How to save electricity in your bar or restaurant

In a world dominated by small margins, saving costs is the name of the game! With the recent surge of electricity prices it’s paramount your business explores all the tricks possible to help you cut down on your electricity and also how to implement them.

There are many small changes you can make in your business to help you save on electricity costs. They might not seem like a big deal by themselves, but they definitely add up and you will notice the results. Planning, good organisational skills and strong team communication is essential when the end goal is to be more productive and reduce waste.

Let’s have a look at some tips and tricks you can use in your restaurant to help you cut down on your electricity bill:

Get rid of out of date equipment

Although this first tip does require for business to make a small investment, the long term results will justify it many times over. One of the main areas where you can look to cut down on your electricity costs is by changing out of date equipment which consumes a lot of energy.

Old point-of-sale systems are a great example. They are large, immobile and usually depend on many components to allow it to work properly. They also have to be constantly connected to a source of power. New POS systems don’t only cut down on these costs as they only rely on a small tablet, but they are also connected to the cloud, are more intuitive to use which saves time onboarding new waiters, offer personalised customer support and due to their added functionalities they also help you run your business more efficiently.

Software based solutions for the hospitality sector are developing with incredible pace. It’s crucial that you opt for a system which doesn’t only offer lower costs then what you have but also added functionality and reliability. They have to have been built to be able to constantly work with very little maintenance.

Efficient use of the business’s machines

As well as being on the lookout for newer, cheaper and more efficient machinery it’s also imperative that you train your team so that they are using them properly. Their incorrect use can translate to a significant and consistent cost to your bottom line.

For example, fridges shouldn’t be left open while ingredients are being prepared or laid out. Industrial ovens should only be turned prior to them having to be used. Also make sure that your team is fully loading the dishwasher before setting it.

Waiters and cooks are already overwhelmed with the amount of work they have, especially during rush hours! It’s therefore very important that these good practices are ingrained in their heads so that they are basically second nature. As the boss, you need to take the time to ensure your team is well trained and that they have the necessary tools to help them cut down on unnecessary manual tasks so they can focus on making and saving you money.

Uniforms for employees

Have you considered using summer and winter uniforms for your employees? This means your team won’t rely so heavily on air conditioning or heating. Try to only use these systems when you have guests.

Keep in mind that the recommended temperatures for you to maintain your business in Winter is around 21 degrees Celsius while it’s around 24-26 in Summer. Although it may sound surprising, actually having a temperature above or below these parameters translates to higher energetic costs as your team and equipment won't be able to work efficiently.

Disconnect electronic equipment when it’s not being used

Although it may sound obvious, make sure you turn off any bits of equipment when they aren’t being used. If you have TV’s or a music system set up at your bar or restaurant, make sure they aren’t the first thing you or your team turns on when they arrive.

Modern ordering systems such as a Handy offers the team great flexibility. They are portable, can be set up in any language and you reduce the amount of errors when sending orders between waiters and cooks. For this to work, restaurants have to give each waiter their own device which has to be constantly turned on. More electronic devices means you need to spend more money on electricity in order for them to work.

A table ordering solution is a great alternative given that the ordering is done from your customers phone! Like when using a delivery app your restaurant is still able to control the rate at which orders are sent to the kitchen with the added advantage of saving you electricity costs.

Conclusion

Do you want to save on your electric costs? The answer is very simple. All you have to do is use less electricity. What isn’t as simple is finding the tools which permit this while also allowing you to run your business in the way you want.

Unarguably, the best way to ensure you use less electricity and more efficiently is by streamlining internal procedures. Pick & Pay offers a number of reliable, cloud based and digital solutions which drastically help you save costs.

Using our digital menu means you no longer need to rely on printing each time a dish is changed. Our table ordering let’s customers place their orders directly from their phone meaning you don’t have to spend money on the maintenance that way that other modern systems do. While our table ordering and payment system also means you no longer have to keep your payment terminals charged or turned on.

With Pick and Pay you are able to handle all essential business operations from a single tablet.

Find out more about the ways in which Pick & Pay can help you better run your business.