Foodservice Secrets for Saving Natural Resources

Happy Earth Day! This year marks Earth Day’s 55th anniversary, a day created to raise awareness and inspire action.

It’s no secret that foodservice is a resource-intensive industry. The good news is that there are secrets to conserving natural resources while cutting operating costs at the same time. 

Today, we’re highlighting three ways foodservice operators can get a win-win when specifying new equipment—any time of year.

Fry with 10% Less Energy and 40% Less Oil

If you do a lot of frying, you know the price of oil makes gas look like a bargain.

With traditional fryers, the only way to serve consistently high-quality bone-in fried chicken, and the like, is to replace the oil frequently. New filtration technology has changed the game, conserving pricey oil by keeping it clean and fresh for longer use. Frymaster’s FilterQuick FQE30U electric fryers feature an automatic filtration system designed to tackle the challenges of cooking high volumes of fresh-breaded, heavy sediment products such as bone-in chicken.

The Frymaster FQE30U with open-pot design requires 40% less oil to cook as much food as fry pots almost twice its size, while using 10% less energy and producing less waste. The Frymaster ESG35T is a 35-lb. High-Efficiency Value Gas Fryer that has the same cooking capacity as a 45-lb. fryer, saving 10 pounds of oil every time the fry pot is filled. The ESG35T is ENERGY STAR certified.

Hold Hot Foods with 70% Less Energy

Looks can be deceiving. Hot holding cabinets may look similar from the outside, but it’s the insulation on the inside that makes all the difference. Non-insulated and poorly insulated cabinets cost less to start with, but that quickly changes as soon as you plug them in.

ENERGY STAR certified commercial hot food holding cabinets are 70% more efficient than standard models, on average. This efficiency results in a significantly lower lifetime cost of ownership, so it’s wise to look for ENERGY STAR certification when making purchasing decisions. As an added bonus, rebates on ENERGY STAR certified commercial holding cabinets may also be available in your area. 

FWE’s UHS-12 Universal Heated Holding Cabinet produces annual savings of over $375 per cabinet when compared to similar models. 

To see a complete listing of ENERGY STAR certified models from FWE, click here.

Capture and Recycle 100% of Dish Machine Exhaust

If you’re planning to add or replace a dish machine, ventless models offer an impressive range of benefits.

Champion’s DH6000 Ventless Hood-type Dishwashing Machine recoups heat and energy with ventless technology. The system captures 100% of the operating exhaust heat and vapor. It then converts it into useable energy to heat the wash water and assist in heating the fresh rinse water. 

This technology reduces energy consumption and utility costs and eliminates the need to purchase and install a vent hood. It also makes the dish room working environment much more comfortable for employees.

For higher volume warewashing operations, the Champion 44 PRO-VHR Ventless Rack Conveyor utilizes the same technology to allow operators to save up to $3,000 in wash tank and rinse water heating cost annually. 

It also saves foodservice operators as much as $7,500 on the capital investment of purchase and installing a vent hood.

Both of these Champion ventless dish machine models are ENERGY STAR certified.

We can help your foodservice operation cut costs and conserve resources all year long. 

Contact us to talk about the unique needs of your operation.