Whether you work in the restaurant industry, manage a hospital or school kitchen, own a floristry shop or supervise a grocery store, you may have heard one of your peers in the industry mention a relatively new item that has been helping them to save a lot of money in their walk-in cooler – the FiltaCool filter.  FiltaCool filters tend to get talked about because they provide so much benefit for such a small investment.  But just what are these small, inexpensive money-savers and how do you get them?

The Filters

FiltaCool filters are small, flat filters that fit into small brackets fastened (usually) to the top of your walk-in cooler or other commercial refrigeration unit.  They take up almost no space at all and they start to work immediately, altering the internal environment of your cooler so that your cooler runs more efficiently and your produce or other perishables stay fresh longer.  FiltaCool filters only cost about $12 a piece each month.  Not a large investment, but their impact is huge.

What They Do

FiltaCool filters alter the environment inside your refrigeration unit in several beneficial ways.  Primarily, they act to regulate the humidity inside of your cooler.  Humidity is bad news for commercial coolers.  Condensation freezes on the interior walls and piping of the cooler causing it to use more energy to run and causing its parts to wear out more quickly.  Coolers with FiltaCool filters installed use 10% less energy to maintain a constant temperature.

Humidity is also death for perishable goods.  Too much humidity and your product spoils rapidly, too little humidity and your products dry out, crack and become unusable.  FiltaCool filters keep the humidity inside of you cooler at the optimal level for both the unit and your perishable goods.  Your products can make it into the hands of your customers, where they belong, instead of getting tossed into the dumpster and your cooler could last for years longer than it’s expected lifetime.

FiltaCool filters also work to trap the harmful gasses that are a natural product of the decomposition of produce.  When these gasses build up inside of a cooler they accelerated decomposition, causing your goods to spoil more quickly.  FiltaCool traps these gasses so that they cannot accumulate, slowing the decay of your cold-stored products.

Of course, those gasses aren’t the only thing to build up inside of your cooler.  Unpleasant odors accumulate in a cooler over time, making it an unpleasant place for your employees and for your distributors.  Even worse, some produce can actually absorb noxious odors.  Nobody wants their kale to taste like carp, now it doesn’t have to.

When you use FiltaCool filters in your walk-in or other commercial refrigeration unit you will begin to see big savings right away.  Your perishable goods will last longer and you will lose less money to waste.  FiltaCool filters allows you to put more of your products on the customers’ tables and less into the waste bin.

Where to Get Them

FiltaCool filters are available from your local Filta franchise owner.  If you are already a FiltaFry user, then ask your Filta representative about FiltaCool filters.  If you haven’t used Filta before, call 1-800-Go-Filta to find a Filta franchise near you.  Filta will come to your place of business and FiltaCool filters can be installed in about 10 minutes per unit.  After that, your Filta representative will return to your place of business every 3 months to replace your filters at no additional cost.

When Filta first introduced the FiltaCool filters in 2008, the product met with a very positive overall response from the food-service industry and other businesses that rely on commercial refrigeration.  FiltaCool filters are small, inexpensive and long lasting.  However, can something so cheap that only has to changed out once every three months really help Filta franchise owners make money?  Or are FiltaCool filters a burden to Filta franchisees?

The Big Picture

It may help to take a look first at the big picture, not just in terms of impact across the entire geographical dispersion of Filta franchises, but also looking forward into the future.  The addition of FiltaCool opens up an entire new customer base to Filta owners.  In the past, Filta owners were limited to providing service to only restaurants, hospitals, sporting arenas and other places where fried foods were served.  For some that was more than enough to provide all the business they could handle.  Still, it left so many businesses in any community out of reach of Filta franchise owners.

FiltaCool expands the amount of businesses that can benefit from Filta services.  Now Filta owners are no longer limited to doing business with establishment using fryers.  Now any business that uses commercial coolers is a potential customer too.  This means grocery stores, florists and many other previously inaccessible venues.  Of course, almost all of a Filta franchisee’s existing customers also use commercial coolers in their establishments.  This means that Filta owners can make even more money on each service call to their FiltaFry customers.

