[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"global-fr":3,"blog-commercial-kitchen-projects-syria-middle-east-africa":25},{"email":4,"phone1":5,"phone2":5,"address":6,"facebook":7,"linkedin":8,"whatsapp":9,"instagram":10,"phone1Raw":11,"phone2Raw":11,"logoFooter":12,"logoHeader":13,"footerTagline":14,"showroomHours":15},"info@ipec.me","+961 70 389 000","IPEC Bldg., Jeita Highway, Zouk Mosbeh\nKeserwan, Lebanon","https://www.facebook.com/ipeckitchen","https://www.linkedin.com/company/ipec-commercial-kitchen-equipment/","96176360871","https://www.instagram.com/ipec.foodservice/","+96170389000","/images/logos/ipec-logo-white.png","/images/logos/ipec-logo.png","Professional Kitchen Equipment Since 1980",[16,19,22],{"days":17,"hours":18},"Monday – Friday","8:00 AM – 6:00 PM",{"days":20,"hours":21},"Saturday","8:00 AM – 2:00 PM",{"days":23,"hours":24},"Sunday","Closed",{"id":26,"slug":27,"title":28,"excerpt":29,"body":30,"category":31,"cover_image":32,"read_time":33,"published":34,"published_at":35,"created_at":36,"updated_at":36,"images":37,"author_name":38,"author_role":39,"author_bio":40,"author_slug":41,"author_url":42},"d53975ab-4e3b-4c01-b5b1-9c7b891cceec","commercial-kitchen-projects-syria-middle-east-africa","How to Deliver a Commercial Kitchen Project Across Borders: Engineering, Equipment & Installation in the Middle East and Africa","How cross-border kitchen projects are delivered: specification, MEP packages, BIM coordination, export consolidation and the support model after handover.","\u003Cp style=\"font-size:0.95rem;color:#375974;border-left:3px solid #99461D;padding:2px 0 2px 14px;margin-bottom:1.8rem;\">\u003Cstrong>Written for consultants, main contractors, hotel developers, project management companies and institutional project teams\u003C/strong> delivering commercial kitchens across Syria, the Middle East and Africa.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>A commercial kitchen project rarely fails because someone bought the wrong oven. It fails because the electrical riser was sized before anyone knew the combi steamer needed three-phase, because the hood was fabricated to a drawing that predated the final equipment list, because the container cleared customs three weeks late without a certificate of origin, or because a fully commissioned cooking suite sat unusable for two months waiting on a gas regulator that nobody thought to ship with it.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Those failures multiply the moment the project crosses a border. Distance removes the ability to walk on site and fix a problem in an afternoon, replacing improvisation with documentation — which is precisely what a project team needs from a foodservice partner and rarely receives.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC has been engineering, supplying and installing professional kitchens from Lebanon since 1980. This guide sets out how a cross-border kitchen project is actually delivered: what must be decided before anything is ordered, what an equipment and MEP package has to contain to be usable by a consultant in another country, how foodservice data feeds a BIM model, how goods are documented and consolidated, and how a kitchen is supported after demobilisation.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Why cross-border kitchen projects fail — three predictable gaps\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>Across four decades of regional work, almost every troubled project traces back to one of three gaps. Each is worth naming, because each has a specific remedy.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Gap 1 — The sourcing gap\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Equipment is selected from a catalogue rather than specified against an operation. A pastry kitchen producing 400 croissants a day is given a deck oven sized for 120. A hotel in a high-ambient climate receives refrigeration rated for a temperate climate class. A site running on bottled LPG receives appliances configured for natural gas. None of these are equipment defects. They are specification defects, and they surface on commissioning day.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Gap 2 — The MEP gap\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The kitchen supplier delivers a layout. The building's mechanical, electrical and plumbing consultant delivers a services design. Neither document tells the other what it needs to know. The MEP engineer is asked to design a distribution board from a list of product names. The kitchen supplier is told the drainage is "already done". When the equipment arrives, connection points are in the wrong place, at the wrong height, in the wrong quantity, at the wrong rating — and civil works have already been poured over them.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Gap 3 — The aftercare gap\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The kitchen opens. Six months later a door gasket splits, a thermostat drifts, a motor bearing wears. In the supplier's home market that is a call-out. Across a border it is a customs clearance, a lead time and a shut section of the line. Projects that budget for supply and installation but not for a parts and support strategy tend to degrade quickly in their second year.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Everything that follows is structured around closing those three gaps.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Why Lebanon works as an engineering base for regional projects\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>Four things make a Lebanese base practical for projects in Syria, the wider Middle East and Africa.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Proximity.\u003C/strong> Lebanon sits at the near edge of the Levant, with direct road and sea routes into the region. That shortens the distance between the engineering team and the site during design, delivery and installation.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Open European sourcing built over 45 years.\u003C/strong> Established French and European supply channels mean equipment can be sourced against the specification rather than against a house catalogue — and sourced direct from the manufacturer, which is what governs technical documentation, conformity evidence, warranty processing and parts continuity.