Restaurants are used to running a lean, well-oiled machine even at the best of times, but after such a tumultuous year for the F&B industry, many restaurateurs are looking for even more ways to save money. If you’re looking to “trim the fat” in your commercial kitchen, we hope these tips can help!
How Restaurants Can Save Money in the Kitchen
Pare Down Your Menu
This is one of the easiest ways for restaurants to cut costs. Identify your best-selling dishes and the dishes that cause the most food loss through spoilage or waste. Keep the earners, and cut the losers. Trimming your menu can not only reduce food spoilage but may also help your employees be more efficient, both in front and back of house.
Make Every Square Inch Count
When running a restaurant, every square foot counts! You’re likely paying rent on space, so it’s important to make the most of what you’ve got, from the spacing of your tables to the kitchen counters. One easy way to make the best use of space in your commercial kitchen is to choose versatile kitchen appliances.
For instance, the Quik n’ Crispy greaseless fryer allows you to produce “oven-fried” and baked foods all in one, compact appliance. Foods that might traditionally be prepared in a deep fat fryer, like french fries, chicken strips, etc. can be prepared quickly and with a fraction of the fat (20% to 40% less than when deep-fried!) by cooking them in one of our greaseless commercial fryers. But instead of taking up space for just one function, a Quik n’ Crispy can also cook grilled and baked items like pre-cooked burger patties, grilled chicken breasts, pizzas, hot sandwiches, pretzels, and more!
Conserve, Conserve, Conserve!
Even if you’ve been pretty thrifty in managing your restaurant, it’s likely that there are some areas where you could still cut costs. Your power bill is a good place to start. Have you:
- Switched to energy-efficient lightbulbs in ALL fixtures?
- Programmed your thermostat for lower HVAC consumption during closed hours?
- Invested in energy-efficient appliances where possible?
- Trained your staff on energy-saving techniques, like promptly shutting refrigerator doors, turning off lights, keeping doors closed, etc?
- Cleaned your refrigerator coils? You should be doing this twice a year!
- Checked your refrigerator for leaks? (If you can slip a dollar bill through the crack between the doors when closed, you’re losing cooled air and need to replace your door gaskets.)
Water is another area where waste can easily build up over time without anyone noticing. To conserve water:
- Repair any leaking faucets or pipes immediately.
- Only provide water if guests request it.
- Install low-flow nozzles on dishwashing sinks. These newer models of nozzles give you the same rinsing power while using a fraction of the water of older varieties.
- Similarly, you can reduce the amount of water used per-handwashing (a vital part of any restaurant’s operations, but especially so now!) by installing low-flow aerators on hand-washing faucets.
- Train your employees on how to use less water while also maintaining important health and safety protocols.