Commercial Refrigerator Shelving: Options for Cold Storage Organization

Commercial refrigerators and freezers are called "cold storage" for a reason; while much focus is put on the components that keep the cabinet cold, how the food is stored in the cabinet is equally important. Many buyers base their commercial refrigeration purchases on the cubic feet of storage available in the cabinet, but without proper organization, much of that space can be wasted. Below, we explain the different shelving and storage options available for commercial freezers and refrigerators to help you set up the perfect cold storage solution for your commercial kitchen.

Table of Contents

• The Importance of Proper Restaurant Fridge Organization
• Essential Tools for Restaurant Fridge Organization
• Shelving & Storage Options
• Step-by-Step Guide to Organizing Your Restaurant Fridge

The Importance of Proper Restaurant Fridge Organization

• Food Safety:
  • Ensures food items are stored at correct temperatures and conditions, reducing spoilage and contamination risks.
  • Separates raw meats from ready-to-eat foods and uses appropriate storage containers to prevent cross-contamination.
  • Helps maintain ingredient quality and freshness.

• Efficiency:
  • Allows staff to locate ingredients easily, saving time and reducing food waste.
  • Supports a first-in, first-out (FIFO) system, ensuring older ingredients are used first to maximize inventory turnover.

• Risk Reduction and Quality Maintenance:
  • Prevents foodborne illnesses by reducing cross-contamination and food spoilage.
  • Minimizes waste, positively impacting the bottom line.
  • Helps staff find items quickly, avoiding preparation delays and enhancing customer service.
  • Maintains food quality, affecting taste and presentation.

Essential Tools for Restaurant Fridge Organization

Efficient fridge organization is crucial for maintaining food safety and streamlining operations. With the right tools, you can maximize space, ensure proper temperature control, and easily locate ingredients.

Here are some essential tools for organizing your restaurant fridge:

• Commercial-grade storage containers and labels: High-quality storage containers are a must for keeping ingredients fresh and organized. Choose containers made from durable materials like food-grade plastic or stainless steel. These should be stackable and visibly labeled for quick identification.
• Commercial refrigeration shelving systems for maximizing space: Utilizing vertical space in your fridge is key to optimizing storage capacity. Invest in sturdy commercial fridge shelving systems with adjustable heights to accommodate items of various sizes and shapes.
• Temperature monitoring devices for food safety: Maintaining the correct temperature in your fridge is vital for food safety. Use temperature monitoring devices like digital thermometers or data loggers to get real-time temperature readings and identify any fluctuations that may compromise food safety.

Types of Shelving Solutions

Most refrigerators and freezers come with a few wire shelves, but those may not be the best option for your kitchen, depending on what you'll be storing and how the refrigerator will be used. The following are the basic shelf options available from most manufacturers and the best uses for each.

Shelves and Shelf Alternatives

Most refrigerators come with wire shelves, but depending on your kitchen needs, there may be better options. Here are the common shelf types and their ideal uses.

• Wire Shelves: The most common default option offered with refrigerators and freezers, but you may end up needing more than what’s provided, or you may find that shelves of a different material will be more suitable for your application. The standard option, wire shelves are often made of steel and coated with PVC plastic or epoxy for durability and corrosion resistance, but more durable stainless steel and chrome wire shelves are also available. PVC- and epoxy-coated shelves resist corrosion, but may crack and flake, exposing the steel underneath to rust, while chrome and stainless steel shelves offer greater durability for commercial use. Wire shelves can often be augmented with some of the shelf accessories detailed below. Glass shelves, mostly used in merchandisers to improve presentation, are also available.

  Common Uses: Ideal for most refrigeration needs due to their durability, though PVC and epoxy coatings may wear over time.

• Tray Slides and Racks: Also called pan racks, bun tray racks, or universal slides, these offer a way to store more food pans or sheet pans than shelves allow by providing a ledge or wire channel for the edge of a pan to slide on. These components may take the form of individual ledges that are installed on either side of the refrigerator interior, or they may come as a one-piece rack assembly that can be slid into the cabinet. A full-size rack will sit on the floor of the refrigerator, while a half-size unit can sit on the floor or on a shelf. Some slides are made to fit a specific pan size, while others can hold pans of varying sizes. Like wire shelves, stainless steel and epoxy-coated tray slides are available.

  Common Uses: Allows for better pan storage in refrigerators and freezers, suitable for commercial kitchens needing extra pan organization.

• Wine Rack Shelves: Individual shelves made for holding bottles of wine in a commercial refrigerator. These are available in stainless steel, but because they are often used for displaying wine in a glass door merchandiser, black PVC-coated shelves are more popular. Most wine shelves are stationary in the refrigerator cabinet, but some are made on slides that allow the shelf to be pulled out to provide easier access to the wine stored there. These shelves are sometimes installed on an incline, with the back of the shelf raised to make the bottle labels more visible.