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>In-house stainless fabrication.\u003C/strong> Bespoke tabling, sinks, hoods and shelving are engineered and fabricated to the approved drawing, so the fixed elements of the kitchen are built around the specified appliances rather than the room being compromised to fit stock furniture.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Three working languages.\u003C/strong> Drawings, schedules and operating documentation are produced in English, French and Arabic. Across the Levant, North Africa, the Gulf and francophone West and Central Africa, that removes an entire layer of translation risk from technical documents and from operator training.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\n\u003Cp>Behind all four sits the more decisive factor: four decades of designing, installing and servicing kitchens under demanding operating conditions — high ambient temperatures, unstable utility supply, generator changeover and variable water quality. That experience is what shapes a specification, and it is not something a catalogue can supply.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 1 — Specification and sourcing\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>Specification is the highest-leverage stage of the entire project. A decision made here costs nothing to change; the same decision made after fabrication costs a hood, a wall and a month.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Brand-neutral specification first, brand selection second\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The correct order is to write the performance requirement, then select the manufacturer that meets it. That means defining, for each position on the line: throughput per service, duty cycle, dimensional envelope, energy source, connected load, hygiene classification and expected service life. Only once that exists does a brand name belong on the drawing.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC works this way deliberately. Our \u003Ca href=\"/services/design\">kitchen design consulting\u003C/a> produces a specification that a competing supplier could quote against. We carry the brands to supply it once approved, but the design is not written backwards from a stock list.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>One approved schedule, two supply routes\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC combines European cooking and preparation equipment with locally engineered bespoke stainless fabrication, allowing the complete package to be coordinated around a single approved equipment schedule — and consolidated into a single planned delivery.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>On the appliance side, sourcing is open rather than fixed. Four decades of established French and European supply channels mean the specification is not constrained to a house catalogue: if the operation, the brand standard or the consultant's specification calls for a particular manufacturer, we source it. That is deliberate, because on a project the specification should determine the manufacturer, never the reverse.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Where the specification leaves a genuine choice, we consolidate — fewer manufacturers across one schedule means fewer parts channels, fewer warranty processes and fewer technical contacts to manage at distance. Open access first, deliberate consolidation second.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>On the fabrication side, custom stainless steel is engineered and produced in-house to the approved drawing and shipped in the same consolidated load as the appliances. See the \u003Ca href=\"/products/stainless-steel\">custom stainless fabrication\u003C/a> programme.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Specification checks that only matter on export projects\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>These items never appear on a domestic order and cause most of the trouble on an international one.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Electrical supply.\u003C/strong> Confirm the site's actual voltage, frequency and phase availability at the kitchen distribution board — not the national nominal. Three-phase availability is the most common late discovery on a project.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Generator behaviour.\u003C/strong> Where utility supply is interrupted regularly, confirm which equipment must survive changeover and which must be shed. Compressors and electronic controls behave very differently under an unstable supply.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Gas family and pressure.\u003C/strong> Confirmed against actual site conditions before procurement. LPG is common across much of the region, and injectors and regulators must be ordered with the equipment rather than sourced locally afterwards.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Ambient climate class for refrigeration.\u003C/strong> Equipment rated to a temperate climate class will not hold temperature in a high-ambient kitchen. Climate-class specification is a purchase decision, not a service adjustment.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Water quality.\u003C/strong> Hardness and chloride content determine whether combi steamers, ice machines, dishwashers and coffee equipment require treatment. Untreated hard water damages steam generators faster than any other single factor.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Conformity documentation.\u003C/strong> CE marking and manufacturer conformity evidence should form part of the submittal package from the outset, not be requested at inspection. This is routinely audited on institutional, hospitality-group and donor-funded projects.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Parts commonality.\u003C/strong> Where two products are technically equal, the one that shares a parts family with the rest of the schedule is the better specification.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 2 — Layout and zoning\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>Layout is where operating cost is decided. Equipment can be replaced; a badly zoned room cannot.