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Commercial Refrigeration

5 Ways to Stop Negative Reviews of Your Restaurant

by Michael Rosone |

Negative reviews of your restaurant can be a frustrating problem to deal with. Especially when you have gone to the trouble to find a great chef, pay him as much as you can afford, and you know the food is good. From what you see and hear every day, people love the food. Yet there are still people writing negative reviews and giving you only a couple of stars on Yelp.

What’s going on? And how can you put a stop to it?

Here’s the problem that may be behind those negative reviews: many restaurant owners are very conscientious about the quality of the food (and rightly so), yet don’t pay as much attention to the dining atmosphere. This is a mistake, especially in New York City, where there is so much competition; it doesn’t take much for an unhappy customer to choose the restaurant around the corner next time.

The truth is, a great dining experience is not only about the food. There are many additional factors that can make or break a customer’s experience. And they are the kinds of things that it’s easy for an owner to overlook; you spend so much time there that you tend not to notice. But if you want to put a stop to those negative reviews, it pays to fix these issues once and for all.

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Bacteria in Ice: Think Your Restaurant’s Ice Is Safe?

by Michael Rosone |

Have you been regularly cleaning and servicing your ice machine? If not, you’re putting your customers at risk for illness by ingesting bacteria in ice, and your putting your business in jeopardy as well.

In a 2013 study of ice cleanliness at British food service establishments, 6 out of 10 restaurants were found to be serving their customers bacteria in their ice. In 60 percent of those restaurants, researchers found higher levels of bacteria in the ice than in their toilet water. Experts attributed this finding to the likelihood that the toilets were regularly cleaned, whereas the ice machines were not.

This is not an isolated incident. There’s another 2011 study of Las Vegas food establishments that uncovered alarming results about bacteria in ice as well, including the presence of heterotrophic bacteria that exceeded EPA limits, with more than 72% testing positive for “presumptive coliform bacteria presence.”

Related article: Your Ice Machine: the Most Dangerous Item in Your Restaurant.

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One Simple Way to Avoid Industrial Refrigeration System Downtime

by Michael Rosone |

So many aspects of our lives depend on refrigeration: it’s vital for food, medicine and the manufacture of many things we use every day.

Refrigeration is even more vital if you operate any type of food service business: your livelihood depends on its reliable operation.

Restaurants, bakeries, convenience stores, hotels, catering facilities, cold storage facilities, food products manufacturing, supermarkets, and even medical facilities all require a dependable industrial refrigeration system. When a piece of refrigeration equipment goes down, the clock starts ticking, and if the problem is not solved in a matter of hours, you’re going to be throwing out a great deal of valuable product.

Refrigeration downtime is a complicated problem, but there is one simple way to prevent it: regular maintenance of your industrial refrigeration system.

In your home, you’re probably accustomed to doing routine maintenance to keep things working as they should, from servicing your heating and air conditioning system to weeding your garden. Yet we don’t think about maintaining our home refrigerators and freezers beyond cleaning. An industrial refrigeration system is different. Not only because it gets more usage and endures more wear-and-tear, but because there is a lot more at stake when it fails.

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Commercial Refrigeration Maintenance: Summer Tuneups Prevent Meltdowns

by Michael C. Rosone |

The food service manager’s nightmare

It goes something like this:

Your commercial kitchen is bustling, yet you have this feeling of impending doom.

You look around for the source of the problem, but everything looks normal.

Then you suddenly realize… your refrigerated display case was making funny noises yesterday. You head over there at a run.

The light is out.

There’s no more funny noise; now it’s deathly quiet.

And your buttercream is drooping and melting like an ice cream cone on a hot day. NOOOOOOO!

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The 6 Step Guide to NYC Restaurant Energy Savings

by Michael C. Rosone |

In the restaurant business, how do you keep your profits consistent when costs are continuously rising? Food prices, utility rates and wages are going nowhere but up. Especially in New York City where competition is fierce, you probably aren’t in a position to raise prices to offset increased expenses. So what can you do? You need to find a way to cut operating costs without impacting the quality of your product or the comfort of your guests.

A surprisingly effective strategy is to focus on energy efficiency. According to ENERGY STAR, the average restaurant uses 5 to 7 times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings. If yours is a quick-service restaurant, you may be using up to 10 times more energy. That’s a lot of cash that could be going toward your bottom line. If you can save 20 percent on energy costs, that could increase your profit margin by as much as one-third.Read More

Neglected Commercial Refrigeration Equipment is a Recipe for Disaster!

by Michael C. Rosone |

In the food service business, you spend good money on the best ingredients, because your customers expect nothing less than the freshest fare. So much depends on the quality of your food. But if you’re storing that food in commercial refrigeration units that have not been properly maintained, you might as well be throwing your money away.Read More

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