Green Restaurants Are Here to Stay

Green restaurants are sprouting up all over the place, as they should be. Restaurant patrons have a growing daily concern for the health of their environment and the health of their families. They are making their homes, apartments, offices, cars and lives more green; why wouldn’t they want their favorite dining spot to do the same thing. Fortunately for commercial kitchens everywhere, restaurant equipment manufacturers are helping out.

Green Restaurant Equipment

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have united to form the Energy Star movement. Currently, five categories of commercial restaurant equipment have established Energy Star guidelines. They are fryers, hot food holding cabinets, refrigerators/freezers, dishwashers, and steam cookers. These certified units can save over 40% in energy costs compared to non-Energy Star models.

Some examples of Energy Star rated equipment are the Vulcan VPX3 Counter Boilerless/Connectionless Electric Steamer, the Hobart LXi Undercounter High Temp Dishwasher, and the Frymaster H55 High-Efficieny Gas Fryer.

We care about the environment at ShortOrder.com; so if you have questions about Energy Star rated equipment that we carry, just give us a shout and we will be happy to help.

Green Restaurant Tips

You don’t need to buy all new equipment at one time to become a greener restaurant. There are several other things that you can do to start you down the green path.

• You can use low-flow pre-rinse spray nozzles at the dish machines.
• Use compact fluorescent lamps instead of light bulbs in break rooms, storage rooms, offices, walk-in refrigerators, etc.
• Use take-out containers that can be recycled (#1 and #2 plastics and aluminum) instead of Styrofoam.
• Use organic foods in the kitchen.
• Make sure to use recycled paper products whenever possible (i.e. napkins, office paper, menus)
• Install occupancy sensors in the restrooms, storage rooms and any other low-traffic rooms. Lights will turn off automatically when the rooms are unoccupied.

Here’s to greener restaurants and a greener future!

Restaurant Equipment Events: What To Do in 2008

Yes, it’s already the end of February, but there are still tons of exciting restaurant equipment events in 2008. Everyone in the restaurant equipment industry will attend to represent themselves at expos, conferences, and food festivals around the world, to form a veritable “booth camp” of restaurant equipment industry experts.

The next big restaurant equipment event is coming up pretty soon. The Bear Stearns 14th Annual Retail, Restaurants & Consumer Conference will kick off on Tuesday, March 4th at 3:00 pm EST at the Bear Stearns headquarters in New York City. Presenters include Mike George, president and CEO of QVC, Inc., Safeway, Inc., and Wyndam Worldwide, to name a few.

International Restaurant Equipment Events

Looking to travel and represent? Then take off to one of the many European food and restaurant industry expos in 2008. Try the Health Ingredients (Hi) Europe event in Paris, set for November 4-6, at which over a hundred restaurateurs will be searching for the best restaurant equipment to match their supplies.

Can’t wait ’til November? Check out the Food Ingredients Central and Eastern Europe (FiCEE) event in Warsaw, Poland, at the Warsaw International Expocentre, April 22-24.

Got a sweet tooth? Make it to the Salon Passion Chocolat & de la Gourmandise in Montreal, Canada, November 7-9. Presenters and exhibitors will certainly be in the market for a good ice cream display and storage solution.

We’ll be out there. Will you?

Restaurant industry change is necessary

The restaurant industry is a combination of old and new. Preparing delicious food is a practice as old as humanity — even though the restaurant equipment used varies from a cave campfire to a stainless steel Vulcan range with 32,000 BTU burners. At the same time, diners are a discriminating bunch, and successful entrepreneurs know that today’s trendy restaurant can quickly become passe and bankrupt.

The restaurant industry must adapt to stay viable

Although the restaurant industry is cyclical, responding to the seasons of the economy, it also must evolve to prosper. And it’s apparent that the restaurant industry has often struggled with the retention of key employees. Many smart, talented individuals work in the restaurant industry — and then quickly leave it for other industry that is considered more “career-friendly.” The restaurant industry struggles from the stigma of this popular perception, and it’s not without cause. Although they can be immensely rewarding, creatively, financially, and emotionally, restaurant industry jobs can be hard and the pace is fast. This situation costs the restaurant industry dearly in high turnover rates, training costs, lower productivity, and of course, the loss of talent.

The National Restaurant Association, as part of their Cornerstone Initiative, has taken positive steps to address this situation. Their Retirement Benefit Program allows Association member restaurants can offer retirement benefits to owners and employees. The program is administered by the American Buying Retirement Services, Inc.

Restaurant industry businesses should investigate retirement benefits

If you’re interested in retaining your best restaurant employees — and who isn’t? — you should take a look at setting up retirement benefits. In this era of do-it-yourself retirement plans, you might be surprised at how little it might cost. For some no-nonsense restaurant retirement plan advice, refer to these restaurant industry tips at the NRA website.

The employees at your restaurant or kitchen won’t be expecting a full-blown pension. If you can construct a sensible 401(k), SIMPLE-IRA, or SIMPLE 401(k), though, many of them will be more apt to visualize a long-term career with your restaurant — and that’s a future you should be encouraging.

