Restaurant Expenses: How to Reduce the Water Bill

Are your restaurant water bills high? A successful restaurant requires more than an inviting ambiance and delightful dishes. You need to watch your bottom line and reduce expenses, too. You can start cutting costs by applying best practices to your water usage.

Restaurants have a lot of costs. From food and beverage to labor and rent, it is easy to focus too much on the price of ingredients and not notice the cost wasteful water use has on a restaurant owner’s utility bill. Water may seem cheap at 4 cents per gallon, but the average commercial kitchen uses about 5,800 gallons daily.  An average sit-down restaurant may use 2 million gallons of water per year at a cost of over 8,000 dollars. If you could find savings there, wouldn’t you do it?

The reality is that restaurants require a lot of water. Restaurants and hospitality industries account for 15% of the total commercial water use in the US, and 52% occurs in the kitchen. Restaurants need water for:

• Sanitation
• Washing dishes
• Landscaping
• Cooling and heating
• Ice makers
• Restrooms
• Cleaning

Creating a water management plan for your establishment will help you improve your kitchen’s bottom line and ensure your restaurant runs smoothly. Here’s how to reduce the water bill and keep your head above water without shortchanging your customers or frustrating your staff.

How to Reduce the Water Bill: Water Saving Tips for Your Restaurant

1. Check For Leaks

Water leaks can create minor hassles or major property damage. Leaks can also create a domino effect of problems and threaten the health and safety of your customers and staff.

Checking for and immediately repairing leaks is imperative to keeping your restaurant operational and profitable. Don’t ignore a seemingly small leaky water line or faucet. The repair cost is much cheaper than ignoring this problem, especially if the leak affects other systems.

The most common water-damaged interior areas that affect water usage include:

• Toilets
• Sprinklers
• HVAC systems
• Water mains
• Boilers and water heaters
• Water tanks

Are you wondering how to tell if you’ve got leaks? Routinely inspect equipment for drips, puddles, and a lack of water pressure. Watch your restrooms as well. Leaky toilets or dripping faucets are a huge source of water waste. Consider replacing toilets and urinals with low-volume models. Installing automatic sensor faucets is another option to cut back water use.

You can also find leaks using your water meter. Simply turn off taps, running machines, and water in the entire restaurant, including the kitchen, bar, bathrooms, and outside water features. Watch your water meter for movement. If you see any, you likely have a leak. If you see no change with the meter, wait two hours and check again. You likely have a slower leak if there is a change after this time.

Other indicators of leaks include:

• Mold and mildew growth
• Cracked or bubbled paint
• Musty smell
• Discoloration or stains on the floor or in sinks
• Strange noises
• Drooping ceiling
• Wet baseboards

2. Limit Running Water

A basic food safety protocol is never to defrost food in warm water. Cold, flowing water must be used to thaw food properly, but this increases water use. While it’s sometimes necessary to quick-thaw foods during a busy night, work hard to plan ahead. A less wasteful method is to defrost food in the fridge well before it’s needed.

If your excess greywater is salt-free, reuse it to lower irrigation and landscaping costs. Consider collecting water in an overflow container and using it outside. Rain barrels can be used to water gardens and flower beds as well.

3. Dishwasher Best Practices

The biggest water and energy user in a restaurant is the commercial dishwasher. A typical dishwasher can use between 2 and 7 gallons of water per minute in an average cycle. Reducing the strain on these units is very important to water costs.

Proper dishwashing techniques are an essential part of water conservation. Increase the efficiency of your commercial dishwasher by only washing fully loaded dish racks. Remember, dishwashers use the same amount of water for each cycle, whether you wash a full load or not. Reducing the number of cycles will reduce the water costs.

Streamline your dishwashing process by scraping plates into the garbage, pre-soaking dishes, and installing efficient pre-rinse spray valves. Use the right amount of soap for the job to avoid excess rinsing.

Invest in an energy-saving, high-temp dishwasher backed with a booster heater. Low-temperature machines often require second cycles to get dishes fully clean. A high-temperature dishwasher uses water heated to 180° F to ensure clean and adequately sanitized dishes in just one wash and with less water per cycle.

4. Upgrade to ENERGY STAR® Kitchen Equipment

ENERGY STAR® equipment saves more than just energy. Many ENERGY STAR® certified appliances also save on water consumption. Most commercial equipment comes in an ENERGY STAR® certified model, so consider swapping out your older pieces for models to save you in the long run. ENERGY STAR® equipment includes any unit that has a water line connected to it, such as

• Ice machines
• Refrigerators
• Dishwashers
• Beverage dispensers
• Freezers

You can also install air-cooled ice machines (no water is needed to cool the condenser) to reduce water usage.

5. Monitor Water Usage

It may seem like work now, but monitoring the water usage in your establishment is the easiest way to reduce the water bill. You may want to keep water-consuming equipment for convenience, but they flush dollars down the drain.

Avoid or adjust equipment using continuous water flow like ice machines and dipper wells. Don’t rely on running water to melt ice in the sink trainers in your bar. Turn off the stream running to drain trays of your beverage dispensers. Consider installing automatic sinks and shut offs or foot triggers on your faucets.

Boiler-based food steamers use up to 40 gallons of water per hour. Similarly, boiler-based steam kettles use a central boiler that requires regular flushing of the supply lines. Wok cooking and cleaning also uses up to 800 gallons of water per day.

Retrofitting a boiler-based steam cooker to use a condensate return system will cut back on water use. Consider using a self-contained/closed-system steam cooker and a recirculating wok, which reuses the water supply and condensation. ENERGY STAR® steam cookers use less water and create less waste. If you’re thinking of upgrading your cooking equipment, water efficiency is an important consideration.

Train staff on water conservation techniques like turning off faucets, reporting leaks, and pre-soaking dishes.

6. Serve Guests Efficiently

Many people forgo ordering water altogether in favor of other beverages, and often, water glasses remain on the table untouched (but still destined for the dishwasher). Providing water upon request cuts waste in a small way without diminishing the dining out experience for your restaurant patrons.

Studies show that customers like restaurants that use green initiatives. Sustainability efforts make customers more loyal and view the eatery as having more value. Why not reduce the water bill, reduce your environmental impact, and increase customer satisfaction with these easy best practices?

Whether you own a fine dining restaurant or a fast-casual bistro, reducing your restaurant’s water bill involves a combination of smart investments, regular maintenance, and educating your staff. Implementing these strategies can lower your operating costs while contributing to water conservation efforts.