Bryce Pohlmeier has always wanted his three Burger Boy restaurants in San Antonio to be as clean as possible and that was true long before COVID-19 had entered the U.S. Cleanliness was something he built his brand’s reputation on in order to earn trust over the years. But it’s clear to him, and operators across the country, that the stakes for ensuring a clean restaurant are at an all-time high. Customers are more locked into health and safety practices than ever before, with Datassential reporting that 80 percent of them are now paying close attention to a restaurant’s sanitation.
At the same time, operators like Pohlmeier know that a high standard of cleanliness can be costly—he estimates that to get a third party to pressure wash his drive thru and outdoor seating areas at his three locations monthly would cost well over $10,000 a year. But in order to bring pressure washing in house, he had to find the right equipment that wouldn’t drive labor and water costs to an unsustainable level.
“Honestly, if equipment isn’t easy to use, this younger generation of workers just isn’t going to use it, or if they do, they’re going to kind of go through the motions,” Pohlmeier says. “With the labor market so tight, whatever we can do to make cleaning jobs easier is worth investing in.”
Burger Boy ended up purchasing pressure washers from Spray Master Technologies, a division of Assembled Products, and saw immediate results. For one, it was a one-time investment cost but is backed up by an industry-leading warranty and service team in case anything goes wrong. But it also was an easy-to use product that Pohlmeier says his employees actually enjoyed using. As a result, Spray Master’s product kept morale high and labor costs low.
“Cleaning is such a labor intensive job, and we can cut the average operation’s cleaning time in half,” says Gavan Duffy, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Assembled Products. “Another way that Spray Master saves an operation money is the consistent water usage. Typically, a hose uses 6-to-8 gallons of water per minute, but our system has a consistent flow pressure pump and uses just 2.24 gallons per minute. With water prices so high, that’s a big place where savings are achieved.”
Duffy estimates that, depending on the size of the restaurant, many operators he works with achieve their return on investment in less than a year, while others it may take closer to 18 months. But more importantly, the Spray Master technologies help operators keep their restaurants as clean as possible to establish hard-earned trust with their consumers.
“I’ve been in kitchens where they install our products and start using them on the non-slip floors that have these little pores that are basically invisible to the naked eye,” Duffy says, “and it’s not that these cleaning crews aren’t working hard to clean the restaurant, but it’s amazing how much grit and dirt and grime comes out when they start using our technology. We’re talking about a different level of clean here, and that’s so important in today’s restaurant world.”
To find out more about how you can achieve a cleaner restaurant and save money, visit the Spray Master website.
