Workplace injuries are both a monetary drain for restaurants and a hazard that many workers suffer from. Oil and grease burns are some of the most common restaurant injuries and are often the most severe. Automating the dangerous task of managing oil in restaurants can save time, and money, and avoid injuries allowing employees to focus on customers and product quality.
Beffaroo, a quick-service restaurant with a plan for aggressive growth in the coming years, has found a system that makes oil and grease disposal injuries a thing of the past. “In the past year, we’ve taken Beefaroo from seven restaurants to 15 corporate locations, and we have three operating franchise locations,” says Matt Riddle, CEO of Beefaroo.
Beefaroo’s old system was not only time-consuming but, like many oil management systems, led to unnecessary injuries. “We were rotating grease with the grease shuttle, so we would take the grease shuttle out, dump it, and then rotate the grease through the filtering system,” Riddle says. “Now we use RTI, and it has improved our efficiency and certainly our safety.”
Operators and employees are often put in bad situations when processes are not streamlined and automated with safety in mind. Manual oil management systems can also lead to extra waste and are much more expensive than automated systems. Having an oil management system in place that employees and managers are comfortable with is necessary for quick-service restaurant success.
“Operators were asking employees to lift and handle hot grease while worrying about burns and spills,” Riddle says. “With RTI we removed all of that worry with the containment system and it’s so much cleaner in our process every day.”
It is paramount to make sure work environments are as safe as possible. Employee injuries and unsafe working environments lead to higher turnover, which is especially bad as labor strains continue to define the industry.
“To be honest with you, I don’t remember the last time we had an oil injury,” Riddle says. “Maybe a minor splash here and there, but unrelated to the process of rotating grease or filling and emptying a fryer. Oil injuries are nonexistent for us at this point.”
Beefaroo’s implementation of the RTI system has exemplified how automating hazardous tasks like oil and grease management in the restaurant industry not only enhances safety and efficiency but also significantly reduces injuries and operational costs.
“Beefaroo operators were super excited about RTI and the training was super easy and streamlined,” Riddle says. “The RTI team does an excellent job coming in and getting everything set up right the first time. They show everybody how to use the equipment, so it’s simple.”
This proactive approach underscores the importance of technology in fostering a safer work environment, allowing employees to concentrate on quality service and growth, ultimately paving the way for a successful and scalable business model in the competitive quick-service sector. “RTI has reduced our daily filtering process by 30 minutes while reducing our employee injury risk by around 90 percent with oil management tasks,” Riddle says. “Because nobody’s handling anything, instead employees are pushing a button.”
For more information on RTI’s oil management system visit their website.
