My wife and I went to our favorite restaurant the other day and noticed quite a few vacant seats. After being seated we saw the owner, who we knew quite well and asked why he had this many open seats when he is normally full this time of day. His answer was what we have heard quite a bit and that was ‘The Economy’. He was thinking of closing a few extra hours a week to save expenses but then he might lose business. I suggested he cut cost with out cutting hours or staff.

I suggested he look into the web site www.energystar.gov . One of the easiest and least costly is to check your pre-rinse spray valve. By using a 1.6 gallon per minute pre rinse spray valve you can save $300 to $350 a year in water, gas and sewer cost annually. Most pre rinse valves can release up to 3 to 4 gallons of hot water per minute, just imagine if this valve leaks from morning to night when not in use! Other ways to reduce energy consumption is to turn down or turn off equipment in the down time. Items such as conveyor toasters, heat lamps and food warmers are using electricity even though they are not being used! Start a program in your establishment where you periodically check gaskets on refrigeration, seals on food warming cabinets, clean filters on refrigeration, clean coils on refrigeration equipment.

Just by doing these low cost simple steps you can save hundreds of dollars a year Next week we will look at other ways to save and some equipment items to help you save as well.

–Jerry Kraushaar is a leading chef and sales consultant for Burkett Restaurant Equipment.