wedging a frenzied dinner between school, work, and the kids’ practices; and so on. Grab ‘n go rose to historic popularity at the height of the pandemic for safety reasons, but it’s here to stay for that and so much more. It’s convenient for both time-crunched customers and labor-crunched foodservice operators. Grab ’n Go items are prepped, packaged and merchandised in advance of busy periods for self-service that doesn’t require open tables. This enables back-of-house and front-of-house staff to be assigned tasks that make the best use of their time to generate revenue. If you’ve been reluctant to offer grab ‘n go due to space or availabilit...