How to reduce the energy bills in your hospitality venue
Every hospitality business is struggling with the astronomic rise in gas and electric bills. Reports are that businesses are being quoted over 400% of their previous costs, and prices are still rising.
For many businesses these increases are sadly unsustainable and as a result good, otherwise very viable, pubs and restaurants are already being forced to close.
For those that can manage to battle through this period (maybe with some long-awaited support from the government), or those on fixed term contracts that have a bit of time to prepare, we’ve looked at some practical ways you can reduce your bills.
Start with your kitchen
A commercial kitchen can account for up to 75% of a hospitality businesses gas and electric costs, so when looking to make savings this is a good place to start.
Refrigeration
Refrigeration alone can be responsible for over a third of a commercial kitchen’s energy costs.
Good maintenance of fridges and freezers can have a surprisingly high impact on the energy they use – incorrect temperature displays for example are a common fault that can long go undetected. Having your fridges and freezers serviced (either regularly, or even just a one off) to ensure they are working optimally could result in very rapid pay back and ongoing saving with current electricity costs.
If your fridges are quite old, it could be worth switching to a more energy efficient model. An A rated appliance uses around half the electricity of a D rated appliance (note for fridge freezers the old scale of A+++ to E has been replaced by the new A to D scale, where D is the equivalent of the old A+++).
With some businesses being quoted nearly £1 per kWh buying an A rated fridge instead of a D rated could save around £400 a year, resulting in a pay back of around 3 years. Given a D rated fridge was already A+++ on the old scale, if your fridges are very old the savings could be even higher.
Kitchen layout
The cost of new appliances may of course be more than many businesses can afford right now, but some could see benefits by simply moving the ones they have. Many commercial kitchens are laid out in a manner that suits the chef’s workflow, with little regard given to energy efficiency. However, a fridge that is next to a heat source, could end up costing up to 30% more than one placed in a separate area.
Re-configuring a kitchen isn’t always easy, but with these costs in mind it may be worth looking at.
Switching down or off
Ensuring a disciplined approach to switching appliances (such as grills, or heat lamps) down or off when not in use could result in savings of over 50% of the cost of the appliance. Attention needs to be paid to warm up times, but if your appliances are currently set too high for a whole shift, there could well be opportunities for big savings.
Adjust your food service hours
Adjusting your service hours could not only save on your energy bills, but also reduce the hours you need to staff the kitchen. Given the issues many businesses have recruiting for chefs and kitchen staff this could be a big help with two of the big challenges of the moment.
Look at your food sales for the current service times and check the revenue the kitchen is bringing in vs the cost of keeping it running. What may have been a justified level of sales a year ago might not be in the current environment.
EPOS hardware
Hardware should never be the main concern when looking for a hospitality EPOS system. However, in respect to reducing your energy bills its worth a note that replacing a PC based till system with an iPad-based cloud EPOS system could result in savings of over £200 per year per terminal.
Hang tight
While many forecasts indicate prices rising exponentially way into the future, bear in mind that negative forecasts make good headlines – these won’t necessarily come to fruition.
With current prices being so unsustainable for so many businesses it also seems very likely there will be some government support, and rumours of this are already starting to emerge. How much of an impact this will have and how inclusive it will be to all types and size of business remains to be seen, but there is hope that it could provide a much-needed lifeline to many.
So if you’re fortunate enough to still be in a fixed contract, or you have a business that can sustain the current levels for a little longer, hang tight and there will be better times ahead.
To find out more about our hospitality EPOS system, and how it could work in your venue, get in touch.
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