  Common Uses: Perfect for glass door merchandisers in commercial spaces displaying wine.

How to Organize Your Restaurant Fridge

Organizing your restaurant fridge is essential for maintaining efficiency and safety in your kitchen. Follow this step-by-step guide to ensure your fridge is organized in a way that promotes food freshness and minimizes waste:

• Categorizing and grouping similar food items: Start by categorizing and grouping similar food items together. This makes it easier to locate specific ingredients and prevents cross-contamination. Use designated shelves or storage containers for different categories such as meats, dairy products, vegetables, and condiments.
• Proper placement of perishable and non-perishable items: Know which items in your fridge are perishable and which are non-perishable. Store perishable items like raw meats and dairy products at lower temperatures and away from ready-to-eat foods. Non-perishable items, such as canned goods and bottled sauces, can be stored at room temperature or in a designated pantry area.
• Utilizing the FIFO method: The FIFO method is crucial in the foodservice industry to ensure food safety and prevent inventory that isn't up to date. Place new stock behind older stock to ensure older items are used first, reducing the risk of food waste. This method is especially important for perishable items with limited shelf lives.

Shelf Accessories

These items are not used alone for storage, but can be used with the wire shelves mentioned above to improve organization and merchandising.

• Shelf Clips: Depending on the manufacturer, these may be called shelf clips, mounting clips, pins, clips, or shelf supports, but they all have the same job: keeping wire shelves securely mounted to the inside of the refrigerator. Because each clip must be compatible with the refrigerator's interior design, each brand's shelf clip looks different from the other. Some are V-shaped with little protrusions on each end that insert into the support rack, while others are knob-shaped and screw into the side of the refrigerator. Depending on the manufacturer, clips may be made of plastic or stainless steel. They come with the initial refrigerator purchase but can also be purchased separately to replace lost or damaged clips, or with subsequent shelf purchases.

  Common Uses: Essential for securing adjustable shelves in commercial kitchen storage and refrigeration units.

• Bottle Organizers: Commonly used in merchandisers, bottle organizers use plastic or metal dividers to create rows to keep bottles organized. These accessories are available with rows of different sizes to accommodate varying bottles. These shelves are often gravity-fed and tilted up to allow bottles to slide forward as the one in the front is removed. The front of the shelf has a barrier to keep the bottles from sliding out, and the back of the shelf is often open to allow for easy restocking in pass-through models. Some of these organizers are meant to be set on shelves, while others consist of a shelf with a built-in organizer.

  Common Uses: Ideal for gravity-fed shelving to keep beverages organized and easy to access.

• Pricing Strips: These are made to mount to the front of a wire shelf and hold paper or cardstock labels printed with product names and prices. While these accessories are most often used in merchandisers, they can also be used in back-of-house refrigerators to help label and organize each shelf's contents.

  Common Uses: Great for organizing items in back-of-house refrigerators, helping label each shelf’s contents.

• Novelty Baskets: These are made of wire and divided into two or more sections to allow for easy merchandising of refrigerated foods like fruit and frozen treats like ice pops and ice cream sandwiches. They can also be used in a commercial kitchen to organize small items on a refrigerator or freezer shelf, like produce or condiments. Because these baskets sit on the shelf, they do not have to be purchased to fit a specific unit as long as the basket will fit on the shelf you plan to use it on.

  Common Uses: Used in commercial kitchens to keep small items organized on refrigerator shelves.

Walk-in Cooler Storage Solutions

Walk-in coolers present a unique challenge when it comes to organizing the space for optimal storage. A walk-in cooler is typically organized more like a room than a refrigerator, since there are no built-in or included shelves or pilasters to install shelving on. The most common solution is modular wire shelving, though polymer shelves are also used. Both include models with adjustable shelves and units of varying widths and depths, letting you fully customize your cooler's storage. Pan racks are another option for restaurants that store food pans in the cooler. Many of these options also come on casters, allowing you to easily load and transport the unit into and out of the walk-in cooler.

• Keg Racks: If your cooler's floor is rated to hold the weight of kegs, those can be stored on a keg rack, with models available that can hold as many as 10.
• Wine Racks: For storing chilled wine, commercial wine racks are available that can hold as many as 192 bottles. Alternatively, wire shelving units provide more versatile storage options.
• Dunnage Racks: Dunnage racks offer storage for large items near the floor, while still complying with health code regulations and ensuring airflow around each item.

Ready to transform your kitchen efficiency? Take the first step today by assessing your current fridge organization. Implement the strategies outlined in this guide, and see how they can reduce waste and enhance food safety in your restaurant.