Tools & Guides

Everything here is free to use.

Calculators, checklists, planning guides and the product portfolio itself. No form in front of any of it. If a tool gets you to a number you want a second opinion on, that is what the phone is for — 800.492.7400.

A row of combi ovens on a Zink culinary center demo floor
The demo floors these numbers come fromFig. 01

Size the equipment

Manufacturer-published sizing rules with the arithmetic done for you. Every answer is a starting point for a conversation, never a quote.

Ice machine sizing Drinks, seats, rooms or beds to pounds per day — Scotsman's own published rates, peak margin included. → Dish machine selector Seats and turns to machine class and the NSF rating to spec, on Champion's published bands and 70% rule. → Disposer sizing Two questions to a horsepower class — InSinkErator's published matrix. → Walk-in cooler sizer Meals per day to cubic feet and a nominal box. Pending manufacturer approval. → Kettle & cook/chill sizer Meals per day to the reference kettle battery, from Cleveland's published system guidelines. → Healthcare meal-delivery planner Bed count to trays, carts, chargers, and the right Dinex heat-retention system — with every source named. → Fryer sizing Peak-hour pounds to vat size, on the published 1.5–2× oil-capacity rule. → Soft serve & frozen beverage sizing Peak-hour servings to machine class, on published throughput ranges. → Blender duty class Blends per day against the published 60/150/200 duty ladder. → Coffee & espresso volume Peak-hour cups to brewing class, with espresso group math. → School serving-line planner Enrollment to lunch lines, milk demand, and refrigeration — on the federal school-facility rules. → Conveyor oven throughput Pizzas per hour by oven class, from Lincoln's published Impinger cooking guide. → Sink capacity & sanitizer Bowl dimensions to gallons, pan fit, and the published bleach-dosing table — per Advance Tabco's standards. → Shelving load & finish checker Your load against Metro's published ratings, and the right finish for the room. →

Plan the front of house

The dining room decisions that are expensive to revisit, worked from our furniture lines' own published guides.

Seating capacity & space planner Square footage and service style to a comfortable seat count and a starter table mix. → Table base selector Pick the top, get the base — G&A's and GAR's published matching guides, with spacing rules and stool heights. → Bar glassware stocking Seats and program style to starting glass counts, with Glastender's underbar planning data. Pending team verification. → Drinkware cost comparison Glass vs. plastic priced per year, on G.E.T.'s published lifespan and breakage figures. → Draft beer & keg planner Taps and weekly pints to kegs and cooler inventory — then design the bar in Glastender's own tool. → Banquet staffing & service Guests to servers, bars, and coffee gallons, on published event-planning ratios. →

Set the table, stock the house

Quantities, from published methodology — the questions our tabletop and smallwares team answers every day.

Place setting par level calculator Seats, dish-cycle turns, service buffer and breakage reserve, run through the formula our tabletop team uses on a job. → Buffet & hotel pan planner Guests and portions against the standard pan chart: pans, chafers and utensils, item by item. → Glass rack finder Measure one glass, get the rack — Carlisle's published OptiClean chart, interactive. → Scoop & disher sizes The #4–#100 chart with a calculator that picks the right disher for your portion. → Can sizes & servings #10 to 8 oz with cups, servings and case packs, from the USDA Food Buying Guide. → The smallwares opening checklist Every category a new kitchen forgets until the week it opens. Printable, and organized by station. →

Charts & references

The pages kitchens keep taped up somewhere — interactive, printable, and sourced.

The Zink Field Kit — nine printable sheets The charts kitchens laminate and the scorecards buyers fill in — with your rep's name and photo printed on. → Food safety temperature chart Cooking, holding, cooling and reheating per the FDA Food Code, on one printable page. → Detergent dilution calculator Container and strength to the exact scoop, from Alconox's published tables — with a printable dose card. → Opening timeline planner Your opening date, worked backward through the eight decision windows that protect it. → Labor-hours equipment worksheet Turn the equipment moves you're considering into an hours-and-dollars frame for the budget conversation — every default editable. → School meal pattern calculator USDA component minimums by grade group, multiplied to your program's weekly quantities. → The interactive product portfolio Filter the product portfolio by your state and the category you are working in, then print the result. → New from our brands The newest products on the product portfolio — the full story on each, and a culinary center where you can put it through its paces. → The Partner Area Lead times, live stock and price updates on one password — printable, filtered to your state, updated by our inside team. →

Cut the utility bill

Energy, gas and water are the only costs on the P&L that negotiate quietly. The rebate money is real, and most of it goes unclaimed.

Equipment rebates by state Every active utility program in our eight states — what it covers, how it pays, and the application timing that decides whether you collect. Verified August 2026. → How kitchen rebates actually work Prescriptive, custom, and instant-at-the-dealer — who files what, and why the application comes before the purchase order. → The five cheapest fixes first Savings before you buy anything: schedules, setpoints, maintenance, strip curtains, and one $70 valve. → The energy walk-through — Field Kit Nº 9 A printable 15-check audit an operator runs with a clipboard, each check with its dollar logic. →
A live demo line in a Zink culinary center
Cook on it before you count on itFig. 02

Planning guides

The long-form version, written for the stage of the job you are actually at.

Opening a new location The equipment plan, in the order the decisions actually arrive. → Refrigeration & ice Sizing, placement and the failures that show up in year three. → Warewashing & the dishroom The room that decides how many plates you need to own. → Kitchen ventilation & air Make-up air, capture and the code conversation, in plain terms. → Building a tabletop program Pattern, par and open stock — how the three constrain each other. → Stocking the back of house Smallwares by station, and what to buy once versus what to buy twice. → Furniture & seating (FF&E) Lead times, seat counts and the specification traps in a dining room. →

See it before you buy it

Eight culinary centers across the Great Lakes. Bring your menu; there is no charge.

Find your culinary center Pick your state, get your kitchen — address, partner, and a one-click booking. → Book a Visit to a culinary center Tell us what you want to see and we will bring it in, or move it from another center, before you arrive. → All eight centers What each one holds, who runs it, and how to get there. → The video library Inside the centers, the brand film, and the equipment walkthroughs. → Events & the ZinkUbator Where to find us, and what the ZinkUbator is for. →

When you already own it

The two things people call about most, and the fastest route to each.

Manufacturer service locators Type the brand on the data plate, go straight to its authorized-service search. → Who to call first Manufacturer service, dealer, or Zink — one question and you're at the right door. → Hood filter ROI Your current cleaning schedule against your WoolGuard quote — your numbers, honest math. Pending manufacturer approval. → Something is down Tell us the brand and your location and we route you to the right authorized agent, usually the same day. → Find your rep Set your state once and every page shows your own territory manager first. → The full site index Every page on this site, on one page. →

Straight from the manufacturers

The manufacturers' own tools — the ones actually worth your time. Each opens on the manufacturer's site; bring us the result and we'll take it from there.

T&S Brass water savings calculator Flow rate, hours and utility costs in — water, sewer and energy dollars out. The best manufacturer tool on our product portfolio. → Scotsman ice machine selector Application and capacity to specific models and bins, from the manufacturer itself. → Carlisle Solution Center Glass rack finder, tablecloth size calculator, food pan guide and more, in one place. → Edlund portion control savings What portion drift costs you per year, and what a scale program saves. → Metro 3D design tools Shelf, room, track and wall builders — design a storage room in the browser. → Advance Tabco 3D configurator Custom sinks, tables and fabrication, built up in real time. → Glastender Designer Lay out an entire bar — underbar, refrigeration, dispensing — in the browser, from the manufacturer itself. →

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