In the culinary world, it’s easy to get swept up in the glamour of the front-of-house or the flash of custom knives and high-end ranges. But ask any seasoned operator, and they’ll tell you the exact same thing: true kitchen efficiency happens entirely behind the scenes. To continue our website feature and social media series, "The Equipment I Can’t Live Without," our Director of Marketing & E-Commerce, Megan Keiswetter, conducted a virtual Q&A with Chef Keith Robins, the Corporate Chef at Equipment Preference Inc (EPI Kitchen).
With a unique background that spans over two decades of military engineering and a decade of corporate culinary leadership, Chef Keith understands back-of-house logistics with mathematical precision. Today, he channels that dual expertise into helping operators optimize their spaces, streamline workflows, and select heavy-duty equipment built to survive the high-volume demands of modern foodservice.
Here’s a glimpse into Chef Keith’s transition from naval engineering to the culinary world, his stripped-down operational essentials, and why multi-functional support gear is the ultimate secret weapon for a shrinking commercial footprint.
From Navy Blueprint to BOH: An Engineered Path to the Line
Most chefs cut their teeth in local dish pits as teenagers, but Chef Keith’s path to the commercial kitchen took a decidedly different route. He spent 26 years serving as an Electro-Mechanical Engineer in the U.S. Navy, developing extensive expertise in leadership, technical precision, and managing mission-critical projects under high-pressure conditions.
Though engineering was his day-to-day reality, cooking was his lifelong passion. After retiring from the military, he decided to turn that passion into a formal craft, enrolling in culinary school to earn a four-year degree in Culinary Management.
"My journey to become a chef might be a little different from most," Keith shared. "I’ve always had a passion for cooking, so once I retired from the military, even though the engineering field was still my bread and butter so to speak, I enrolled into culinary school to pursue my love for cooking—but not specifically to work in the field. My 'aha' moment was when I met the wonderful people of EPI during my final semester of culinary school. Ten years later, and I’m still going."
The Stripped-Down Essential Five: The Core BOH Hardware
When asked the foundational question of our series—"If a crisis forced you to strip your entire back-of-house down to a bare-bones setup just to keep the doors open, what operational hardware survives?"—Chef Keith took a structural, holistic approach. His top five essentials focus entirely on the core pillars of food production, storage, safety, and flow:
- Oven/Range (Including Ventilation): The undisputed heart of the hot line where the actual cooking happens.
- Food Prep Equipment: The processing power needed to turn raw inventory into service-ready components.
- Refrigeration Storage Equipment: The critical, non-negotiable line of defense for safe food preservation.
- Dry Storage Equipment: The heavy-duty organizational framework required to keep dry goods accessible and safe.
- Sanitation Gear: The warewashing and cleaning infrastructure that keeps a kitchen compliant and operational.
The Hidden Power of Small Appliances
While the main cook line takes up the bulk of the equipment budget, Chef Keith emphasizes that a kitchen’s true day-to-day functionality relies heavily on smaller, unglamorous support tools.
"While the oven is the true star in the back of the house, smaller appliances like mixers, food processors, and blenders also play a major role in the functionality of the kitchen," Keith explains. Without these reliable workhorses executing prep work behind the scenes, the main cook line quickly grinds to a painful halt.
Defeating the "One-Trick Pony": Maximizing Shrinking Footprints
With modern commercial real estate costs climbing, kitchen footprints are shrinking even as volume demands increase. As an engineer, Chef Keith looks at layout design as a problem of spatial optimization. His number one rule for maximizing limited square footage? Eliminate single-use equipment.
"The days of 'one-trick ponies'—equipment with only one function—are over," said Keith. "Careful consideration has to be focused on equipment that provides multi-functional operations. That really holds true to locations with limited space."
He compares multi-purpose kitchen support gear to the ultimate culinary tool: a chef’s knife. "Anytime you can have a piece of equipment that performs multiple tasks over a single-task piece of equipment, you are better off in the kitchen. The best example I have would be my chef’s knife. In the culinary world, there are all kinds of specialized knives that you might use every now and then; but my chef’s knife is used every day for multiple purposes."
Equipment Built for Abuse: Spotting Quality Construction
Cheaply constructed gear rarely survives the brutal realities of high-volume foodservice. When inspecting a kitchen setup, Chef Keith applies his technical engineering eye to look past the shiny stainless steel and identify structural details that signal true durability. And for operators looking to invest in new equipment, Keith offers clear advice: look at the reputation of who built it, and don’t let a low price tag fool you.
💡 Chef Keith’s Pro Tip: "First and foremost, the manufacturer’s history should be taken into consideration. Manufacturers providing the same product are NOT all created equal. In the long run, less doesn’t mean better. When inspecting structural details that give me confidence that a unit is built to last, I look for things like weld builds (how the seams are put together), the gauge thickness, and hinge construction," Keith notes.
