From food prep, to cooking, and washing dishes, it’s safe to say that restaurants use a good amount of water on a daily basis. In fact, the largest uses of water in restaurants occur in the kitchen. While water is a necessity when it comes to commercial kitchen operations, it’s still a limited resource. This means that water conservation should be at the forefront of every restaurant owner’s mind.
Try these four water conservation ideas to help your restaurant save more water in the kitchen.
1) Educate Your Employees
Did you know that one of the easiest ways to conserve water in your restaurant is to simply talk to your staff members? If you want to start saving water today, hold a meeting with your staff to discuss the importance of water conservation and how employees can help. You can do this by training them on the proper way to presoak dishes and load a dishwasher efficiently, and by stressing the importance of keeping faucets turned off during rinsing cycles, while lathering hands, and scrubbing produce. Training your kitchen employees can help you significantly reduce water waste in your restaurant -- which will also add up to some big cost savings.
2) Be Smart About Faucets
Another great way to reduce water consumption is to replace your water-wasting kitchen faucets with new, water-saving equipment. Here are some options to think about installing:
- Faucet aerators can help your restaurant quickly and easily conserve water. Installing new aerators can often help reduce the flow of faucet water by half.
- A low-flow, pre-rinse spray valve will use less than one gallon of water per minute -- as opposed to traditional spray valves that use double or even triple that amount. Low-flow valves are still powerful enough to rinse dishes, but use far less energy and water.
- Motion-sensor taps for your kitchen sinks can ensure that forgetful employees never waste excessive amounts of water.
3) Install Water-Saving Kitchen Equipment
These days, commercial kitchen equipment is more energy-efficient than ever before. Upgrading your steam cooker, dishwasher, and ice machine to Energy Star-certified equipment will help your restaurant save more water. Some Energy Star appliance models actually reuse water throughout cycles to help combat restaurant water waste.
4) Use a Restaurant Water Filtration System
Back-of-house employees need to drink clean water to keep them going throughout their long shifts. And customers want food that is cooked with pure, fresh water, too. Installing a point-of-use restaurant water filtration system in your kitchen will allow your cooks and other back-of-house staff members to dispense the right amount of clean, filtered water for cooking and drinking.
Implementing these water-efficiency ideas are just the beginning when it comes to avoiding unnecessary water use in your restaurant. And with more customers showing a preference for eco-friendly restaurants, restaurant sustainability ideas like water conservation are crucial to staying competitive.
Find out more about how to get your own Natura Water System.