Commercial refrigerators are very versatile and can allow you to store many different food products, but it's good to store certain foods in their appropriate fridges, for example cakes and pastries in a cake display fridge, drinks in a drinks fridge, frozen goods in the freezer, and so on. If you haven't bought the right commercial fridge yet, read our guide on choosing the right commercial fridge for your business.
Before organising your refrigerator, make sure that the food products will be stored at the correct temperature. For example, raw meats and dairy products must be stored between 0°C and 4°C, while fruits and vegetables should be stored at temperatures between 7°C and 12°C. Make sure frozen goods are being properly stored inside a freezer and kept at a temperature of -17°C. If you'd like to learn more about setting the right temperature on your display fridge, read our article here.
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An upright glass display fridge is made up of several shelves that can easily show off a range of products.
The most important thing to remember is that your display fridge is there to showcase your items. Whatever you display inside your fridge must be clearly presented, placed neatly, and evenly spaced out.
Your most popular items should be placed at eye level so that customers can easily access them. Items that are less popular can then be distributed through to the top and bottom shelves. Make sure to adhere to food safety guidelines and remember to keep raw meats and seafood toward the bottom of the fridge, as if any leakages from food occurs, other items will not be contaminated.
When stocking your display fridge, remember to keep items evenly spaced out. This will not only make it easier for customers to take an item without all the stock collapsing, but it will also help the fridge to circulate cooled air throughout the unit. You don't want to over stock the shelves as this will make it harder for cooled air to circulate, which makes your refrigerator less efficient over time.
Stocking too many items on one shelf also makes it harder to keep track of items that are approaching their use by date, or that have gone out of date entirely. Keep track of all your items and consider putting the older stock towards the front where a customer is likely to take from, which will help to minimise food waste.
Commercial chest freezers are quite deep, which gives you a lot of space to work with. If you have many different types of products that need freezing, one way to organize your products inside a chest freezer is to use shelving, baskets, and dividers. This will allow you to separate different types of products and keep them at their optimal temperature.
A properly organised cool room can make your business run more smoothly. The key to an organised cool room is proper shelving. Make sure every type of product you sell has a designated shelving area, and you may even want to label certain shelves with sticky labels to make things easier.
Keep larger, heavier items on bottom shelves, as well as raw meats and seafood just incase they leak. Keep items that you regularly need to access closer to the entrance of the cool room, and any seasonal or holiday items stored toward the back of shelves, or in harder to reach areas so that they're out of the way.
Keep in mind that the air closest to the entrance door will fluctuate the most, so keep perishables such as milk further towards the back of the cool room where temperature is more stable, if possible.
Fresh vegetables may need to be stored in tubs full of water to keep them fresh for longer, so make sure these tubs are out of the main walk way. These tubs must also be regularly emptied, cleaned, and refilled, so make sure there is clear access to a sink where the tubs can be carried over safely.
Smaller items such as packets of cheese may be easier to store if kept in their own boxes, as it may be harder to keep track of them, they may fall off their shelf or take up too much room if they are loosely laying about on a shelf.
It's usually not a good idea to store goods on the floor of the cool room as spills, ice build up, and other sources of water can easily damage items if left on the floor.
If you're tight on space, the best thing you can invest in is more shelving and racks. This will enable you to stack more items along the walls without having to take up any floor space.
You can also use labeled bins or containers to keep similar products together. For example, you could have a bin labeled "lettuce" that contains all of your lettuce, and another labeled "water" that contains all of your bottled water. This will help you keep track of where everything is and make it easier to find what you need when you need it.
It's also important to keep your refrigerator clean and organized. This means that you should regularly wipe down the interior and exterior of the refrigerator, and remove any expired or spoiled products. This will help keep your refrigerator running efficiently and prevent any cross-contamination between products. If you want to learn more about how to properly clean your commercial refrigerator, check out our article here.
Organising your products inside a commercial refrigerator is essential for maintaining their quality and safety. By understanding the different temperature requirements of different types of products, using shelving and dividers, keeping similar products together, keeping items in a logical order, keeping your refrigerator clean, and rotating your products, you'll be able to keep your refrigerator organized and running efficiently.
