Reduce your energy:
Lighting – Restaurants can cut on their lighting costs by simply switching their light bulbs. Many restaurants still use traditional light bulbs, when options such as Compact Florescent light bulbs are available, as well as Light Emitting Diodes, aka LED’s. Although they are a little more expensive to purchase, your restaurant energy costs for lighting can be reduced by 65%.
Ventilation – Your kitchen hood can end up sucking more than just the smoke in your kitchen, but also the money straight out of your pocket. Ensure that the kitchen hood is placed up against a wall, or purchase hoods with built in sensors, that only awaken when it’s needed. Additionally, maintenance of air conditioning units is important to ensure that all units are working efficiently.
Refrigeration – This is where your handy man or maintenance department comes into play. However, there are simply things that can be bringing your costs up that anyone can notice. For example, checking that all fridges and freezers are able to close tightly, replacing any damaged rubber gaskets and monitoring temperatures.
Battery Backup – You’ll eliminate the need for your generator, there’s a 5 millisecond switch over so essential services (phones, refrigeration etc) never go offline, and since the battery stores energy, you can cut your power use down by running your battery once it’s charged. Learn more about battery systems for the Caribbean here.
Conduct daily inventory AND use your inventory:
End of shift inventory should be taken by every shift leader. Doing this multiple times a day (the best), or even daily, will enable you to see exactly what is leaving your bar or kitchen. No one wants to believe that their staff will steal from that – but it happens.
In addition to taking inventory every day, it’s important to use the inventory you have. So much usable food is wasted in restaurants every day. Get creative! Not everything left over is garbage! A simple example is using left over bread and turning it into croutons or bread pudding.
Get in touch here or at hello@coralrange.com.
