Operations: Smart Savings
Operators can, and do, wring added efficiency from standard pieces of equipment.
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, March 1, 2008
 Chef-owner Daniel Orr works the oven at Farm Bloomington.  Virginia Barbecue uses a closed-system fryer. |
The stone-hearth oven at Farm Bloomington, a collection of different concepts under one restaurant roof in Bloomington, Ind., was not inexpensive. Chef-owner Daniel Orr paid about $10,000 for the gas-fired oven, which produces about 40% of the restaurant’s menu.
That’s why the oven, despite its sky-high sticker price, saves Orr money.
"It’s a real workhorse of a machine," says Orr. Wood ovens are best known for turning out blistery pizzas and crisp sandwiches. Orr does use the oven for those items, but also uses the oven to cook a bacon-and-egg brunch pizza ($13), wings ($9) and ribs ($15). The oven is so versatile that it takes the place of three pieces of equipment: convection oven, range and fryer.
Employing one piece of equipment for many menu items is one way to save money using standard restaurant equipment—no technological bells or whistles necessary. Not that there are many high-tech gizmos to choose from: "Foodservice equipment is a mature industry—there haven’t been leaps and bounds" in technological advancement, says James Davella, director of foodservice equipment and design for Shawmut Design and Construction, a Boston-based construction management firm.
Important technological advances have, for various reasons, done well in Europe but have not quite made an impact on American foodservice kitchens. One example is the induction cook top, whose electric burners heat up only when in contact with a metal pan. Because the cooker emits heat only when needed, it’s a superb piece of energy-saving equipment, Davella says.
However, induction cooking works best for smaller volumes and different styles of cooking, for instance braising. "In this country, we do volume; we do burgers and fries," Davella says. "Not many people go out to dinner for braised dishes."
He adds the equipment industry is becoming more energy conscious. For instance, more commercial equipment is Energy Star rated (meaning it meets a certain standard of energy efficiency) than was true even a year ago.
It’s easy enough, Davella says, to wrest energy savings, and therefore dollar savings, from standard restaurant equipment. The biggest step is surveying the kitchen to see where the money goes, and there are several classes of equipment that consume great amounts of energy. In the average restaurant kitchen, the major energy-consumers are appliances and cooking equipment (35%), heating/ventilating/air-conditioning (HVAC) systems (25%), hot- water sinks and dishmachines (15%), and refrigeration (5%). Even small efficiencies in these major groups can result in considerable savings.
Heat Treatment
Reducing the amount of heat that cooking equipment casts into the kitchen’s ambient air will do much to save energy and money. The more heat thrown off, the more inefficient the equipment is, and hotter kitchens mean a harder-working HVAC system.
Induction cookers and broilers emit low heat and therefore are efficient. "Ninety percent of every dollar you spend on energy goes right into the pan, versus 55% for gas and 65% for electricity," Davella says.
Virginia Barbecue, an 11-unit chain based in Beaverdam, Va., uses an induction cook-top to heat canned greens and boil water for macaroni and cheese. Its kitchens boast another energy-efficient piece: a closed-system fryer.
Each unit has a self-contained filter system and an internal fire-suppressant system, meaning it needs no venting, says Rick Ivey, founder of Virginia Barbecue. Employees load frozen fries into a drawer, which sends the fries to the fry vat via a chute. They close the drawer and push a button; the door unlocks when the fries are done.
Creative equipment uses can also help cut heat and energy costs. One example is the char-broiler. Mark Godward, president of SRE, a Miami-based kitchen design firm and a unit of WD Partners, Columbus, Ohio, suggests a two-part, heat-reducing cooking method for grilling protein: Start the burgers on a flat-top grill, which is more efficient because more of the heating element connects with the meat, then finish on the char grill to get the desired char marks.
Overall, operators should plan before buying or replacing heat-producing cooking equipment, Godward says. "If you have six feet of char grill, maybe you could get away with four feet, even three," he says.
Air Supplies
HVAC systems account for a quarter of the average restaurant’s energy usage. The systems are not optional in running a restaurant, so the only energy-saving option is to use it more efficiently.
One approach is efficient kitchen design. For instance, exhaust hoods, which send "lazy" air (which moves at less than 200 feet per minute) up the vents, shouldn’t be located near draft-causing windows, doors or air-supply vents. That drafty, fast-moving air will interrupt the grease-laden air that’s about to be exhausted. "Then it rolls out to the dining room, and another system has to treat it," Davella explains.
Chilling Out
Atlanta-based Focus Brands has devised a refrigeration option for franchisees of its Moe’s Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky’s concepts.
The option, called a restaurant rooftop unit, is for the back of the house only. The kitchen exhaust hood needs only exhaust air, not makeup air, and the rooftop unit uses all outdoor air to condition the air and replace air exhausted through the kitchen ventilation system.
The system saves on construction costs, because there are fewer roof penetrations and less electrical routes to run. Energy savings per year average $1,500 to $2,500 per store, says Brian Kendrick, senior director of store development for Focus Brands.
Each unit, however, costs about $5,400 more than a standard HVAC packaging, which means a return on investment for the franchisee of anywhere from 2 ½ to four years.
"Savvy franchisees see [the long ROI] and are willing to spend the money upfront, because in the long run they’ll be making good savings," Kendrick says. "But a lot of them now are very budget conscious."
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