How to Select the Right Commercial Rice Cooker for Your Business

Your average commercial rice cooker is a highly versatile piece of equipment that is of vital importance to your restaurant. There are certain features that should be integral to just about any rice cooker that you would want to install in your eatery or restaurant. Let us take a quick look at the must-have functions of the rice cooker you choose to buy:

Multi-tasking Abilities

Multi-tasking is a key feature of any good commercial rice cooker. This means that apart from its ability to cook really large portions of the usual white rice that is commonly consumed in Australia, it should also be able to cook brown rice and steam vegetables, as and when required.

Minimalist Design

Another important feature of your rice cooker should be its ease of use. It should not have too many knobs and controls that could befuddle your cooks and chefs. On the contrary, it should have a minimum number of external controls. This means that as long as your chef adds the right portion of rice to water, the cooking should take place automatically. It should not require a person to hover close to it and open and stir the contents every few minutes. In other words, once the initial ingredient related requirements have been met, the machine should do the job on its own.

The Type of the Machine

When you decide to purchase a rice cooker for your eatery or restaurant, you must decide exactly what type of cooker would be ideal for your purpose. For instance, you may opt for a commercial gas rice cooker or an electric one, depending on your kitchen needs as well as your individual preference.
As a rule, the gas rice cooker works faster than its electric counterpart. It is more efficient and consumes a lot less energy. However, it requires the installation of a kitchen hood directly above it.

Overall Capacity

The overall capacity of any commercial rice cooker will vary from brand to brand. Some manufacturing companies advertise their commercial cookers by the total amount of uncooked rice that the cooker can contain in total, while others highlight the amount of cooked rice that the appliance can produce per session. Here, it is pertinent to note that the rice grains are always smaller when uncooked. Therefore, it is prudent to only look at the total quantity of rice that the cooker can produce. You must determine the size of the machine based on the total quantity required by your restaurant on a given day. This is very important because getting a cooker that is too small to cope with the demands of rush hour (for instance) will mean long waiting lines at the counter.