3 Simple Ways To Prevent Unbudgeted Repair Costs
Most folks in the restaurant business are generally busy dealing with the daily challenges of running their commercial cooking operations. As we know, both delivering quality food and timely service are the key ingredients needed to have a profitable, successful business but we must always remember to not lose sight of the little thieves lingering around who eagerly await the opportunity to steal those profits we work so hard for to obtain.
One of the largest profit thieves is the one labeled “Maintenance and Repair”. Premature replacement and repair of our cooking equipment, vent hood systems, and rooftop are all easily avoidable when we have good preventive maintenance, cleaning and inspection processes in place. Not only do these processes help us avoid having to deal with untimely, costly and most importantly unbudgeted cost, they also help our operations run smooth and clean, day in and day out.
Here at DRIPLOC, we understand how rare it is for operators to get the opportunity to see what’s going with their rooftops first hand. Follow these 3 simple ways to prevent unbudgeted repair costs.
1. Have your commercial vent hood system cleaned by a licensed, professional hood cleaner on a routine basis. Make certain to use one who provides before and after pics of the entire vent hood system(s) which includes the vent hood, ducts, exhaust fans, rooftop grease containment systems as well as the rooftop area around the exhaust fan(s). How often your system needs service is generally based on the volume output of your store
2. Check that your hood cleaning company is using oil-only grease filters in the containment system. This ensures that any grease that is displaced into the system is caught and encapsulated in an absorbent that will not leach out the oil when rainwater is present.
3. Verify that all of your exhaust fans are hinged according to the NFPA fire code. Without hinges in place, service providers are forced to place the exhaust fan directly on top of the roof while cleaning which causes not only damage to the rooftop but most importantly, structure damage to the fan itself which can leave it out of balance or worse, out of operation.