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>A compliant commercial kitchen separates its flows so that raw and finished product never cross: goods in and dry store, cold store, raw preparation, cooking, plating and pass, dish return and warewashing, waste. Hand-wash stations sit at the entry to each zone. Dish return never travels across the plating line; waste never travels back through preparation. These are not regional preferences — they are the physical form of HACCP, and they are what a brand standard, an institutional specification or a health authority inspection will test the drawing against.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC's design flow runs from initial consultation on menu, covers and service pattern, through layout planning for workflow and hygiene separation, to equipment specification sized to volume, and final handover of CAD drawings, specifications and a project brief the contractor can build from. Full detail is on the \u003Ca href=\"/services/design\">kitchen design service page\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Test the room yourself, in the browser\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>For projects at concept stage — or for consultants who want to test a room before commissioning a full design — IPEC's \u003Ca href=\"/commercial-kitchen-design\">free commercial kitchen planner\u003C/a> runs in a browser with no installation. It carries over 1,400 real products at their true dimensions, so an appliance that will not fit cannot be placed, and utility requirements are compiled as equipment is added. The result exports as a multi-sheet study.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Critically for cross-border work, the planner imports an existing floor plan. Upload the architect's \u003Cstrong>DXF, DWG or DWFx\u003C/strong> file and the room shell, walls and openings are traced directly from the architectural drawing rather than re-measured by hand. The kitchen is then designed inside the real building envelope.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 3 — The MEP package\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>This is also where the distinction between equipment supply and kitchen engineering becomes most visible — and on a cross-border project it is what determines whether the works run smoothly or turn into a sequence of site variations.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>A foodservice services package must answer, for every single appliance, four questions: what electrical supply it requires, what gas supply it requires, what water and drainage it requires, and what extraction it requires — each with a rating, a connection type and a physical location and height above finished floor.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>How the electrical information is issued\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The equipment schedule provides connected load, phase requirement, connection type and the manufacturer's electrical data for every item, together with the position and height of each connection point. Final cable and protective-device sizing is coordinated with the project's electrical engineer in accordance with the applicable installation standard and the site's actual conditions — installation method, run length, conductor type, ambient temperature, grouping and voltage drop all bear on it, and none of them are visible from the equipment list alone.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>What we do flag at schedule stage are the design decisions that are easy to miss and expensive to correct: which items warrant a dedicated circuit, where motor inrush and continuous-load duty argue against minimum sizing, and which loads are candidates for shedding under generator operation. The engineer sizes the installation; the schedule makes sure nothing is invisible to them.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Gas, water and drainage\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Gas family and operating pressure are confirmed against actual site conditions before procurement, and the appliance configuration is ordered accordingly. LPG is common across much of the region; where piped natural gas is available it changes injectors, regulation and the gas train, so it is confirmed rather than assumed. Water points are specified with isolation and connection type, differentiated by cold, hot or treated supply. Drainage is specified by type — direct connection, floor gully, trapped waste or air gap — according to what the appliance discharges and what hygiene separation requires.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Extraction\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Hood extraction volume is derived from the equipment actually placed beneath the canopy, and the calculation is shown rather than asserted, so the mechanical engineer can review the basis rather than take a number on trust. This matters because extraction is usually the first item value-engineered on a project and the last item anyone can correct afterwards. An under-extracted hot line produces a hot, greasy kitchen, failed inspections and staff turnover.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>What the package physically contains\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The output is a coordinated, sheet-coded drawing set in the format a consultant or main contractor expects to receive — not a spreadsheet of product names.