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Solutions for preserving fresh ingredients – specialized refrigerators and cold tables from Saigon Horeca
In an commercial kitchen – where the pace of operations is always bustling, where every minute waiting for food is also every minute customers evaluate the quality of service. Especially – fresh ingredients are the foundation of every dish. Even if the restaurant has an excellent chef or famous recipes, if the ingredients are not stored properly, the flavor will never reach the desired standard.
In fact, preserving fresh ingredients is not simply a matter of “storing” neatly. In a restaurant kitchen environment, where each type of food has its own characteristics in terms of temperature, humidity, storage time and environmental sensitivity, preservation requires a deep understanding of equipment, operating procedures and space layout.
With more than 10 years of accompanying hundreds of F&B models – from seafood restaurants like Ganh Hao Mui Da (Vung Tau) to modern open kitchens like Sol Kitchen and Bar (HCMC) – Saigon Horeca understands that: preservation equipment is only part of the solution. Most important is the overall design thinking – where equipment, functions and operating flow harmonize into an optimal system.
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The importance of preserving fresh ingredients
Many restaurant kitchens today still encounter common but serious problems: meat leaks and loses its texture, vegetables become waterlogged and easily rot, ingredients mix with each other due to lack of zoning, or refrigeration equipment is not sufficiently loaded, causing food to “cold cook” or lose its natural freshness. The consequence is not only the loss of ingredients, but also directly affects the quality of the food, the customer experience, and ultimately the restaurant’s profits.
In an commercial kitchen environment – where the volume of ingredients is large, the frequency of use is high and the preparation time is short – any error in storage can lead to risks of infection, loss of ingredients, or more seriously, affect customer health and brand reputation.
Therefore, restaurants, hotels, central kitchens or professional bars all need to invest in specialized freezing/refrigeration equipment to control temperature, humidity and storage time accurately.
At projects like Canteen Sheh Fung, where the volume of fresh ingredients that need to be preserved every day serves meals for hundreds of employees, or Sol Kitchen and Bar – a modern bar kitchen model serving both food and drinks – refrigerators and cold tables are not just equipment, but are factors that ensure smooth operation and retain the “soul” of each dish.
Specialized storage solutions: Classification of equipment and functions
In commercial kitchen design, each equipment is not only selected according to technical standards, but also must be consistent with operating procedures, location and menu characteristics of each F&B model.
Especially with fresh ingredients – which are sensitive to time and temperature – the choice of specialized preservation equipment needs to be carefully considered. Below are the two most important and common devices:
Dedicated refrigerators and freezers – Store ingredients effectively in groups
Main function:
2-door and 4-door cabinets, large and small capacities vary depending on the area and needs of each kitchen area. For kitchen spaces with large areas or needing to store a large amount of ingredients, a 4-door cabinet is the ideal choice. On the contrary, with a small kitchen, a 2-door cabinet will optimize space more effectively.
The cabinets are designed to meet food safety standards, with a stable temperature range, limited moisture loss, and optimal preservation of ingredients in groups.
Vertical refrigerators/freezers are the ideal choice for kitchens that need to preserve large quantities of ingredients, need to clearly classify food groups such as meat, fish, vegetables, eggs… With a stable temperature range, the cabinet can be easily divided into independent compartments or shelves for each ingredient group, avoiding odor mixing and reducing the risk of cross-contamination.
Outstanding advantages:
- Save floor space: Tall, vertical design, optimizing vertical space.
- Easy retrieval and inventory: Glass doors or stainless steel doors help chefs easily check inventory and arrange it appropriately according to the FIFO principle.
- Suitable for all sizes: Meets preservation needs for restaurants with rich menus.
Important note:
The use of cheap, poor quality preservation equipment can lead to many consequences in actual operations:
- Consumes electricity: Cheap refrigerators often have poor cooling systems. Every time the refrigerator door is opened to get food, cold heat escapes and the refrigerator takes longer to regain cool temperature, causing electricity consumption to increase dramatically – especially during peak hours.
- High noise level, unstable operation: Affects the working space and customer experience if placed in an open kitchen.
- Low life expectancy, easy to break: Causes operational disruption and incurs future maintenance and replacement costs.