Announcing ShortOrder 2.0! ShortOrder.com, the online price leader for commercial restaurant equipment, announces version 2 of our great website. So, come on in, take a look around, and browse through all the great brands we carry, such as:

Restaurant equipment is going green. The restaurant industry is increasingly turning heads for efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Being the retail industry’s largest consumer of electricity, this is a welcoming sign. Whether that means switching to Energy Star appliances, increasing recycling, or using non-toxic cleaning products, industry experts are noting a growing trend. Leading the charge is the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), which is a non-profit group that is dedicated to helping the restaurant industry become more environmentally conscious. The GRA provides restauranteurs with information on how each individual restaurant can reduce its energy consumption. The organization also has a highly touted green certification, which it grants to restaurants that meet its strict requirements.

One example for how this can be achieved is the B.R. Guest Restaurant Group, which recently received a green certification from the Green Restaurant Association. B.R. Guest operates a number of restaurants in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. In order to achieve a GRA green certification, restaurants must take four steps a year to reduce their ecological impact. This can mean small steps, such as instituting comprehensive recycling programs or eliminating styrofoam for more biodegradable containers. It can also mean taking large actions, such as switching old, inefficient equipment for modern, Energy Star rated appliances. While the upfront costs may be significant, many of the steps that restaurants can take pay for themselves after only a year or two. For the B.R. group, this meant eliminating styrofoam and one-use products, installing low-flow aerators, and implementing a recycling program. Additionally, the B.R. Guest group is also researching energy efficient lighting for its restaurants. With the American society becoming increasingly aware of the concepts of environmental sustainability, global warming, and carbon footprints, the restaurant industry is doing itself and the environment a favor by doing its part. With more than 300 restaurants now achieving the GRA’s green certificate, the restaurant industry is increasingly becoming green. As GRA founder Michael Oshman says, “It takes some getting used to (going green), but eventually it becomes a way of life.” For the original story, click here.

One of the best ways for your restaurant to reduce energy consumption is by updating all of your equipment to new, energy-efficient appliances. Keep your restaurant on the cutting edge of “green technology” by browsing our selection of restaurant equipment. Short Order has a large selection of energy efficient appliances, whether you need ice makers, convection ovens, dishwashers, or refrigerators. With America’s increasing desire to be environmentally conscientious, turning your restaurant “green” not only will reduce your costs and carbon footprint, it may also draw a new clientele.

Restaurant equipment purchases and capital expenditure are on the rise, according to the National Restaurant Association. Fifty-nine percent of restaurant operators reported planning to make a capital expenditure such as purchasing new restaurant equipment, expanding or remodeling in the coming months. Also, Fifty-three percent reported purchasing restaurant equipment or making other capital expenditures in the month of May.

This news comes as the National Restaurant Association reports increased restaurant performance for the third straight month, with increases in same store sales and traffic.

Just last month, the 2007 National Restaurant Association Hotel-Motel Show hit the Windy City. In its 88th year, the National Restaurant Association held events at the show including trans-fat free cooking, green products, and other restaurant industry trends and hot topics. Tons of restaurant industry workers attended the show.

Not only did the National Restaurant Association show feature cooking trends, but it also had fantastic technology displays and vendors on hand. Companies like Micros, Pitco and Digital Dining showed onlookers what they could do for their restaurants, featuring point-of-sale technology and other efficient business solutions.

Many attendants of the NRA show noticed that there were quite a few more technology vendors at the event this year than previous years. Some felt that it’s telling of the times — with so many advancements in technology, restaurants need to keep up in order to keep customers satisfied and provide optimum levels of service. With new products and solutions, it’s made easy for restaurant industry professionals to do just that.

Keeping up with customer demands can often be tough, but great restaurant equipment can make things easier. Check out ShortOrder.com’s great inventory of commercial restaurant equipment.

According to USA Today, the fast-food industry is gearing up for a war.

On breakfast.

Yep, the breakfast market is said to be worth $77.6 billion, which makes it very appealing to the fast-food giants, who believe staking a piece of that market “can mean the difference between growth and stagnation.”

Since people generally don’t venture much when it comes to breakfast foods, this means that fast-food companies are going to have to really push their new breakfast menus to consumers. And that means getting people to try fast-food breakfasts other than at McDonald’s, which is the fast-food breakfast leader.

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Forbes’ December 2006 article “Most Unusual Restaurants in the World” mentions some extremely interesting places. Chicago’s Moto restaurant has some courses that are prepared using a lightning-fast Class IV Laser, while tables at Brussels’ Dinner in the Sky are suspended mid-air with the help of a crane. No doubt, there are some truly creative things going on at restaurants across the globe.

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It’s been a while since I was in grade school, but I can remember exactly what I used to get every day for lunch in sixth and seventh grade: a basket of fries, a can of Coke and a freshly baked cookie that was roughly the size of my face. This was what I ate for lunch five days a week.

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