What is a Dunnage Rack and How it Can
Help Your Commercial Kitchen

The Importance of a Dunnage Rack

If you’re in the foodservice industry, you know how critical it is that your commercial kitchen stays clean, organized, and tidy.

Having a foodservice workspace that is cluttered and disorganized is a surefire way for your foodservice business to lose efficiency, leading to numerous challenges for your location and employees.

Effective storage space is paramount in a foodservice environment and helps businesses maintain hygiene, organization and workflow effectiveness.

In addition to other foodservice equipment like racks and shelves, dunnage racks play a vital role in the operation of a commercial kitchen.

In this article, we dive into an overview of the multifunctional dunnage rack, its benefits, and how it can help foodservice operators expand the overall effectiveness of commercial food operations.

An Introduction to the Dunnage Rack

Simply put, the dunnage rack is a strong, low-profile platform that is designed to help foodservice operators keep items off the floor.

Typically, these racks are designed and manufactured from strong and durable materials like aluminum, stainless steel, or very heavy-duty plastics.

These racks are built to provide support for substantial weight, which makes them an ideal solution for commercial kitchens that need to store heavy, bulky items off the ground.

Dunnage racks come in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations that are built to accommodate the unique needs of foodservice operations.

Since these racks provide storage to help keep items off the ground, they ensure proper air circulation, cleanliness and easy access for busy commercial environments.

The dunnage rack not only serves a multitude of purposes related to the handling of foodservice materials but also helps with compliance from health and safety regulations.

Dunnage racks come in a number of different models that include stationary units, mobile units with casters, and even stacking capabilities to help maximize vertical storage space and operational efficiency.

Let’s explore how these multi-functional racks can better assist your foodservice location.

The Importance of Off-the-Floor Storage with Dunnage Racks

Let’s face it…

A commercial kitchen can be a messy place!

You don’t want your restaurant’s food and other important goods to comingle with the germs found on the floor.

That’s where dunnage racks are worth their weight in gold.

Keeping items elevated in a commercial foodservice operation serves a number of purposes, namely:

Helps to Prevent Food Contamination – By providing storage for your goods off the floor the dunnage rack helps to minimize the risk of contamination from germs, dirt, dust and other dangerous substances like cleaning chemicals. This is especially critical in commercial kitchen spaces that demand strict hygiene standards where food and other materials critical to the operation of the business cannot risk contamination.

Improves Airflow and Freshness – The last thing you want in a foodservice kitchen is your food spoiling due to poor air circulation. With a dunnage rack, your food and other goods are stored off the ground on a rack that encourages good airflow. This increased airflow helps to prevent mold and mildew growth that can plague commercial kitchens.

Improved Cleaning & Accessibility – By providing storage off the ground, the dunnage rack makes it much easier for foodservice operators to thoroughly clean the spaces around and under the stored goods. This increased accessibility helps to make sure that food particles and debris don’t accumulate on, around or under your stored goods, which can help extend the shelf lives of perishable items. 

Benefits of Using Dunnage Racks in a Commercial Kitchen Setting

Integrating dunnage racks into a commercial kitchen provides foodservice operators with a number of benefits.

These benefits not only help commercial kitchens run more efficiently, but also assist with employee accessibility and management of the foodservice location.

Some of the benefits of dunnage racks include:

Enhancing Organization: Dunnage Racks provide foodservice employees with dedicated spaces for storing heavy and bulky items that come into a foodservice location. A well-designed dunnage rack setup can help employees more easily locate, breakdown and access stored goods, which in turn helps the overall workflow efficiency of the business. 

Maximizing Storage Space: Space is extremely valuable in commercial kitchens, especially in smaller kitchens where storage space is limited. Dunnage racks help to free up critical space, allowing foodservice operators and employees to make more efficient use of a kitchen’s layout.

Heavy & Bulky Storage Capacity: A dunnage rack is designed and manufactured to support significant weight. These advanced weight capabilities help foodservice locations better store and handle heavy and bulky materials like flour, sugar, canned goods, and other heavy bulk ingredients. This strong construction helps to ensure that dunnage racks can handle the demands of a busy commercial kitchen at the peak times of operation.

Longevity & Durability: Since dunnage racks are typically manufactured from strong materials like aluminum or stainless steel, they are built to withstand the demands of a busy commercial environment. Dunnage racks are designed to resist rust, corrosion and wear and tear, making them a mainstay in a foodservice operation.

Versatility: Dunnage racks come in a variety of sizes, designs and functionalities that include options like fixed or mobile versions. These options allow foodservice operators to design dunnage rack setups that best fit the demands and objectives of a commercial kitchen. The versatility of the dunnage rack allows foodservice operators to choose the best locations and fit to meet specific storage needs, whether it is in walk-in refrigeration, dry-storage locations, or back-of-house spaces.

Choosing the best Dunnage Racks for your Foodservice Operation

Choosing dunnage racks that help maximize your workflow efficiency involves the consideration of a number of factors.

