Article

Tips for Reducing Utility Costs in Your Independent Restaurant

Many restauratuers think of utilities as a fixed cost, but that is not entirely true. Certainly, a proportion of a restaurant's electricity and gas bills go toward baseline operations, but you would be surprised how much variability there can be in energy usage depending on when and how you operate.

Seasonality is the first factor; changes in how you set your HVAC in the coldest and hottest months have a lot to do with how much you are paying the utility company, as does whether you prop open your back door on nice days.

Nearly every cost associated with building and running a restaurant has increased in the past two years. According to the National Restaurant Association, eighty-five percent of restaurants are less profitable now than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps you have scoured your variable costs, looking for any savings you can find in order to keep your bottom line healthy. Maybe you have changed suppliers or altered your menu. But have you looked at your energy use? There are several ways you can decrease your usage and save money every month.

Another big piece of your energy usage is the equipment you have, how you use it, and what you do to keep it running effectively. And finally, the hours you keep can influence how much energy you are using – and how much you are paying for it – at different times of the day. Paying attention to all these components of your restaurant's energy footprint can really help cut back the amount of energy you use.

And reducing energy pays off financially too. Restaurants are among the most energy-hungry businesses, using five to seven times the energy of a typical office or retail space and a whopping thirty times more energy per square foot than homes. About a third of that energy goes towards heating, ventilation and air conditioning, with another third used for running your cooking and preparation equipment. Refrigeration and dishwashing eat up another 20% or so of your total energy bill. With proportions like these, even small changes in how you operate can positively affect your bottom line.

How much can you expect to save? In the US, in the first quarter of 2023, average electricity costs increased by 13.5%. The pain is worse in certain regions of the country: if you are unlucky enough to be in the Northeast or Pacific regions, your costs could have gone up by 20% or more in the past year. Natural gas price increases have been even worse. The average cost per 1,000 BTU's rose a dizzying 21.5% in 2022, and while the price for natural gas has stabilized recently, all it takes is one or two supply shocks to send it soaring again. Anything you can do to bring your usage down can help counter the effects of these rising prices.

Turn it Down (or Even Off)

The lowest hanging fruit for reducing a restaurant's energy costs is fine-tuning your settings for heating and cooling. Adjust your HVAC unit so that you are running at 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the hot months and 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the cooler ones. What is more, many HVAC systems have a night-time setback feature that will adjust the temperature to save energy in off hours. If you are not using the setback feature, start now. If your system does not have one, see about getting one installed or train your staff to adjust the system manually as part of their opening and closing duties.

If you have a hot water heater on-site, turn it down to 120 degrees. (But do not be tempted to turn it down any lower. Lower than 120 degrees runs the risk of harmful bacterial growth in the water tank.)

Check all your refrigeration units to make sure that they are holding temperature at exactly 40 degrees. Forty degrees is cold enough to prevent the growth of foodborne pathogens but not so cold that you are using more energy than you need to. For every degree you run your walk-in or reach-ins below that 40-degree threshold, you are using about 1.5% more electricity over an eight-hour period. If your refrigerators cannot hold temperature at 40 degrees, call your maintenance provider.

It goes without saying that you should turn off lights and equipment when you are not using them. But many employees will fire up the hood when they come in as a matter of course, even if they will not be cooking anything under it for a while yet. In fact, the hood fan only needs to run while you are cooking and for about fifteen minutes after you are done for the day.

Increase Your Efficiency

If your sauté range has different burner sizes, aim to use pans that match the burner size as closely as possible – putting an 8- omelet pan on a full-size burner is a waste of energy. If you have frequent small cooking jobs to do in prep areas, consider getting a small, energy-efficient induction burner rather than using the range on your line for melting butter, boiling a small amount of water for blanching, or making a quick sauce or filling.

