What to put in your request
A supplier can only price what they can see. Answer these and the quotes come back for the same job, which is the only way they can be compared.
- What you need: new equipment, used or refurbished equipment, a full kitchen fit-out, replacements for units that have failed, or a service and repair contract.
- Each item with its size or capacity and its fuel: LP gas, piped natural gas or electric, and for electric, single-phase or three-phase. For a fit-out, a floor plan showing where each item goes.
- What the kitchen produces and for how many: the menu, meals a day and the busiest service. It decides the size of the fryers, ovens, refrigeration and dishwashing.
- The services already there: where the gas, electrical points, water and drains are, the size of the electrical supply, whether there is a grease trap, and whether the extraction canopy stays.
- For refrigeration and hot holding: the temperatures each unit must hold, what goes in it, and whether it has to stand in a hot kitchen.
- Access for delivery: doorway and passage widths, stairs and lifts, and how far it is from the truck to the kitchen.
- Installation: who connects the gas, wires the electrical points and connects water and drains, and whether your staff are shown how to use and clean each unit.
- Old equipment to be taken away, and when the kitchen can be closed for the work.
What to compare when the quotes come back
The lowest total is where comparing starts, not where it ends.
- The make, model and capacity line by line, so a lower price is not a smaller or lighter-duty unit under the same description.
- Materials where food touches. The national food hygiene regulations want food-contact surfaces smooth, rust-proof, non-toxic and non-absorbent, without open joints or seams, so ask what each work surface and sink is made of.
- What the delivered price includes: delivery into the kitchen, unpacking, positioning, connecting gas, electricity and water, commissioning, and removing the packaging.
- Whether fridges, freezers, bains-marie and hot cupboards show their temperature. The same regulations expect a thermometer on them that can be read easily, or another sound way of monitoring the temperature.
- The warranty: how long, whether it covers parts and labour, who services the brand locally, and how quickly a technician comes when a fryer or fridge fails during service.
- For used equipment: its age, what was replaced, whether it has had a gas or electrical safety check, and whether there is any warranty.
- For a service contract: what each visit covers, including the canopy filters and the extraction duct. Cape Town's fire by-law, for one, forbids an owner to let combustible deposits build up in a duct to the point of a fire hazard.
On SupScope every quote arrives with the same three figures: the total, the lead time and the deposit. The first comparison is done before you open anything. The rest of this list is what to read in each supplier's notes and documents.
Paperwork worth asking for
- A certificate of conformity for the gas installation
- Under the Pressure Equipment Regulations, only an authorised person may install or remove a gas appliance or gas system. The installation must be inspected and leak-tested before it is first used, and the authorised person issues a certificate of conformity after any installation, modification or alteration. SAQCC Gas registers authorised persons by category, and domestic, commercial and industrial LP gas work are separate categories, so check that the installer's card covers commercial kitchens.
- The fire service's approval for larger gas storage
- Municipal fire by-laws control how much LP gas a business may keep. Cape Town's, for example, requires a flammable substance certificate from the fire service to store or use more than 100 kg of flammable gas, and building plans before a new gas storage installation is built, and forbids a gas supplier to deliver more than that to premises without the certificate. Rules vary by municipality, so ask yours, and ask the supplier how many cylinders the kitchen will need.
- A certificate of compliance for new electrical points
- Wiring a new circuit, isolator or socket for a stove, oven, fryer or dishwasher is electrical installation work, and the Electrical Installation Regulations require a certificate of compliance from a registered person for it. Ask whether the supplier's electrician issues one, or whether you need your own.
- A word with environmental health before a refit
- Food premises need a certificate of acceptability from the municipality, issued once an inspector is satisfied that the premises and their facilities meet the national food hygiene regulations (R638). If your kitchen already has one, the regulations require you to tell the local authority in writing, in advance, before changing anything those requirements cover, such as the layout, work surfaces, sinks and hand-wash basins, or ventilation.
And from any supplier
- A SARS Tax Compliance Status PIN
- It replaced the old tax clearance certificate. Checking it on eFiling shows the supplier's status on the day you check, not the day it was issued.
- A B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit
- Only if your own scorecard counts it. Small suppliers (turnover up to R10 million) may use an affidavit instead of a verified certificate.
- Company registration and a bank confirmation letter
- Worth having before the first payment, so the account you pay is the company you chose.
General guidance, not legal advice. Regulations change, and some depend on your municipality or the job, so confirm anything you rely on with the authority concerned.
How this works on SupScope
- Step 1
Post it once
Describe the job and choose Kitchen & Catering Equipment and your province.
- Step 2
It reaches the right suppliers
Only suppliers who work in this trade and cover your province see it.
- Step 3
Compare and award
Quotes arrive side by side. Accept one and the others are told.