Equipped

There is a few different ways to decide on what type of equipment you need. I start off with my menu. I write all of the items for the menu and on the side I make a list of what I need to produce it in the order it would be done. Ex:
Chocolate layer cake with chocolate icing& pastry cream filling-Scale, scaling bowls Mixer with whip and paddle to produce cake batter & icing, cake pans, rack oven, sheet pans  . Pot and hand wisk to cook pastry cream Pastry turntable, serrated knife, spatula, piping bag, piping tips, scissors.

After I do this with all of the menu items I divide it into 2 groups, major equipment and smallwares. Smallwares being anything under $1500. I also write the disposable list off of this ( are you lining cake pans with parchment, is it going on a cake board and in a box tied with string?)

You also have to take into consideration sanitation, hand sinks, dish washing area, refrigeration, lighting, flooring, storage etc..etc..etc...

I found the best way to organize all of this is to get a floor plan of the existing space and sketch out a diagram of where everything is going to go.( this will change 100 times)

Now that you have all of your equipment lists it's time to go shopping!