Commentary

To cut waste and boost productivity, think like a QSR

Big QSRs understand the importance of making sure their equipment is installed properly and working correctly. To cut waste, improve productivity and boost profits, food trucks should do the same.

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September 19, 2018 by Richard Young — Director of Education, Frontier Energy Food Service Technology Center

by Richard Young

Food truck operators live in two different worlds — one on the food truck and one at the commissary kitchen. In each of these worlds, making money depends on producing the most food in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost. Most independent foodservice operators do not understand how much their cooking, holding and refrigeration equipment impacts their food production, energy cost and bottom line profits. Major quick service restaurant operators do understand the importance of their equipment, and since food trucks are similar in many ways to QSRs, let's look at some standard QSR practices that can make food trucks more productive and profitable.

Maintain all your refrigeration systems

Refrigeration is the act of removing heat from the air in a box. To save money, you need to do two things — keep the heat out of the box to begin with and make it easy to remove the heat already in the box. To keep the heat out, make sure that your refrigerator doors have really good gaskets that seal the doors up tight, make sure the hinges are aligned so the doors shut, and finally, make sure the door closers on your commissary walk-in boxes are working and keeping those doors shut tightly.

The heat you remove from the box needs an easy path out — which is the purpose of the condenser coils on your refrigerators and freezers. If those coils get dirty and clogged, then you are driving up your expenses and not getting any profit in return. In fact, really dirty coils can double the electricity use of your coolers and freezers. It's easy to clean the coils with a cheap coil brush and it will also make your equipment last longer.

Finally, recalibrate the temperature settings on all your refrigerators and freezers to the right temperature to maintain health and safety, but no lower than necessary. Thermostats set too low are just a waste of your money. QSRs have preventive maintenance teams that do regularly scheduled maintenance, so nothing gets missed. You should do the same. Put some quarterly reminders on your calendar so you won't get too busy and forget to save money.

Be sure appliances are working properly

It is very common to find appliances, especially fryers, that are not producing the right amount of food because they are starved for gas or the temperature controls are out of calibration. Efficient combustion requires the right mix of fuel and air and every gas supply is a little different. When you install a new piece of gas equipment, you must work with a qualified technician if you want your appliance to live long and hit maximum food production. If your equipment is older and has not been maintained for a while, it's good practice to have the gas pressure and burners adjusted by a tech for maximum performance. You don't need to do this very often — just do it at least once so you have confidence everything is right.

Use high-performance, energy efficient equipment

In the mobile environment, like a food truck, you have a limited amount of time to sell as much food as possible. A cheap starter fryer will produce about one half to two thirds as much food as an energy efficient high-performance fryer, generate more waste heat inside your truck, and cost you more in cooking oil.

There is a reason why the big QSR chains buy the most efficient equipment — time is money and efficient equipment produces more food, faster and at better quality than low efficiency appliances. If you are unsure where to look for efficient appliances, check out the Energy Star program at www.energystar.gov/cfs. If you are located in California, check out the California Energy Wise foodservice program (www.CAEnergyWise.com) for free resources, classes, utility rebates and the Try-Before-You-Buy program.

Every foodservice veteran will will tell you that survival and prosperity is all about cutting waste and maximizing production. The equipment that you buy and how you maintain it is truly important to your success in the competitive world of commercial foodservice!