Therefore,investing in high-quality equipment from the beginning not only ensures durability and preservation efficiency but also helps significantly save long-term operating costs.
The cabinet lines provided by Saigon Horeca all meet the standards of energy saving, fast cooling, thick cabinet shells that retain heat well, ensuring the freshness of ingredients even under conditions of continuous use.
Practical applications:
At the Ganh Hao Mui Da project (Vung Tau) – one of the famous seafood restaurants with a daily input output of up to hundreds of kilograms – Saigon Horeca has equipped a system of hoshizaki imported 2-door stainless steel vertical refrigerators, dividing separate temperature compartments for fresh seafood and vegetables. This layout not only helps maintain freshness, but also improves operational efficiency and food hygiene.
2.2. Freeze/cool table – Combines flexible storage and preparation
Main function:
Saigon Horeca provides 2–3 wing freezer/cooler tables, often used in preparation areas, salad bars, sushi lines or direct service areas. Depending on the layout area and operation needs, you can choose a 2-wing table for narrow spaces or a 3-wing table to expand the material storage area under the table.
This is a smart 2 in 1 solution, acting as both a storage device and a tabletop for preparing ingredients. This equipment usually has a refrigerator compartment below to preserve frozen meat products in preparation for processing, vegetables, and pre-processed foods; above is a stainless steel or stone tabletop for direct operation, very suitable for salad bars, open kitchens, sushi lines, or beverage mixing counters.
Outstanding advantages:
- Save space and operation time, use it as a work table.
- Maintains continuous freshness of ingredients during preparation.
- Increase the aesthetics of an open kitchen or direct service kitchen.
Practical applications:
At Sol Kitchen and Bar (HCMC) – a modern kitchen bar model, serving both European and Asian cuisine – Saigon Horeca has designed an open kitchen line with integrated cold table right at the service counter.
Employees can easily prepare salads, prepare fresh fruit, top cocktails or present dishes right at the counter, thanks to the open kitchen line system designed by Saigon Horeca integrating many cold tables placed directly in the processing and serving area.
The tables are clearly divided: cool tables storing vegetables, salads, and fruits are completely separate from freezer tables or cold tables storing meat, fish, and raw foods. This layout not only ensures food hygiene and safety, keeps ingredients fresh throughout service hours, and increases direct interaction between chefs and customers.
With design thinking based on actual operations, Saigon Horeca always selects and integrates preservation equipment that best suits the operational characteristics of each kitchen model, ensuring a balance between function, aesthetics and long-term efficiency.
In addition, Saigon Horeca specializes in providing professional kitchen equipment solutions and food preservation equipment for restaurants, hotels, and culinary establishments. However, regarding the types of fresh ingredient preservation equipment listed, Saigon Horeca mainly provides the following specific products:
1. Specialized refrigerator:
Specialized refrigerators and freezers for restaurants, hotels and food processing facilities. These cabinets help preserve fresh food, seafood, meat, and vegetables under ideal temperature conditions to maintain freshness and quality.
2. Specialized cold table:
Saigon Horeca provides Hoshizaki cooling tables and Fujimak freezing tables, which are widely used in food processing areas in the kitchen, helping to maintain the freshness of ingredients during processing.
3. Fresh food storage cabinet:
Seafood, meat and vegetable preservation cabinets with modern refrigeration systems and specially designed for restaurants and commercial kitchens.
4. Vacuum Packaging:
Saigon Horeca also provides vacuum machines to help preserve fresh food in vacuum packaging, extending storage time without losing food quality.
However, some equipment such as wine storage cabinet, food drying cabinet or industrial refrigerator may not be key products in Saigon Horeca’s portfolio. Depending on the needs and requirements of customers, Saigon Horeca will provide the most suitable products to meet the needs of preserving fresh ingredients in commercial kitchens.
5. Winter Storage/ Cool Storage
Large-scale preservation solution for restaurants and hotels that need to store large amounts of food to serve continuous daily processing or order cycles.
Cold warehouses are designed with industrial refrigeration systems, automatic control, ensuring stable temperature maintenance 24/7, helping to reduce the load on small equipment and optimize general warehouse operations.
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