Low Overhead

Of course, FiltaCool filters do not constitute a major investment by Filta customers.  Neither do they constitute one the part of Filta owners, either in time or money.  Filta cool filters take only a few minutes to install and a few seconds to replace.  Even though they only have to be replaced once every three months, they are rented by the month.  That means that, as an owner, you can make a profit off of a unit every month for only a few seconds of time every 90 days.

FiltaCool filters also don’t go bad.  When it is time to replace them, a filter owner simply takes the used filters home, de-gasses them and then they are ready to be installed in another unit.  This means there is very little investment into equipment for Filta owners.  FiltaCool filters are almost all profit.

The Figures

How much do FiltaCool filters earn Filta owners, though?  Most Filta owners rent out their FiltaCool filters for about $12 a month and the average walk-in cooler requires 6 filters.  That is an extra $72 per customer each month.  Multiply that amount by the number of FiltaCool customers you have and it’s easy to see how quickly the profits add up.  And remember, FiltaCool filters only have to be changed once every three months, so it’s essentially like making money for doing nothing at all.  FiltaCool filters certainly help Filta customers save a lot of money, but they are also a major asset to Filta franchise owners too.

Recently the U.S. Commerce Association named the Filta Group the recipient of its 2009 “Best Local Business” in the Green Business category.  This isn’t the first time Filta has received such honorable recognition.  The Filta Group appeared for 3 consecutive years in the Franchise Times list of top 55 fastest growing franchisors.  Filta has also received a number of other glowing recommendation within the business community and the food-service industry.

Filta has become such a well known name in the food-service industry that Filta services are now used by a number of major sports arenas, such as the Invesco Field at Mile High and the University of Virginia Stadium.  In fact, Filta has gained such a great reputation that it has been asked to provide services at two of the main venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia.  So who is Filta and what makes them such a highly regarded name?

Inside Filta

The Filta Group began as a small cooking oil filtration service in the UK during the 1990s.  Since that time Filta has expanded across the globe, with franchises operating in 27 different companies.  It has also expanded its product and service to provide much more that just oil filtration.  All of its products are eco-friendly, reduce waste and help businesses save money.  The Filta Group is now headquartered here in the U.S., in Orlando, FL, where it continues to grow.  Adding new franchises and new satisfied customers with increasing rapidity.

FiltaFry

The service that started it all, FiltaFry, is still Filta’s top service.  The FiltaFry service is a revolutionary method of cooking oil filtration that allows restaurants and other commercial kitchen to reduce their cooking oil use by half.  Obviously that adds up to a pretty tremendous savings and the reduced waste is good for the environment too.  FiltaFry also helps maintain commercial fryers so that they run more efficiently and use less energy, providing even more savings and less waste.

Other benefits of using Filta Fry include increased employee safety and decreased incidents of burn injuries and slip-and-fall injuries in the workplace.  A safer workplace can net your business up to 25% off of your insurance premiums.  When FiltaFry takes over managing your fryers it takes the burden of that unpleasant task off of your staff and places it into the hands of a skilled professional.

FiltaBio

Filta’s newest service, FiltaBio, works hand-in-hand with the FiltaFry service.  Rather than having to store your oil in unsightly and unsanitary waste oil bins when it comes time to throw it away, the FiltaBio waste oil removal service can take the oil directly from your fryers and transport it off-site for you.  Better yet, almost all of the waste oil Filta collects is used to produce biodiesel fuel to help combat rising oil prices and pollution.

FiltaCool

In 2008 Filta added FiltaCool to the lineup.  FiltaCool is Filta’s specially designed filters for commercial coolers.  These filters help regulate the environment inside of your walk-in cooler so that your perishable goods stay fresh longer.  This means less waste due to spoilage and less energy waste, because your cooler will run much more efficiently.  FiltaCool filters make a big difference for not much money.