Some of the factors that foodservice operators need to think about when planning dunnage rack setups include:

Rack Material: Dunnage racks are available in a number of construction materials. Here at Channel Manufacturing, we design and manufacture dunnage racks in aluminum and stainless steel. Aluminum racks offer foodservice businesses superior durability in a lightweight design, as well as resistance to rust, which makes them an ideal choice for locations in your kitchen that are typically wet or humid. Stainless steel racks may be needed in operations where health codes may dictate, as in an institutional facility. Other manufacturers offer dunnage racks in heavy-duty plastic construction, although we have found that aluminum and stainless steel perform much more efficiently for foodservice operators.

Rack size and weight capacities: The next consideration for foodservice operators with respect to dunnage racks comes down to the size and weight of items that you plan on storing on the racks. It’s imperative to choose racks that can support the expected weight and size of the items that your team will be handling.

Rack mobility: Do you plan on having your racks in a fixed location, or does your kitchen require the use of mobile dunnage racks with heavy-duty casters? Knowing the demands of your kitchen will help you better plan for racks that are built to satisfy the unique demands of your kitchen and its expected operation.

Ventilation Demands: Do your stored items require more airflow? Considering racks that have a slotted design feature can help to provide more airflow and lessen the extent of moisture buildup to help keep your items fresher for longer. 

Planning for Dunnage Racks in your Commercial Kitchen

Choosing the best dunnage racks for your commercial kitchen is so much more than just buying some off-the-shelf racks! 

In order to best plan for the implementation of dunnage racks in your unique space, here are some tips:

Plan your storage needs carefully – Start by identifying all of the items that your business will need to plan to keep off the ground. Heavy items like bulk ingredients, cleaning supplies, and heavier equipment should all be considered in order to best plan for the unique demands of your location.

Plan the placement of racks – Next up; be sure to plan for dunnage racks in places where they can maximize the efficiency of your kitchen. Identify critical spaces for your dunnage racks where they can best help your team make operations more effective. For example, study your walk-in refrigeration and plan spaces where dunnage rack setups can be frequently accessed to help employees better tend to the operational demands in both peak and low-demand times.

Train your Staff about Dunnage Rack Effectiveness – Oftentimes foodservice staff do not understand the importance of rack systems and how they influence the operational workflow in tight commercial kitchens. Educating your kitchen staff on the proper use and maintenance of dunnage rack setups can help to keep food from going bad, and can extend the longevity of your rack systems.

Importance of Maintenance – Always be sure to plan for the regular inspection and maintenance of your dunnage rack systems. This is important to extend the usage and longevity of your racks and also encourages more cleanliness and sanitation in systems that encourage the freshness of your kitchen’s perishable items.

Dunnage Racks from Channel Manufacturing

Here at Channel Manufacturing, we design and manufacture a number of high-quality dunnage racks for commercial applications.

Some of our most popular dunnage racks include:

Traditional Dunnage Racks: Aluminum dunnage racks keep products organized and off of the floor. Meets all sanitary health codes. Made to measure for walk-in freezers, refrigerators and dry storage areas.

• Heavy duty, high tensile extruded aluminum.
• Lifetime guarantee against rust
• Shipped fully assembled and ready for use 

Stainless-steel Dunnage Racks: Stainless-steel dunnage racks keep products organized and off of the floor. Meets all sanitary health codes. Made to measure for walk-in freezers, refrigerators and dry storage areas.

• Heavy duty, thick gauge extruded stainless steel
• Shipped fully assembled and ready for use
• 4000 distributed weight capacity 

Extra Heavy-Duty Dunnage Racks: Lifetime heavy-duty dunnage racks keep products organized and off of the floor. Meets all sanitary health codes. Made to measure for walk-in freezers, refrigerators and dry storage areas.

• Heavy duty, high tensile extruded aluminum.
• Lifetime guarantee against rust
• Shipped fully assembled and ready for use 

Knockdown & Promo Series Dunnage Racks: Our aluminum knockdown dunnage racks keep the product organized and off of the floor. Meets all sanitary health codes. Made to measure for walk-in freezers, refrigerators and dry storage areas.

• Heavy duty, high tensile extruded aluminum.
• Lifetime guarantee against rust
• Promo series shipped fully assembled and ready for use
• Knockdown series requires minimal and simple assembly.

Final Thoughts on Dunnage Racks for Foodservice Applications 

Dunnage racks are an absolutely critical piece of equipment in the world of foodservice operations.

By offering a practical and efficient solution for off-the-floor storage, these durable racks help to enhance organization, maximize space, and promote hygiene and sanitation among products in the operation of the business.

Dunnage racks come in a variety of sizes and functions and investing in high-quality racks can help increase and improve workflow, increase storage management, and ultimately create a more productive and efficient kitchen environment.

At Channel Manufacturing we are proud to work one-on-one with foodservice operators to help them select, or custom-design, dunnage rack systems that are built to maximize the unique layout and demands in a commercial kitchen space.

Need help with your dunnage racks?

Contact our team today for personalized assistance with your unique dunnage rack demands.