10 Tips for Restaurants on Saving Money, Energy & the Earth

Are you investing your energy resources wisely? The following tips provide ideas for maintaining an energy efficient operation.

Track energy consumption

Tracking your monthly electricity, water, sewer, trash and natural gas consumption is a first step toward managing your impact and monitoring the effectiveness of efficiency improvements. If you’re an independent operator or local chain, get audits from local utilities and municipalities. Many organizations provide free energy, water and waste audits in addition to advice, technical and sometimes financial assistance for upgrades and program development. Take advantage of these free professional services.

Allow for air circulation around refrigerators and freezers

Refrigerators remove heat from inside the box and eject that heat through the coils on the top or bottom of the unit. When you are cleaning around these units, do not push your reach-ins into tight spaces where the heat will build up, forcing the unit to work harder and use more energy.

Defrost food regularly

Develop a frozen food pull schedule to avoid the practice of defrosting food under running hot water. If a two-gallon-per-minute faucet is used forthis purpose one hour every day for a year, the cost may exceed $800. Read the rest of this entry »

New Restaurant Equipment Depreciation Allowance

If you have already purchased restaurant equipment in 2009, or are planning on doing so before the year is up, make sure you get your accountant to take a special 50% depreciation allowance for all equipment that is purchased, installed and used by December 31st.

This tax provision was extended by President Obama’s stimulus bill from 2008, and it provides an excellent benefit for restaurants that need to purchase new equipment but are tight on cash in a struggling economy. Read the rest of this entry »

Storing Fresh and Frozen Foods

The following article comes from Dependable Refrigeration, LLC.

Storage of Fresh Food in the Refrigerator

The air in a fresh food refrigerator is always quite dry. What moisture there is in the refrigerator tends to collect and condense on the evaporator surfaces. Therefore, food containers should be covered and as air tight as possible to keep food moist.

The temperature inside the fresh food cabinet should be kept at 35 to 45 degrees F. Most fresh foods may be kept from three days to a week at the above temperatures. Unfrozen meat and fish should be stored at as close to 32 degrees F as possible. Fruits and vegetables should be cleaned and prepared for the table before being refrigerated.

For Storage of Frozen Food in the Freezer

The air in a food freezer, as in refrigerator, is very dry. Any moisture in the air of the freezer quickly condenses on the evaporator coil surfaces. It is very important, therefore, that all frozen foods be packaged in moisture proof containers. Read the rest of this entry »

H1N1 Can Affect Your Business or Restaurant

Why businesses should plan for a flu response.

Many businesses have already been impacted by the Spring 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak. Steps can be taken now to slow the spread of the flu. It is also possible that flu conditions may become more severe, so it is important to plan now for how to respond under those circumstances.

Why you should be concerned about the spread of the flu in the workplace.

The work place may act as a “point of spread”, where employees can easily spread flu to their fellow employees as well as others in the community. The flu can have a major impact on business operations, causing workers to stay home because they are sick or they have to take care of other sick family members.

For more information and how to plan for H1N1 and the seasonal flu from the CDC review their toolkit.

Source:http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/business/toolkit/pdf/Business_Toolkit.pdf

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t let this happen to your cooler

KNOXVILLE (WATE) — Knox County health inspectors were forced to temporarily close a North Knoxville deli this week over a walk-in cooler that was way too warm.

When the inspector found the walk-in refrigerator at 60 degrees and not working properly, she ordered a lot of food thrown away including ham, turkey, meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, eggs, and cheese.

Nearly 100 pounds of food were ordered thrown away because they weren’t safe to eat. Garelli’s was closed until the refrigerator was repaired.

Plus, the inspector found a roach crawling on the kitchen floor. Garelli’s pest control company was ordered to pay a visit.

Maybe the roach was attracted to the moldy grapes, celery and rotten tomatoes the inspector found in the refrigerator.

Mold was also found in the ice machine and water was leaking onto the kitchen floor.

Garelli’s is open again.

Make sure your walk-in has insulation that will retain it’s r-value well over time. And always make sure your refrigeration unit is functioning properly. Find the whole wate.com article here.