All-you-can-eat sushi kitchen: equipment, space and rules

The equipment you need

In the projects we have seen, the layout is almost always the same: a central wok block with 8-11 burners, sushi display cases and many refrigerated counters. The table gives the median among the venues that have that equipment.

• Dishwasher: usually hood-type (16 cases out of 27, median 124 seats); rack conveyor in the larger venues (median 192 seats).
• Less common: glass washer (48%), combi oven (37%), rice cooker (30%: the owner often buys it separately; when there is one, 4 or 5).
• Fryer: sometimes it is built into the wok block, so it is more common than this.
• Caution: all-you-can-eat is written down in only 5 cases, in the others it is assumed; the data come from offers and orders, not always from the kitchen actually installed.

How much space you need

Medians per seat, from 13 projects with the square metres written on the floor plan:

• Kitchen only: 0.21 m² (sometimes it includes preparation).
• Kitchen, preparation, dishwashing and storage: 0.64 m².
• Dining room: 2.03 m²; half of the cases are between 1.5 and 3.2 m².
• Minimum in Lombardy: kitchen, storage, cold rooms and dishwashing together: at least 0.5 m² per seat and at least 20 m², unless the ATS says otherwise (RLI Lombardy).
• Quick estimate for 120 seats: minimum 60 m²; from the medians about 77 m², kitchen only about 25 m², dining room about 245 m².
• Quick estimate for 260 seats: minimum 130 m²; from the medians about 166 m², kitchen only about 55 m², dining room about 530 m².

With more seats, display cases, refrigerated counters and cold rooms grow, but not the cooking equipment: in the cases there is one wok block, one griddle, one steamer and one blast chiller at 80 seats and at 500 seats alike.

How to organise the kitchen

The flow goes forward: goods, storage and cold rooms, preparation, cooking, pass, dining room. Dirty and clean never cross.

• Raw zone: raw fish has its own space, separate from cooking, with refrigerated counters and a food sink.
• Sushi counter: display cases facing the dining room protect the food from customers and keep it at the right temperature.
• Dishwashing: in a separate room or area; dirty dishes do not pass through the raw zone.
• Cooking and hood: wok, griddle, fryer and steamer stand under the hood, which overhangs at least 300 mm on the free sides and 600 mm in front of appliances with a front door (EN 16282-2).
• Heights: lower edge of the hood between 2.0 and 2.5 m; filters at least 0.45 m above the cooking surface, otherwise a fire suppression system is required.

The main rules in Lombardy

They apply where the municipality has adopted the Lombardy model hygiene regulation (RLI). Milan adds its own. The source is in brackets.

• Separate zones: to prepare raw food, to cook and to garnish, with hot and cold water sinks (RLI Lombardy).
• Over 100 meals a day: separate spaces for meat, vegetables, cheese and cured meats, first courses; no crossing between dirty and clean (RLI Lombardy).
• Hand-wash basin: at least one in the kitchen, separate from the food sinks, with soap and hygienic drying (Reg. 852/2004).
• Cold: enough refrigerators and cold rooms, with controllable temperature (Reg. 852/2004) and a thermometer visible from outside (RLI Lombardy).
• Raw fish: which treatments are needed before serving it: check with the ATS.
• Flue: the hood discharges into a flue above the roof (RLI Lombardy); outside Milan, municipalities usually do not accept activated carbon hoods.
• Milan: filter-only hoods are allowed only with all-electric appliances; with gas woks you need a flue to the roof (Milan Building Code).
• Gas: add up the kW of all gas appliances in the same room and in connected rooms; above 116 kW you need a fire brigade (Vigili del Fuoco) application (DM 8/11/2019).
• Over 35 kW of gas: permanent openings in an outside wall (at least 10 cm² per kW above ground), a manual valve outside the kitchen, class F extinguishers near surfaces with oil (DM 8/11/2019).
• Drains: a grease separator that the drain-cleaning truck can reach, emptied at least once a month (EN 1825-2).
• Milan, used oil: to authorised companies, never into the sewer, with a place for the container in the waste store (Milan water service regulation).
• Changing room: mandatory with work uniforms; separate for men and women above 5 employees; one double-compartment locker per worker (D.Lgs. 81/2008, RLI Lombardy).
• Changing room, size: in Lombardy 1 m² per worker present at the same time, in Milan 1.5 m² and at least 5 m²: check with the ATS.
• Staff WC: reserved for staff, with anteroom and hand-wash basin (RLI Lombardy); no WC opens onto the kitchen, storage or dining room (Reg. 852/2004).

Typical mistakes

• Short hood: it ends flush with the wok block, or leaves out the fryer and the steamer.
• Raw fish on the wrong counter: raw fish is handled on the cooking or dishwashing counter.
• Dirty into clean: dirty dishes pass in front of the raw zone.
• No hand-wash basin: hands are washed in the fish sink.
• Gas counted piece by piece: one appliance at a time instead of the total.
• Budget without rice: rice cookers and steamers are left out of the count.

How much the equipment costs

• Sushi restaurant with 120 seats: €32,000–56,000.
• Sushi restaurant with 260 seats: €57,000–90,000.

These are indicative prices for the equipment, excluding VAT, installation and utility systems. Rice cookers and steamers may not be included.

How to get a free preview

• Floor plan: upload the floor plan of your venue, or describe it in words.
• Details: give the seats, the services (lunch, dinner), the municipality and whether you cook with gas or electricity.
• Check: the engine proposes zones and equipment; a designer reviews the preview before you see it.
• What you get: a preview without dimensions, brands or codes; the full design and the construction drawings are paid services.

This guide is not legal advice: in real projects the designer, licensed technicians and the ATS decide. With the free Brigaplan preview, the engine checks these rules on your floor plan.