Engineering a Solution: The Custom 12-Drawer Cabinet
That desire for structural innovation is exactly why Chef Keith loves collaborating with specialized manufacturers. Early on in his tenure at EPI, he ran into a common kitchen headache: small utensils were constantly going missing or getting disorganized, and tight space restrictions meant a standard shelving unit wouldn’t fit.
Instead of settling for a catalog item that didn’t quite work, he utilized the empty space underneath his existing prep tables to create a custom storage solution with the engineering team at New Age Industrial.
"Early on, I was having issues tracking my various utensils and keeping them in a clean environment," Keith recalls. "My space was limited, but I had prep tables that had underneath space. So we did the measurements and got with the engineers at New Age Industrial to design and deliver us a custom 12-drawer cabinet that allowed for secure storage of all our utensils."
Beyond custom builds, New Age’s standard foodservice equipment solutions have become a permanent fixture in his daily setup. "For my current situation, storage space was very limited," Keith said. "New Age’s shelving system was a game changer for my dry and equipment storage. It definitely improved the functionality of our back of the house."
Industry Reality vs. Pop Culture Romance
When asked about Hollywood’s portrayal of the culinary world, Chef Keith points to one specific film that captures the high-stakes, intense environment of a commercial kitchen. "The movie Burnt," Keith said. "And that’s my final answer."
Yet, while pop culture loves the drama of the line, Keith emphasizes that the modern culinary industry is undergoing a massive shift that requires chefs to be as strategic as they are creative.
"Restaurants are being asked to do a lot more with less equipment and personnel," Keith notes. "Technology can play a major role in providing options to meet these challenges. It would be wise to maintain an open mind to the possibilities that technology could play in the success of your operations."
Kitchen Debates & A Mediterranean Memory
The culinary world thrives on strong opinions, and Chef Keith was happy to weigh in on some of the industry’s most debated topics:
- The First Thing He Notices When Dining as a Guest: "For me, it’s always been the greeting and the condition of the bathrooms." He couldn’t be more spot on with that answer! 🤓
- Does Pineapple Belong on Pizza?: "It’s a preference thing for me, so this highly debated topic is simple: If you have the right balance of toppings with the right cheese and sauce, the answer is YES." So…he’s telling us there’s a chance! 😏
- His Dream Dining Experience—a Blast From the Past: "I would have to go a long way back to 1989. I don’t remember the restaurant name, but I will never forget the food and scenery. It was a fishing port on the Island of Corfu, Greece. My wife and I were having the Fish Bianco with a nice glass of white wine." That sounds delightful—we’ll definitely be joining them! 🤤
Designing from the Inside Out: Advice for the Next Generation
As a corporate chef who regularly guides new operators through the purchasing process, Keith sees first-time owners make the same critical mistake over and over: blowing their capital budget on front-of-house aesthetics while starving their back-of-house infrastructure.
"It’s so standard to focus on what they consider to be the main 'big money' cooking items," Keith explains. "Unfortunately, it’s usually down the road that they’ll realize the money they are paying out to replace those inferior, cheaply made back-of-house support items is incredibly expensive."
To combat this, Keith and the EPI team rely on a "show, don’t tell" consulting philosophy. "We usually provide historical data to support the products that we recommend and demonstrate things to the best of our ability. Talk is talk, however showing really tells the tale."
His final words of wisdom for the next generation of culinary leaders? Keep your horizons wide. "To the next generation of chefs: don’t put yourself in a box. The foodservice and culinary world is a massive exploration. Find the best path that works for you."
About Our Partner: Equipment Preference Inc (EPI Kitchen)
At New Age Industrial, we know that top-tier equipment is only half the equation—you also need the right expertise to bring a commercial space to life. That is why we are incredibly proud to partner with Equipment Preference Inc (EPI Kitchen), one of the industry’s premier foodservice manufacturers’ representative agencies.
For years, EPI Kitchen has set the standard for operational consulting, equipment portfolio representation, and facility optimization, helping commercial foodservice operators match their unique menu concepts with the exact hardware needed to succeed.
Experience Innovation: The EPI Test Kitchen & SpeCenter
EPI doesn’t just ask operators to look at equipment spec sheets; they invite them to test-drive the hardware in a real-world environment. At their state-of-the-art Test Kitchen & SpeCenter in Grapevine, TX, chefs, independent restaurateurs, and multi-unit chains can experiment with menu development, analyze prep-line ergonomics, and evaluate equipment performance before making a single capital investment.
Whether you need to see how heavy-duty aluminum shelving units optimize a tight dry storage footprint or test the throughput of a multi-functional cooking line, EPI’s interactive facility bridges the gap between manufacturing innovation and real-world culinary execution.
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- Facebook: @NewAgeIndustrial
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Connect with EPI Kitchen To learn more about optimizing your commercial kitchen workflow or to schedule a session at the premier EPI Test Kitchen & SpeCenter, visit the official EPI Kitchen Website.
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