There have been a lot of restaurant grease fires lately. I have been linking them on twitter and here and some other places and to be honest, it’s hard to keep up with them all.
I wonder if it is because of the extreme winter weather this time of year and hood cleaners aren’t taking the time to go on the roofs of these places and clean the exhaust fans and ducts. With snow and ice up there, it’s easy to skip it.
This article says that there was creosote buildup in the ventilation system. Who knows when it was cleaned last? Owners and managers of restaurants sometimes give their cleaning duties to the lowest bidder and usually that lowest bid is low for a reason; they don’t clean the entire kitchen exhaust system!
I use this line in my advertising often, because it is so true, “Sometimes the cheapest price isn’t the least expensive choice”. Now, I’m not blaming the hood cleaner for this fire because to be honest, they can happen even if the system has been cleaned properly, but for arguments sake, lets say that the restaurant owner saved a few bucks on choosing this contractor.
They may save a couple of hundred dollars, even a thousand or so over the life of their contract. But, how much money did they lose from being closed and now having to repair their restaurant by choosing that lowest price?
For all of you hood cleaners out there, stick to your guns on prices! We know how much our insurance is. We know how much money it takes to run our businesses, it ain’t cheap! So when that restaurant owner says the last guy was cleaning it for $200 and you look down the duct and see months/years of build-up, you’ll know why they were only charging $200. They were simply cleaning where the owner could see and that was it.
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Hey Guys,
I just found this FREE little tool that I think we could use when setting appointments for cleanings or even marketing new business. It’s always nice to stand out from the crowd when sending marketing materials through the mail.
It’s called Map Envelope. What happens is you type in the location to the place of business or residential address that you are marketing to and it pulls up the pinpointed location through Google Maps. Then, below the address it gives you the opportunity to type in what you can use for a headline! It’s great.
For instance: Say you wanted to clean a restaurant and you had the address. Just type it in the first box. Now, in the second box, type in your small headline that will grab their attention and call them to action. Something like “Call Now To Schedule Your Hood Cleaning” always works great for things like this.
Next, you hit “Preview” and it opens another tab showing you what it will look like on the piece of regular paper.
Hit Print.
It prints it out on a regular sheet of paper. Cut out the map leaving no white areas on the edges.
Then, simply fold on the dotted lines that they provide and BAM, you have yourself an envelope. Pretty cool.
Unless you are using some pretty heavy card stock to print with, I don’t know if I would trust sending this through the mail, as is. Dropping it into an envelope might be the better choice so it doesn’t get lost in the mix. I think they would be great for scheduling cleanings and things of that sort. Below is the link, check it out for yourself and post in the comments section below what other uses might be helpful.
There was an interesting article Published in the Media Post News by Karlene Lukovitz today that really should concern restaurant owners. A study done says that people aren’t eating out as much as they use to and it’s not necessarily because of the poor economy.
The evening meal is the restaurant industry’s largest sales driver, but it’s been the weakest-performing daypart for the past decade, according to “Getting a Grip on the Supper Market.”
It goes on to say that young adults are the leading population for business, but they are not eating out as much as older folks.
“Younger people indicate that they’ve come to enjoy the benefits of staying at home and cooking and eating with their families,” Riggs says. “In addition to the family time, they cite benefits such as portion control and generally feeling that cooked-at-home meals are healthier and more nutritious.”
Meanwhile, those 62 and older are a bit more inclined to eat dinner out these days, in part because some of the already-retired have been relatively less affected by the recent economic troubles, but also because they relish the convenience of eating out, says Riggs.
So in conclusion, I think that restaurants need to consider this and start looking for ways to cater to young adults. As hood cleaning contractors, we rely on restaurants staying in business for our survival. Print the full article out and share it with your customers. Get them to thinking about the future. You will show that you are interested in their success and hopefully create some loyalty when it comes time to needing your services and there is somebody cheaper knocking on their door.
Alrighty guys, I’m going to try something for you: Weekly hood cleaning tips!
It will be very hard because I’m extremely busy most of the time, but I will try my best to give a weekly tip to help you become better hood cleaning contractors. Feel free to submit your own via email and I will feature yours and give you the credit and link juice from this site if it’s a good one.
On the video below, I’m going to show you how to use magnets to hang your plastic even when the hood is stainless steel and the magnets don’t stick. It’s kind of a common sense tip, but if you’re new, you will appreciate it.
The magnets that I recommend to everyone are the magnets sold my Driploc. They are a bit pricey, but they are well worth the money. They are light, and strong. I hope you enjoyed the video, please leave comments below.
Thanks, Josh for posting this video. Not only is it informative, but it’s funny too! Right around the 1 minute mark.. bahahahah. Good job man.
For wrapping hoods, you are going to need some plastic sheeting. I use 1.5 MIL, 8’4″ x 200′ and it can be picked up at your local Sherwin Williams store usually for somewhere around $20/ roll.
You’re also going to need some clamps, maybe some magnets to hang the plastic. In the clip above, Josh shows how to double the plastic up and he uses clamps at the bottom to attach it to the bottom for a water tight hold. The water is forced away from the hood, down into the bucket or drain on floor.
“No water on the ground, no water on the ground; not looking like a fool with water on the ground” – Josh. Bahahah.. Thanks for the video.
The news story says that the fire started in the kitchen and spread through the ductwork. It doesn’t sound like it burned too badly though, they are just waiting for the health department’s approval to reopen.
The Restaurant That Burned
This was my first attempt at video testimonials from one of my great hood cleaning customers. I’ve come a long way since then, but I found that most people are usually willing to do a short little testimonial for you, if you ask. Video Testimonials help build your credibility and add life to your website.