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cdiv style=\"overflow-x:auto;margin:1.5rem 0;\">\n\u003Ctable style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:0.95rem;\">\n\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr style=\"background:#F0F1F5;\">\n\u003Cth style=\"text-align:left;padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Sheet\u003C/th>\n\u003Cth style=\"text-align:left;padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Content\u003C/th>\n\u003C/tr>\u003C/thead>\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-1\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Cover and project proposal\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-2 / S-2b\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Architectural plan, and dimensioned architectural plan\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-3\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Equipment plan with tag balloons cross-referenced to the schedule\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-4\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Electrical plan — connection points, requirements and heights\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-4b\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Gas plan with side schedule\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-5\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Plumbing plan — supply and drainage points\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-6\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Mechanical plan — hood layout and extraction volumes\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-7\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Equipment schedule — full tagged table\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-8\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Utility schedule — every connection with requirement, type and height\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-9\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Hood extraction calculation, shown in full\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">S-10\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Next steps and project contacts\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003C/tbody>\n\u003C/table>\n\u003C/div>\n\n\u003Cp>The tag numbering is the connective tissue. A tag balloon on the equipment plan resolves to a row in the equipment schedule, which resolves to a set of connection rows in the utility schedule, which resolve to symbols on the electrical, gas, plumbing and mechanical plans. A contractor in another country can build from that set without a phone call.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 4 — BIM and CAD coordination\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>On any project with an appointed design team — a hotel, a hospital, an institutional or donor-funded build — the kitchen is one trade inside a federated model. The question is not whether the foodservice partner owns modelling software. It is whether the kitchen package arrives in a form the model can absorb without being redrawn.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Working into an existing model\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC's workflow is CAD-native in both directions. The architect's floor plan is imported as \u003Cstrong>DXF, DWG or DWFx\u003C/strong> — the building's real geometry, not a re-traced approximation. The kitchen is designed inside it, and the returned package is coordinated to that same geometry, so the design team receives a kitchen positioned in the building's own coordinate space rather than one that must be re-fitted.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>The information layer — what a BIM model actually needs\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>The most useful thing a foodservice partner can hand a BIM team is rarely geometry. Families for kitchen equipment are usually built or adapted by the modelling team in any case. What they cannot invent is the \u003Cem>information\u003C/em> — the parameters that make a placed family mean something.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>For every item, IPEC's package carries the structured data that populates those parameters: item tag, manufacturer and model reference, exact footprint and height, connected electrical load, phase requirement and connection type, gas family and pressure, water inlet type and temperature, drainage type, extraction volume, and the physical height of every connection point above finished floor. That is the payload the MEP engineer needs to design the kitchen distribution board, route the gas train, lay the drainage and specify the extraction plant — and it is exactly what is missing when a supplier hands over a PDF quotation. We coordinate directly with the appointed BIM and MEP consultants for the duration of the design stage.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Practical coordination advice\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Freeze the equipment schedule before services coordination begins.\u003C/strong> Every late substitution is a services rework.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Coordinate heights, not only positions.\u003C/strong> Most kitchen clashes are vertical: a socket behind a fixed appliance back, a waste at the wrong invert, a duct crossing a hood plenum.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Model the hood and duct route early.\u003C/strong> Extraction is the largest object in the room and the least flexible. It should drive ceiling coordination, not respond to it.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Keep one tag system across all disciplines.\u003C/strong> Three numbering systems across the kitchen schedule, the MEP model and the site markup makes coordination manual, and it will fail.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Agree level of detail up front.\u003C/strong> Kitchen equipment rarely needs high-LOD geometry. It needs accurate envelopes, accurate clearances and complete parameters.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 5 — Consolidation, documentation and logistics\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>A kitchen project is a single delivery event pretending to be a purchase order. Everything must arrive together, in the right order, in condition to install.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Consolidation and load planning.\u003C/strong> The objective is to minimise the number of separate arrivals a site must receive and clear. Appliances from multiple manufacturers, fabricated stainless steel, hoods, smallwares and the commissioning spares kit are consolidated into a single planned load. Loading sequence is planned against the installation sequence, so the site is not obliged to double-handle heavy equipment.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Packing for the route and the climate.