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Water Conservation in Restaurants: A Sustainable Step Forward

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October 2, 2023

Would your restaurant turn a profit if you were charged for the air your customers and staff breathed? Would it be fair to have to pay for the natural light that comes through your windows?

When necessities are monetized, it can feel like extortion to stay alive. Every human and every restaurant needs water to survive, but you’re charged for it regardless.

We often discuss the 3-5% profit margins restaurants achieve in this blog. Those numbers are so important because, when a margin is razor thin, it’s crucial to cut every cost you can. From food waste to worker turnover, restaurants have a unique set of hurdles to clear before they can achieve the dream of stable profitability.

But there’s an elephant slowly growing in the room when it comes to water — scarcity. New data from the World Resources Institute shows that, over the next 30 years, rising temperatures and populations will stress water access beyond normal limits.

As concerns about water scarcity grow, so does the importance of its conservation. Recognizing this, we wanted to pinpoint areas of water conservation that help restaurants work smarter with how they use water. For additional insight, we sat down with T&S Brass to learn how plumbing, faucets, and pre-rinse units might be the bandage restaurants need to keep leaking profits from flooding their kitchens.

Sustainability in Foodservice

Sustainability isn’t just for the environment — it’s also about business practices that can keep your dream alive. Sustainability is about eliminating waste. The foodservice industry accounts for 15% of the total water used in commercial and institutional facilities in the United States, and a majority of that water usage comes from the kitchen.

The bad news is that you can’t get around the cleaning, rinsing, boiling, and wetting needed in the kitchen.

The good news is that you can do it smarter.

Restaurants around the world are embracing sustainability, eco-friendly practices, and environmental awareness not just because it’s a good PR move, but because it’s cost-effective.

How to Calculate Your Water Costs

You don’t know where to save if you don’t know where you're wasting money — that’s why you need to conduct a water audit. Many different companies can do this for you, but if you want to roll up your sleeve and do it yourself, your best bet is a threefold process.

First, check for leaks. Your pipes won’t lie, and fixing leaks is an obvious and objective way to save money on your water costs.

Next, identify wasteful practices. Are faucets always running in your kitchen? What are your processes for cleaning, and how can they be improved?

Finally, use a water cost calculator. Restaurants can easily calculate water costs by monitoring water usage through water meters and utility bills, but you can also evaluate your water consumption and areas for improvement with specific product cost calculators.

Embracing Technology

Manufacturers are always innovating products, but you need to know how those products work before understanding if you should invest in them. That’s why we reached out to T&S Brass. Out of their entire product line, nothing was so clear in their water-saving implementations as their hands-free faucets.

Hands-free faucets are nothing new to ballpark restrooms or event halls. Their ability to improve hygiene and reduce maintenance was made famous twenty years ago. However, kitchens have been slow to implement this technology.

T&S hands-free faucets stand out from traditional faucets due to their advanced water-saving capabilities in restaurants. These faucets incorporate state-of-the-art sensor technology that accurately detects user presence, delivering water only when needed. Customization options are also available, which allow operators to select faucets that best suit their kitchen layouts, workflow demands, and aesthetic preferences.

These faucets also feature adjustable flow rates and automatic shut-off timers, which means you won’t have to worry that a “whoops” will result in skyrocketing water bills.

Water should be free, but it isn’t. When faced with the costs and considerations of conserving water, consider it similarly to how you view any other expense. Ask yourself how this can be improved, and if a simple leak or spray valve replacement can save you hundreds in a year, you just moved that razor-thin margin in the right direction.

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TundraFMP

TundraFMP helps foodservice operators do what they do best – by providing fast, flexible and complete kitchen solutions. We offer the most complete selection of restaurant equipment, apparel, smallwares, parts, and accessories in the industry.

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