Portion Scales…Accurate, Useful, and now Submersible!

Are you throwing away money from your foodservice business? You very well might be if you aren’t using a portion control scale to determine the exact amount of product you are serving to your customers.

Portion control scales provide accuracy, which equals profitability, as well as maintain consistent food quality and quantity. Weighing food is one of the foremost ways to control food costs, which will end up saving you tons in your restaurant’s budget. French fries provide an excellent example for this scenario:An operator typically knows exactly what they pay for potatoes. They will likely know how many servings of French fries they sell on any given day. But unless they are weighing individual portion sizes, this same conscientious operator could be throwing piles of money away…one serving at a time. And French fries are ‘small potatoes’ compared to protein costs!

When choosing a portion control scale, there are several factors to consider, such as type, construction materials, sanitation, and calibration. There are two types of scales, mechanical and digital. Mechanical scales use springs whereas digital scales use circuit boards.

The type of materials used to construct the scale should be considered before purchasing a portion control scale. Regardless of the exterior construction, the interior of the unit should be constructed of materials that allow you to easily clean them. Considering all of the grease and flour in a commercial kitchen, cleaning the interior of the unit is highly important.

Sanitation is highly important in commercial kitchens, both for customer safety and to help your kitchen meet all health and safety standards. You should look for scales that are NSF certified. Edlund even has a fully submersible stainless steel portion scale which is engineered exclusively for the kitchen environment!

Calibration is an extremely important factor when it comes to the functionality of your portion control scale. A correctly calibrated scale ensures that the amount you measure is the exact amount on the scale. the submersible Edlund WSC-10 mentioned earlier is also the only field-calibrated scale in the industry. All you have to do is flip the scale over and wait for a light to indicate that calibration is complete.

Regardless of the type of scale needed for your business or organization, it is highly important to look through your choices and make an informed decision about which scale to purchase.