\u003C/strong> Export crating for a hot, humid or dusty destination is not domestic packaging: stainless surfaces protected against transit abrasion and salt exposure, refrigeration secured against compressor mount damage on rough road sections, glass and control panels crated separately. Every crate is numbered against the packing list \u003Cem>and\u003C/em> against the equipment tag on the drawing, so a partially unloaded container can still be reconciled.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Documentation.\u003C/strong> The set typically includes the commercial invoice, a detailed packing list tied to equipment tags, certificate of origin, conformity and CE documentation where applicable, manufacturer datasheets and the agreed transport documents. The Incoterm is agreed at quotation stage because it determines who carries responsibility at each point of the route — and the most expensive disputes on export projects are almost always about a responsibility nobody assigned.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Regulatory review.\u003C/strong> For regulated destinations, project documentation and end-user information are reviewed case by case so that every shipment is executed in line with applicable export-control and trade regulations. This is handled at project set-up rather than discovered at the border.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 6 — Installation, commissioning and handover\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC's \u003Ca href=\"/services/installation\">installation service\u003C/a> is delivered domestically by our own trained technical team rather than by subcontractors, and the same discipline is applied on export projects — adapted to the fact that the team is not permanently on site.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>The working model is supervised installation. IPEC technical supervision attends site, where feasible, and directs a local labour and trades crew. On a cross-border project this is usually the better structure, not a compromise: it transfers knowledge to a local team that will still be there in year three, it keeps mobilisation proportionate, and it leaves people near the kitchen who understand how it was built.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Pre-delivery site survey.\u003C/strong> Dimensions verified against the drawing, and gas, water, drainage and electrical provisions verified against the utility schedule \u003Cem>before\u003C/em> the load is dispatched. This single step prevents the majority of installation failures.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Delivery and offloading.\u003C/strong> Coordinated against the installation sequence, including lifting arrangements for heavy items and access route checks.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Installation to manufacturer specification.\u003C/strong> Correct connection, levelling, sealing and clearances — the conditions on which warranty validity depends.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Commissioning and testing.\u003C/strong> Every appliance run, safety systems verified, extraction airflow confirmed, refrigeration pulled down and temperature-logged, gas train leak-tested.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Training and handover.\u003C/strong> Operation, cleaning protocol and daily maintenance taught to the kitchen team and to the nominated technical contact, with the full documentation pack — drawings, datasheets, warranty documents, cleaning schedules — handed over in the working language of the site.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\n\u003Ch2>Stage 7 — The export support model\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>The aftercare gap is the one that quietly destroys the value of a well-executed project. It is closed by design, before shipment — not by promises made afterwards.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC's model on export projects is explicit: \u003Cstrong>engineer it, supply it, supervise the installation where feasible, commission it, train the operator and a local technical contact, then support it through documentation, remote assistance and spare-parts supply.\u003C/strong> Five things make that work.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>A commissioning and first-year spares kit ships with the main load.\u003C/strong> Gaskets, thermostats, contactors, elements, filters, valves, lamps, drive belts. These parts are inexpensive to include in a consolidated load and expensive to air-freight in an emergency. It is the single highest-return decision on any export project.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>The parts channel is consolidated at specification stage.\u003C/strong> Where the specification leaves a genuine choice, manufacturers are limited across the schedule so the site deals with a small number of parts channels rather than many — and sourcing direct from the manufacturer gives continuity of supply years after handover.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>A local technical contact is trained during installation.\u003C/strong> The crew that installed the kitchen under IPEC supervision already knows how it was built. Formalising and training that contact as first-line support converts a multi-week response into a same-day one.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Faults are diagnosed remotely.\u003C/strong> Most issues can be narrowed down over a call with photographs, error codes and the commissioning record, so the correct part is dispatched once rather than the wrong part dispatched twice.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Preventive maintenance is scheduled at handover.\u003C/strong> Descaling, gasket inspection, condenser cleaning, extraction degreasing and calibration on defined intervals, carried out by the trained local contact against a written schedule. Our \u003Ca href=\"/services/after-sales\">after-sales and maintenance service\u003C/a> covers the same disciplines domestically.