Train employees to keep refrigerator doors closed except when loading or unloading product. Accessories like auto- matic door closers and strip curtains can ensure that your walk-in's refrigerated air stays where it belongs during deliveries. Even more important is to avoid over-taxing your refrigerators by loading them with items that are too warm. Use ice baths or other cooling techniques to quickly bring the temperature down on hot foods before putting them in your reach-ins.

By now, you have probably swapped out your incandescent lighting with LED lamps which are 75% more efficient. Have you done the same with your fluorescents in the back of house areas? LED is even more efficient when compared with traditional fluorescent tube lighting.

Some utility companies offer time-of-use (TOU) rates for commercial users. Ask about what off- peak pricing might be available to you. Happily, many of these rates apply to evenings and nights when you are likely to be operating anyway. Take advantage of these reduced energy rates by running equipment like clothes washers for your uniforms in lower-demand periods.

Treat Your Equipment Well

Dirty equipment must work harder to perform which means it uses more energy to get the same results. Keeping filters, motors and coils in good shape will pay off in energy reductions.

TRY TO DESIGN YOUR COOKING LINE SO THAT TALLER PIECES OF EQUIPMENT LIKE CONVECTION OVENS FLANK THE LOWER COOKING SURFACES. PLACING TALL ITEMS AT EITHER END OF THE LINE HELPS CHANNEL THE AIRFLOW UP INTO THE HOOD, ALLOWING IT TO WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY.

Anything that has a motor – refrigerators, prep equipment, dishwashers and so on – needs to be checked periodically to make sure the motor is free of dust and dirt and that air is moving easily around it. Dust off motorized fans and coils too, at least once a month. (Checking these areas frequently has another benefit, as motors and coils are popular homes for cockroaches.)

Speaking of coils, keep your evaporator coils in your walk-ins unblocked and ice-free. Teach your staff how to store goods correctly so that they do not block the evaporator. Safely remove any excess ice buildup – never chip at it! – so that the walk-in's air can move freely into the evaporator for optimal efficiency of the refrigeration system.

You should be cleaning your hood filters after no more than thirty hours of operation, ideally taking them down for a scrub each day. Clean filters allow air to move up into the ductwork more freely, reducing energy-burning strain on the ventilation fan. And if your fan is making a racket, it may be out of balance and not working as efficiently as it should. Call in your repair team if you suspect that any piece of equipment is laboring to do its job.

Making operational changes like these can get you energy savings of 5% or more with virtually no pain or with little no additional expenditure.

But if you really want to see improvements in your energy use, you may need to go beyond adjusting what you have and instead change some of your back-of-house equipment to more efficient options.

Go Electric

In the old days, if you wanted to start a revolt in a restaurant kitchen, you would tell your team that you were going to swap out all your gas equipment in favor of electric models. Even today, most professionals working the line will tell you that cooking with gas is faster, more adjustable, and in many ways preferable to electric versions of grills, ranges, and fryers. And in many locations, gas is cheaper than electricity for the same unit of heating energy.

But it is well established that gas equipment generates much more waste heat than electric equipment. That heat puts strain on your HVAC system which in turn raises your utility costs. In addition, gas equipment is often more expensive to install, particularly if you need new gas lines put in place.

In some parts of the country, there is substantial pressure on developers and owners to eliminate natural gas equipment in new builds or renovations, either through incentive programs or outright bans on gas kitchen equipment. Because of this growing movement away from using natural gas for cooking, foodservice equipment manufacturers have been steadily improving their electrical offerings so that they are more efficient, easy to use, and easier to install and maintain.

For example, newer items like clamshell grills reduce cooking times by as much as 25%, saving energy while getting your food out faster. Infrared ovens transfer heat to the food rather than the air around it which also substantially decreases cooking time. And more and more equipment is available with Energy Star certification, which tells you that it meets the current Environmental Protection Agency's standards for energy efficiency.

Buying new equipment may be daunting, but you may be able to reap the benefits of more efficient equipment without the large cash outlay if you have lease agreements for your dishwasher or your ice machine. Talk to your vendor to see if a more energy efficient model is available under your agreement.

