Testimonials

Sales: $50,000-$75,000 per week

Grease Removal System: Jones PEC Interceptor

COST CONSIDERATIONS FOR GREASE REMOVAL SSYTEMS IN RESTAURANTS

All of us are well aware that problems with our grease removal systems do not generally occur on “slow days”; but rather a back-up, overflow, or problem with the local municipality occurs when we are most vulnerable. Maintenance, periodic inspections, and compliance with local ordinances for these systems are an industry imperative which presents to every operator the need to minimize costs in an area that can only impact negatively on sales.

 

I have outlined some of these costs in a 4,200 square foot restaurant utilizing an undersized grease interceptor, situated in our basement for ease of maintenance. Some of our unit costs may not apply to your operation and vice versa.

 

Our local health department requires inspections every two weeks and as needed pump-outs. We pay two employees two hours each at $9.00/hour for inspection prep and maintenance ($36 x 26 weeks = $936), another hour for clean-up ($9 x 26 weeks = $234), and another $650 for on-duty manager visual oversight which does not include the added cost of documenting the system condition for local authorities with written reports.

 

Water jetting of plumbing lines for grease build-up beyond foreign debris removal generally costs $1,300 for a minimum bi-annual flushing or main drain clog.

 

Total minimum in-house cost - $3,120

 

Outsourcing to a service contractor cost - $4,550 ($175/pump-out x 26) plus water jetting

 

Loss of business because the toxic odor from the trap offends? Unfathomable.

 

So what is an operator to do?

 

No matter the size of the grease removal system, the “minimum” costs hover between $3,000-$4,500 a year while many towns try to transfer the costs of sewer maintenance to grease generating businesses. We may all be looking at the doubling or tripling of costs in the near future.

 

Many products on the market are caustic, adding to the contamination for employees and more havoc for facility pipes and sewer system stress.

 

Last year, we started testing a new, organic product called Total System Solution which created a reaction that dramatically changed our trap into a drinkable pond. (I do not recommend this.) We have only cleaned our trap once in 6 months – for foreign debris. Our inspections indicate that the grease has been reduced to a trace and that there is no evidence of grease leaching into our plumbing lines leading to the sewers.

 

For almost a year, we have seen and not smelled a “green” product, with daily dosing into a drain leading to the trap…….remove the need to remove the cover of the trap.

 

For the first time, we have a closed grease removal system.

 

While I still do not understand why, we no longer have that overpowering odor from the basement permeating the dining room.

 

Now, we still log inspections for our local code official, but our managers are focused on managing the business instead of the trap.

 

Overall, the product does what it is designed to do by reducing the cost of grease removal with a Green benefit.