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\n\u003Ch2>Regional considerations\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Ch3>Syria\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Syrian projects share a recognisable profile: existing buildings being brought back into service rather than new-build shells, utility supply that must be assumed unstable, and a strong preference for equipment that can be maintained without a specialist visit. The engineering implications follow directly — specify for generator changeover and voltage variation, favour serviceable mechanical designs over sealed electronic ones where performance allows, ship a substantial spares kit with the load, and formalise a trained local technical contact at handover.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Typical project types are hotels and guest houses returning to operation, hospital and institutional catering, bakeries and central production kitchens, and restaurant groups rebuilding capacity. Our sector pages cover the equipment logic for \u003Ca href=\"/sectors/hotels\">hotels\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"/sectors/hospitals\">hospitals\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"/sectors/bakery-pastry\">bakeries and pastry\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"/sectors/central-kitchens\">central kitchens\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Levant, Iraq and the Gulf\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Higher ambient temperatures make refrigeration and ventilation the defining technical decisions: refrigeration specified to the real climate class with adequate condenser clearance, and extraction sized honestly against the hot line. Gulf projects are also more likely to involve an appointed design team and a formal submittal process — precisely where a complete, sheet-coded equipment and services package shortens approval cycles.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>West and Central Africa\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Francophone West and Central Africa are well served by a Lebanese base: European sourcing, French-language technical documentation and operator training, and decades of experience with unstable supply. Power stability and water quality are the decisive variables — specify water treatment as part of the package rather than as an accessory, and confirm generator behaviour before selecting electronically controlled equipment. A single well-planned consolidated sea load is normally the right structure.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>East and North Africa\u003C/h3>\n\n\u003Cp>Hotel and hospitality-group projects dominate, frequently with international brand standards attached. Those standards translate directly into specification requirements — documented conformity, hygiene zoning, extraction performance and equipment schedules that survive audit. Building them into the package from the first drawing is far cheaper than retrofitting at pre-opening inspection.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Indicative project sequence\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>Every project differs, but the shape is consistent — and knowing it prevents the most common scheduling error, which is starting foodservice procurement too late to influence the building works.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cdiv style=\"overflow-x:auto;margin:1.5rem 0;\">\n\u003Ctable style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:0.95rem;\">\n\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr style=\"background:#F0F1F5;\">\n\u003Cth style=\"text-align:left;padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Phase\u003C/th>\n\u003Cth style=\"text-align:left;padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">What happens\u003C/th>\n\u003Cth style=\"text-align:left;padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Must complete before\u003C/th>\n\u003C/tr>\u003C/thead>\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Brief and concept\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Menu, covers, service pattern, room shell, budget envelope\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Layout begins\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Layout and specification\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Zoning, equipment schedule, manufacturer selection\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">MEP design begins\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Services package\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Electrical, gas, plumbing and mechanical drawings, utility schedule\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">First fix on site\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Fabrication and procurement\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Custom stainless production, manufacturer lead times\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Consolidation\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Consolidation and shipping\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Load planning, crating, documentation, transit, clearance\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Site delivery\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Installation and commissioning\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Supervised installation, testing, training, handover\u003C/td>\u003Ctd style=\"padding:10px;border:1px solid #d7dae3;\">Opening\u003C/td>\u003C/tr>\n\u003C/tbody>\n\u003C/table>\n\u003C/div>\n\n\u003Cp>The critical dependency is the second row. Layout and specification must be frozen before MEP design begins, and the services package must be issued before first fix. Projects that order equipment after the slab is poured are choosing to pay for chasing, re-routing and compromise.