Each day several million of Americans get up and trudge off to unrewarding and unsatisfying dead-end jobs.  Most have dreamed of getting out of the rat race and going into business for themselves doing something rewarding .  Many won’t make that happen because they don’t have practical education, skills,  investment capital, or the motivation to make it happen.  On the other hand, for those really genuine in their longing to go into business themselves, Filta may be the answer to their prayers.

Why Filta?

Filta is the top business when it comes to environmentally safe, cost saving industry solutions for food-service businesses.  Filta franchises provide 3 excellent services which are performed on site at restaurants, sports venues, hospitals and anywhere commercial fryers and coolers are used.  The goal of Filta owners is to help their customers save money by creating less waste and improving their environmental impact.

The 3 service provided by Filta franchise owners are FiltaFry, FiltaBio and FiltaCool.  Each of these service provide customers with great benefit in their own right.  When combined it adds up to big savings for customers and a big difference in the environment.

All Filta service are proven to be 100% eco-friendly.  These services have been proven effective in the industry and have received awards and mention throughout the business and food-service communities.  This means that Filta franchise owners will find their services in high demand now and tomorrow as more business seek for ways to cut cost and embrace green business practices.

No Degree Needed

You don’t need a degree in Business Management to be a Filta franchise owner.  You don’t have to have gone to trade school.  You don’t need any prior experience working with fryers or walk-in coolers.  All you need is a strong work ethic and the desire to be your own boss.

Filta provides all of the training that you need to handle all of the business aspects of your Filta franchise as well as training in how to operate equipment, provide Filta services to your customers.  Since most Filta franchises are owner-operated, Filta understands how important it is that Filta franchise owners be knowledgeable in every aspect of the Filta business.

To help Filta franchisees succeed with their businesses, Filta provides an in-depth training program.  All new Filta owners are provided with a formal training course in a classroom setting with courses in Filta services and in business management taught by knowledgeable professionals.  Filta also connects new franchisees with experienced Filta franchise mentors who guide new owners in a real-life hands-on experience providing all of the Filta services in the real world.

Filta Affordable

Not only do you not need a lot of education to be a Filta owner, you don’t need a lot of money either.  Filta franchises start at around $80,000 for a single unit.  That includes all of the equipment and materials needed to start a Filta business right away, as well as the cost of all classroom and infield training.  A Filta business can be up and making money quicker than many franchises that cost twice as much and take twice as long to get started.

First and foremost, management has to be openly communicable with those in their employ. Unclear instruction or inadequate communication can lead to many problems, and most of which a loss in productivity. Changes in the system, changes in the way that things are done need to be communicated immediately, and conveyed in an understandable way. Vagueness or rushing to express a given demand usually will result in either a job not done correctly, or a complete do over- this is to be avoided. When it comes to training, being open and receptive is also good, and a back and forth with regard to communication can enable a much smoother workplace environment. Not only is communicating change important, but acknowledging the hard work and effort of the employees, as well. Food service of any kind can be a rather high stress work environment, and being able to encourage the staff helps a great deal more than many people realize.

Secondly, when it comes to organization, an effective restaurant manager knows what’s going on in his or her location at all times. There is not anything that the management should be unclear on, and this sort of ties into the first area- because communication being open enables a greater understanding of issues sometimes even before they arise. If the management team is not in synch, it makes for an uncertainty in the workplace, or opens the door to manipulations. Being careful to ensure that everyone is on the same page and communicating that well is vital to the success of a restaurant management team. This also has bearing on numbers, as it is really important that any member of a management team be able to keep not only accurate records, but organize all of this in a way that makes sense to others.

Lastly, making sure that everything is balanced is important. What discipline was handed out to one employee for an infraction, has to be to the next who causes the same issue. When looking at situations and analyzing problems, it is a must to be able to see all sides of any given problem and come to an intelligent resolution that does not breed any sort of animosity. Fairness in all things is important and being able to balance these things will make for a much more efficient and effective management team.