Savings by Design

Your ventilation hood is a significant energy user, so anything you can do to help it work well will save you money. A back-shelf hood is the most energy-efficient style of ventilator, so if you have only a small line, this could be your best option. Canopy-style hoods use more energy but are better suited to larger cooking lines and are your only choice for cooking islands. Whatever type you choose, ensure that your hood is UL-listed as listed hoods will minimize the necessary airflow for your line.

Work with your hood manufacturer to size the hood's system correctly for the equipment you'll have under it. Ovens and kettles do not need the same rate of air removal that ranges, grills, griddles and fryers do. Your manufacturer might be able to reduce the total CFMs that the hood is designed to exhaust if they know what equipment you will be using on your line.

Likewise, give your hood vendor the exact dimensions of your cooking equipment so that the hood can be sized precisely. The hood should overhang the equipment by 6" at the front and on the ends but not extend further than that or you are wasting exhaust capacity. But having too small of an overhang means that hot vapor is likely escaping into your kitchen, driving your staff to use even more energy to run cooling fans to stay even moderately comfortable while they work. Keep any mobile equipment on your line as close to the rear wall as possible so the hood can do its job.

Try to design your cooking line so that taller pieces of equipment like convection ovens flank the lower cooking surfaces. Placing tall items at either end of the line helps channel the airflow up into the hood, allowing it to work more efficiently. If you do not have any tall equipment on your line, installing end panels on the hood can help keep hot air where it belongs.

Chill Out and Go with The the Flow

If you purchase a lot of frozen products, you will probably want a walk-in freezer. These are usually more energy efficient than reach-ins and they will maximize your energy savings if you have them opening directly into your walk-in refrigerator. That way, any warm air from your kitchen is tempered by the refrigerated portion of the walk-in before it gets to the freezer portion. This means you will have less condensation that freezes onto your coils and your freezer's refrigeration system will work much better.

THE LOWEST HANGING FRUIT FOR REDUCING A RESTAURANT'S ENERGY COSTS IS FINE-TUNING YOUR SETTINGS FOR HEATING AND COOLING. ADJUST YOUR HVAC UNIT SO THAT YOU ARE RUNNING AT 78 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT IN THE HOT MONTHS AND 68 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT IN THE COOLER ONES.

If you can, select water-cooled refrigeration systems that use your building's circulating chilled water system to remove heat from the condensing units. (Commercial buildings with centralized air conditioning are very likely to have a chilled water loop. Ask your landlord or building manager.) Just be sure that the water being used to remove waste heat is indeed being recirculated rather than dumped down the drain or your water bills will be sky-high.

Low-flow faucets and other plumbing fixtures save on water use, and for hot water applications, can also save on your energy bills. The pre-rinse faucet in your dish pit is a prime candidate for changing to low-flow.

Think Big Picture

If you are getting new kitchen equipment, it is tempting to consider only the purchase cost which means you will pick whatever is cheapest.

Resist that urge. You are better off doing a full life-cycle cost analysis for your new equipment purchases, considering installation costs, energy use, routine maintenance, and any residual value that equipment may have once you are done with it. If you are buying from a kitchen equipment dealer, they often can provide this analysis for you, free of charge. Often a new, energy-efficient oven or fryer is a far better purchase in the long run than a cheap-to-buy but inefficient used clunker.

You Are Not Alone

There are plenty of resources out there to help you reduce energy costs in your restaurant. Your local utility often has a free or very inexpensive energy audit service that will bring a specialist into your operation to help you spot ways to cut electricity and gas usage. Your local utility provider may also offer rebates for purchasing Energy Star equipment or installing energy-efficient lighting. The time it takes to make a phone call or to fill in a form on your provider's website could save you hundreds or even thousands.

With energy costs taking at least 5% of your restaurant's revenues, all these strategies are worth adopting. Start with little changes to your operations and take on better, more efficient equipment when your budget permits. Every little change can make a notable difference to your P&L.