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background:#F0F1F5;border-left:5px solid #99461D;border-radius:6px;padding:1.6rem 1.8rem;margin:2.5rem 0;\">\n\u003Ch2 style=\"margin-top:0;\">Start a project\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin-bottom:0.8rem;\">A project can be scoped accurately from a short package. Send us:\u003C/p>\n\u003Cul style=\"margin-bottom:1.2rem;\">\n\u003Cli>DWG / DXF / DWFx / PDF floor plan of the kitchen area, with a scale and ceiling height\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Menu or production brief\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Covers or throughput per service\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Site services: electrical supply and phase availability, generator presence, gas family, water quality\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Destination country and delivery address\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Target opening date, and any brand standard or institutional specification the project must satisfy\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin-bottom:0;\">\u003Ca href=\"/contact\" style=\"display:inline-block;background:#99461D;color:#fff;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:13px 26px;border-radius:6px;\">Send project brief →\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\n\u003Ch2>Frequently asked questions\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Ch3>Does IPEC deliver kitchen projects outside Lebanon?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Yes. IPEC engineers, supplies and supports commercial kitchen projects across Syria, the wider Middle East and Africa. Installation on export projects is typically delivered as supervised installation — IPEC technical supervision directing a local trades crew — followed by commissioning, operator and technician training, and ongoing support through documentation, remote assistance and spare-parts supply.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Can you work from our architect's drawings?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Yes. We import DXF, DWG and DWFx floor plans directly, so the kitchen is designed inside the building's real geometry rather than a re-traced approximation. The returned package is coordinated to that same geometry.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>What exactly is in the services package?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>A sheet-coded drawing set covering the architectural and dimensioned architectural plans, the equipment plan with tag balloons, electrical, gas, plumbing and mechanical plans, a full tagged equipment schedule, a utility schedule listing every connection with its requirement, type and height above finished floor, and the hood extraction calculation shown in full.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Do you provide BIM models?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Our workflow is CAD-native — DXF, DWG and DWFx in, coordinated drawings and structured equipment data out. On BIM projects the value we add is the information layer: every item carries its tag, footprint, connected load, phase requirement, gas family and pressure, water and drainage type, extraction volume and connection heights, which is what the design team needs to populate parameters and design services. We coordinate directly with the appointed BIM and MEP consultants.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>Who is responsible for cable and protective-device sizing?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>The project's electrical engineer, working to the applicable installation standard and site conditions. IPEC supplies the connected load, phase requirement, connection type, manufacturer electrical data and connection positions and heights for every item, and flags the items where dedicated circuits, motor inrush duty or generator load-shedding warrant attention.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>How do you handle different voltages and gas types?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Supply conditions are confirmed at specification stage, not assumed. Equipment is specified against the site's actual voltage, frequency and phase availability, and against the confirmed gas family and operating pressure, with the correct injectors and regulation ordered with the equipment rather than sourced locally afterwards.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>What happens if something breaks after handover?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>The strategy is planned before shipment: a commissioning and first-year spares kit travels with the main load, a local technical contact is trained during installation, faults are diagnosed remotely so the correct part is dispatched once, and manufacturers are consolidated at specification stage so the site deals with a small number of parts channels rather than many. Preventive maintenance intervals are agreed at handover.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch3>How early should we involve you?\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Before the services design is issued, and ideally before the room shell is finalised. The kitchen layout determines where power, gas, water, drainage and extraction have to be. Involving the foodservice specialist after first fix converts design decisions into site variations.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Ch2>Talk to the project team\u003C/h2>\n\n\u003Cp>IPEC has been engineering, supplying, installing and servicing professional kitchens since 1980. If you are delivering a project in Syria, the Middle East or Africa — a hotel, a hospital, a bakery, a central production kitchen or a restaurant group — send us the floor plan and the brief. \u003Ca href=\"/contact\">Get in touch with the IPEC project team\u003C/a>, or explore our \u003Ca href=\"/services/design\">design\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"/services/installation\">installation\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"/services/after-sales\">after-sales\u003C/a> services and read more \u003Ca href=\"/about\">about IPEC\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n","Educational","https://tewdhfdrnyrjlutgzucb.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/blog/8ccdd8fa5861.jpg","18 min read",true,"2026-07-15T09:00:00+00:00","2026-08-11T12:22:35.430765+00:00",[],"Assaad Nakhoul","Managing Director, IPEC sarl","Mechanical engineer turned foodservice equipment specialist with a Boulangerie Chef diploma, Culinary Management from Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and an Executive Master's from HEC Paris. 45 years of combined family and personal experience equipping commercial kitchens across Lebanon and the MENA region.","assaad-nakhoul","https://ipec.me/about"]