When every single penny counts you cannot afford to leave any stone unturned in your quest to maximize profits by reducing costs.  There are a number of cost management measures that many fail to notice.  One of these lies in the area of insurance.

Insurance is an absolute necessity.  Not only are you legally obligated to carry certain coverages, but it is just good sense to protect yourself and your business.  Though we all hope that we will never have cause to utilize those costly plans, it is certainly an instance of “better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”.  There are ways to reduce your insurance cost without sacrificing the amount of coverage that you carry, though.

One of the most obvious ways to drop the cost of the insurance you carry as a business owner is to raise your premiums.  You can potentially save a lot of money this way, especially if you are fortunate enough to not have to file claims.  The best way to protect yourself if you choose to do this is to set aside the difference between what you would be paying for a lower deductible and what you pay for the higher deductible.  By setting aside money in this way you can cushion yourself should you find yourself needing to pay out of pocket.

Of course, should you find yourself not needing to cover those deductibles, then so much the better.  The best way to do this is to crack down on safety issues in your establishment.  Knuckling down about safety in your restaurant can work in your favor in several ways.

Most obviously, if you are doing everything in your power to prevent accidents from occurring in your place of business then you stand a much better chance of avoiding having to pay out those costly deductibles.  This means that the money you set back, which you saved from your reduced insurance payments, is money for your business – a net gain.

Improved safety works in favor of your business in another way, though.  Businesses that report few or no workplace injuries become eligible for further reductions in the cost of their insurance policies.  In fact, by just reporting less than average workplace injury claims you may be able to save as much as 25% off of your insurance premiums.

Finally, shop around for insurance often.  At least once a year, when it comes time to renew, take a look around and see who is offering the best rates.  Never make the mistake of simply renewing with your current company just because they are who you have always used.

It is because the duties of a restaurant manager are so stringent that leadership positions within a restaurant are often broken down into a number of subsets, such as assistant managers, crew leads and the like.  In many large restaurants the kitchen may operate under the auspices of an executive chef who undertakes most of the duties of managing kitchen operations while a floor manager supervises the servers and greeters.  However, at the top there must always be one main supervisor holding the totality of operations together into a fluid and cohesive whole.

At the very core of anyone with an eye on advancing through the ranks of restaurant management must be a strong sense of customer service and duty to the public.  The successful manager understands that his or her first duty is always to the customer.  This is often displayed by the most successful managers, not in how they deal with customer complaints or concerns, but in their willingness to get out there with the rest of the staff and assist customers on an especially busy night.  At heart, all good restaurant managers are still servers or cooks at heart.

It is for this reason that many restaurants choose to promote from in house.  Anyone who has never filled the entry level roles in a dining establishment could never hope to have the in depth understanding of the intricacies of restaurant operations coupled with the true spirit of service.  It is almost a universal truth that the employee who worked his or her way up from the kitchen to the office will do a better job than a party brought in from the outside.

Since the best managers generally come from in house, it falls to existing management to be able to spot potential, initiative and a natural bent toward leadership within the ranks.  Employees demonstrating these capacities should be encouraged to develop them and placed into leadership roles as soon as they are ready.  The shift lead of today is the outstanding manager of tomorrow.
Of those traits listed above, initiative is probably the one most often overlooked or left uncultivated.  A decent manager will ensure that all of the day-to-day duties of a restaurant are carried out, that employees are performing up to expectation and that customer issues are handled appropriately.  That is simply the baseline that defines an adequate manager.  The truly good manager, the one you want running the show in your absence, is the one who shows initiative.

The employee with initiative doesn’t ask, “Did I do an adequate job?”  The employee with initiative doesn’t even ask, “Did I do the best job I could do?”  No, the employee who will make a great manager some day is the one that asks, “How could this job be done more efficiently and effectively?”  It is this sort of employee that, when promoted, will begin to look for ways to improve the restaurant and make it more profitable.