What's the one thing that supermarkets, deli, and markets have in common? All three of these entities rely on scales for their day-to-day operations. They allow you to verify shipment weights, manage inventory, and sell food based on weight.
If you go to a supermarket, you'll find a variety of different models in use, from small digital scales to inventory and hanging scales.
Your food industry business may need one or several types to operate. Choosing the right scale for your business requires you to know the variants you can choose from.
Different Types of Scales in the Food Service Industry
They come in different sizes and shapes. You may need a scale on the loading dock, or you may need one in the kitchen. When you're dealing with consumers, such as in a deli or supermarket, it's often best to have a digital scale so that the consumer can see the weight and price easily.
You'll have to choose from a variety of different food service scales, including:
- Digital portion scales. They are designed for speed and accuracy, and they are very easy to read. Consumers can see the weights and prices, and an immediate response is provided on the scale. These are good for lower weight purchases, but they can go up to a dozen pounds or higher, depending on the model. This is what you would want to use in a sandwich shop, pizzeria, restaurant kitchen, or anywhere that you need to have digital portion control in place.
- Mechanical portion control scales. Mechanical scales are less popular than their electric counterparts, but they are cheaper in price and more portable. These models are a great addition to concession stands or snack bars. They don't require battery power, and they're highly portable.
- Legal for trade scales. This type is the most accurate on the market, and you can find them in delis, bakeries, butcher, and shops. This scale will conduct a variety of accuracy tests to ensure that the weight is as close to accurate as possible using today's technologies.
- Receiving scales. A receiving scale will weigh your produce, poultry, beef, and other meats when received. These items are of importance because you may receive a shipment of 100 pounds of beef, but you need to weigh them to ensure the accuracy of your inventory. They are close to the ground, highly accurate, and designed to help make it easy to add your items to inventory on your computer system.
You'll also find a variety of specialized skills that are available. You'll find professional food scales that are specialized for:
- Bakery
- Pizza
- Hanging scales
The weighing instruments that you choose will have an impact on your business's operations. You need to make sure that you choose the right type of food scale for your kitchen. Commercial kitchen scales are going to help you with inventory and proper pricing for your customers.
It's just as easy to miscalculate and undercharge using a commercial kitchen scale as it is to overcharge your customers.
In either case, you're either losing money or risking your reputation by losing clients and overcharging them. Professional digital scales can help you negate both of these occurrences so that all items are properly weighed and priced.
What to Consider When Buying a Commercial Food Scale
The food industry demands a high-quality professional food scale if you plan on selling goods by weight. When you're dealing with the following three, you'll need to choose the right type for your customers:
- Supermarkets
- Deli
- Markets
Professional cooks will also need to measure ingredients, but when dealing with the supermarket, you're dealing with selling items by weight.
Large food scales may be used for bulk purchases, or you can have a much smaller one for items sold in smaller quantities.
If you know what type of scaling you need, the next step will be knowing how to select the right unit for your business. You can use a few of the following points to find the scale that meets your needs best.
A few of the many things that you do want to consider are:
Weighing Capacity
How much food are you going to need to weigh? If you're going to cater to small events, you may need a model that can weigh hundreds of pounds of food. But low capacity models, which are much easier to carry around, are a great idea for supermarkets or delis.
Cleaning
A commercial weight scale needs to be easy to clean. Even the most seasoned restaurants and supermarkets will want to pay special attention to how easy it is to clean your weighing instrument. Some scales are stainless steel and come with an easy-to-remove pan for easy cleaning. You'll also find some of them that have sealed keypads that prevent spills from impacting the item's usability.
Choose a scale that's easy to clean and comes with some of these protections so that if you or a customer spills items, the scale still operates appropriately.
Display
Commercial weighing instruments should add to the transparency of your business. Consumers want to know your pricing upfront, and a scale's display should make it as easy as possible to view pricing.
It's important that weight scales for food have large numbers for easy readability.
If your professional kitchen scale has numbers that are too small, consider an alternate model.
Portability
Do you plan on selling weighed items in an aisle or at a farmer's market? Scales can be massive and difficult to move or can be small and highly portable. A portable scale is one of the most desirable items and will allow you the freedom to use them in multiple areas of the kitchen or when helping customers.
Scales allow for honest pricing and inventory tracking. When you select a scale for your business, keep the points outlined above in mind. It's likely that when your business grows, you'll need a variety of scales to measure everything from produce and meat to inventory that just arrived.