Since 1996 the Filta Group has been gaining more and more notice as a provider of top-quality service to commercial kitchens.  Most recently, the Filta Group was honored with the 2009 U.S. Commerce Associations “Best of Local Business” Award in the category of Green Business.  This is because Filta’s products and services are just great when it comes to saving their customers time and money, the Filta services are also great for the environment too.  Filta firmly believes that green business is good business and that shows in every Filta product and service offered by every Filta franchise across the world.

Therefore, it was only natural that when Vancouver was selected as the site for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Filta was called on to make sure that the food needs of millions of visiting participants and spectators could be met with the least amount of negative environmental impact and waste.  During the coming Winter Olympics, Filta representatives will be working diligently to provide the acclaimed FiltaFry cooking oil micro-filtration service to all of the deep fryers in use around BC Place where the opening ceremonies are to be held and GM Place, one of the main sites of the Olympic competitions.

For those who are not yet aware, FiltaFry operates by using a specialized micro-filtration system to purify even the most microscopic particles from cooking oil.  As a result of the process the oil remains usable for twice as long without sacrificing quality and taste.  Oil that lasts twice as long mean half as much oil used.  In this instance, that amount is truly staggering.

Initially planning estimated that around 600,000 gallons of cooking oil would be used over the course of the event.  That is enough cooking oil to completely fill an Olympic sized swimming pool.  FiltaFry hopes to drastically reduce that amount, substantially lessening the waste created by the monumental event.  Furthermore, because FiltaFry maintained fryers run more efficiently, the fryers running at BC Place and GM Place will be able to keep up with demands while using a lot less electricity.

Local Vancouver Filta franchise owner, Steven Hughes, has already expressed his excitement at getting to provide Filta services for this historic event.  Steven already has plenty of practice providing FiltaFry services for large sports venues.  He currently filters the cooking oil used in the fryers at GM Place during the National Hockey League season when it also serves as the home arena of the Vancouver Canucks.

Just like the thousands of Olympic competitors hoping to win fame and glory at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Olympic games will be an exciting chance for Filta to show the world just what FiltaFry can do on such a massive scale.  Unlike any other Olympic hopeful, Filta does not represent just one country though.  Filta has found a home in 27 of the countries that will be competing for gold in the 2010 Winter Games.  Filta’s involvement in the 2010 Winter Olympics is a prime example of just how far Filta has come since its start as a single oil filtration business in the UK just over a decade ago.

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.

Does this mean that going into business during an economic down period is necessarily going to be a disaster?  Not at all.  Going into business can be a sound financial move even when others around you are handing in the towel.  Some investments are simply stronger than others.

As a general rule of thumb, though often more costly to get into, franchises tend to have a higher success rate than independent businesses.  Restaurants also tend to weather economic hard times better than many other industries.  After all, people still need to eat and those who can’t or won’t cook for themselves aren’t inclined to learn just because times are lean.

That being said, it is important to understand that not all types of food-service establishment do well.  It isn’t so much a matter of food style (though if you are going after something that appeals to a small niche market, you may not do so well).  What matters most is the type of establishment you get into, itself.

There are four distinct classifications of restaurant, each with its own genres, subsets, etc.  The four basic types of restaurant are fast-food, fast-casual, casual and fine dining establishments.  Each has its own merits and weaknesses, especially in time of economic hardship.

Fine dining establishment tend to weather most economies fairly well, by virtue of catering to those who are well off enough to not have to make major sacrifices to their dining habits.  If you are a frequenter of fine dining establishments, you may have noticed the distinct lack of fine dining franchises, though.

The lack of fine dining franchise options means that if you want to get into fine dining, you’ll have to go it alone.  Independent ownership is a significant risk, even in good times.  Trying to build the reputation of a new restaurant during a time of hardship could well put you in that 50% of disastrous failures rather quickly.

So what is the safer bet for franchising in a down economy?  You might suspect that the wise choice is in fast-food.  After all, the well known fast-food franchises all do fairly well across the board.  However, the demographic groups targeted by fast-food franchisors are also the groups most inclined to drop dining out from their budgets and start cooking at home more often when the economy tightens up.

Casual dining establishments also take a hit.  People stop being willing to pay extra for table service when they can get comparable food elsewhere for less.  Where can they get comparable food?  At fast-casual establishments.

Fast-casual establishments provide all of the quality of casual dining at prices closer to fast-food.  This appeals to those who are less inclined to drop dining out from their budgets, but are more than willing to forgo table service (and tipping) to save money.  This makes fast-causal establishments the safest restaurant franchising option during a slow economy.

Think about the green house emissions that are expelled into the air each and every time you start up your car. Carbon dioxide, sulfur, and other particulates create that lovely smell that comes from your vehicle’s exhaust. But what if your muffler reeked of french fries? Would that be a better option?
Here, we’ll explore some of the ways that Bio Diesel, or even straight vegetable oil is a much better alternative than you may have previously considered. The environmental impact is most obvious in the fact that waste vegetable oil comes from completely renewable resources. The same cannot be said for conventional, petroleum based fuel systems. Also, because waste oil is found almost anywhere, wherever there is a food service establishment that fries their food- there is definitely not a lack of being able to get the oil you need to fuel your heaters or vehicles.

The main things that you need in order to run a waste vegetable oil system are secondary fuel tanks, though some have come up with ways to use single tank systems, a heat source, a filtering system, and a fuel selector solenoid. There’s a bit of a retrofit system also involved and this helps produce much less emission than a standard petro based system. However, if all of this seems a bit complex, there are many outfitters that now sell not only conversion kits for your diesel vehicles, but also, conversion kits for the fuel itself. A quick look around online will reveal that this trend is growing and so too are the innovations and improvements to existing systems as more and more people catch on to this convenient fuel source. There are a few concerns with the system, for instance, cold weather congealing the grease- however, if you do have an adequate heat source, a quick warm up of your vehicle may be all that’s needed. There are even options for special additives now that help to prevent the solidifying of oil into greasy goo.

Consider, though also that the benefits of waste oil fuel are many- from being able to fuel up pretty much anywhere so long as you can filter your oil before hand, to being able to have a much, much less expensive option- think about possibly making the switch. Who knew fast food could actually save you money?

The best thing that you can do to promote productivity happens well before the staff is actually out on the floor full time. Make sure that your staff is adequately trained. This means being able to have a clear sense of exactly what is expected of them, and encouraging them to follow procedure as they are instructed from the start. Mentoring is a good thing, yes, but more often than not without a good, reliable training up front- having a newer staff member follow or shadow a senior staff member may cause problems as the older staff member has ways of doing things that the new one may not be ready to pick up.

Making sure that your staff is prioritizing customer service is key. If you notice that you have some servers that do not pay attention to their customers while still giving them some space- it may be time for a training refresher course. For newer servers, the key is in not allowing them to get to that level of comfort in service- from the start, make sure that they are well trained, and doing the best that they can.
Insofar as your kitchen staff goes, there needs to be a level of team work and camaraderie between kitchen and wait staff. This needs to be so that the kitchen staff makes sure that orders are correct, but also quick and efficient, and so that the wait staff is doing all they can to be sure that orders are actually brought to the back of the house the proper way. This is another area where a great training program can help, because a uniform way of ordering may enable better communication. In cases where a point of sale terminal is used, this is generally circumvented, but even then, problems can arise.

The key to better customer service may well lie in having a very solid, very uniform means of training. Better service not only makes sure that customers are coming back, but that they are also recommending your restaurant and that word of mouth is very important, especially in food service. This may take time to get all staff on board, but when the economy is uncertain and every little bit of loss is noticed- it may mean all the difference in the world for your restaurant.