If you interview restaurant owners and ask them why they do what they do, many will credit a desire to make money, or perhaps the ease of getting into the business, or the responsibility of carrying on a family legacy. At the heart of their decision, though, lies a passion for sharing their love of food and doing their part to preserve the unique sense of community built by sharing a meal with friends and family. It’s this passion that drives them and moves their feet through the door each morning.
Restaurants are notoriously high-overhead businesses, both in terms of finances and personal investment, and the market is fickle to say the least. Keeping the passion part of what they do alive is critical to motivation and success and requires a watchful eye on precarious profit margins. Making shrewd and creative decisions about running the business – effectively managing staff, space, and supplies – as well as finding efficient and cost-effective solutions to kitchen challenges can be the difference between an “Open for Business” or “Closed” sign.
Business experts and seasoned restaurateurs alike can offer an endless list of solutions, both simple and complicated, to tackle rising utilities and staff costs, wasteful consumption of supplies and equipment, and space issues. Making suggested changes, even small ones, in each of these areas can certainly impact the bottom line. The really savvy restaurant owners are looking for the biggest bang for their buck, so ideally one or two modifications would make a difference across the board.
The concept of a soak tank is simple. Dirty equipment takes a leisurely, extended dip in a container filled with water and special cleaning chemicals. Hours later, the equipment surfaces clean and ready to be re-used. While soak tanks were originally used in more industrial settings such as the automotive industry, removing build up from engine parts, for example, the appliances made their way into commercial kitchens in the last few decades and have been saving time, money, and elbow grease ever since. The tanks are available in a wide variety of sizes and both hot and cold water models, and rely on innovative, environmentally friendly detergents to get the job done and need little to no oversight once the cleaning process has started. What other piece of equipment will work for you 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year?
Keeping the commercial kitchen and all its complementary equipment clean is a critical part of preserving a safe and efficient work space. Pots, pans, and vent hood filters quickly succumb to excess residue from fats used during the cooking process, and high-temperature cooking can produce carbon build-up on baking sheets and other utensils. They’ll also help to get rid of the bottleneck in the workflow of your kitchen staff that time-consuming cleaning procedures often cause.
Kitchen staff invest hours of labor to keep this equipment sanitary and functional, and those labor costs add up quickly. In addition to the staff expense, traditional scrubbing in a sink means wasted water, taxed hot water heaters, and excess money spent on scrubbing tools.
Clean filters extract more hot air, leaving the kitchen cooler and more comfortable to work in.
Waterproof heating elements are located inside the tanks cleaning solution for faster heating efficiencies.
Costing done in a controlled environment shows a reduction in water consumption by up to 20%.
Unlike traditional dishwashers, most soak tanks only need to be emptied and refilled every few weeks, so the water savings alone makes them an indispensable part of an energy-efficient kitchen.
70% of kitchen fires start in the ventilation system, caused by trapped oil, grease and fat residue on the filters.
Tanks come in a variety of sizes to accommodate any size commercial kitchen and are reasonably priced; some manufacturers allow restaurants to rent the equipment, making it a flexible option for occasional use. Soak tanks are available in both warm and cold water varieties and use special cleansers that are non-toxic and non-corrosive. This gives soak tanks the added benefit of being a more eco-friendly option, eliminating the need for the use and disposal of dangerous chemical de-greasers.
Chemicals used “at the sink” or “in the spray bottle” have been reduced by up to 35% in surveys conducted throughout different environments. The harsh chemicals used to thoroughly clean the surfaces are also hard on the equipment itself, which leads to additional replacement costs. Kitchen soak tanks offer a valuable and efficient solution to this problem that results in significant resource savings.
With accessible drainage valves, the tank contents can be easily emptied into a nearby floor drain.
Require no additional plumbing or electrical hard-wiring to operate.
Tanks are easy to move around and have lockable castors.
Why not join the thousands of hotels, clubs and restaurants enjoying the cost savings…
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