Dude! Nice Grill, but a Little Less Hood, Ok?

Picture this: you are finally making your dream come true of venturing out and opening your first restaurant. Perhaps you are a traveling food blogger who is ready to put the passport down and create that new niche concept, a retiring dentist who is looking for a change of pace from the daily 8–5, or a culinary graduate who is ready for the next big step in life after school.  Congrats! We’re excited for you – really! But, don’t forget it’s expensive to open a restaurant. If you’ve already begun the process, you’re aware that starting a new restaurant is also a serious amount of work. Don’t worry, we’re here with some friendly advice.

Goal 1: save thousands of dollars.

Goal 2: save thousands of dollars

Goal 3: purchase quality equipment

Are we in agreement?

Great!

With ventilation being one of the largest expenses when designing a kitchen, wouldn’t it be nice if you could reduce that cost by thousands of dollars? We are here to tell you how.

How?

When looking at kitchen ventilation, there are two primary cost factors: first is the upfront purchase and installation costs, and second is the ongoing consumption of that system. (i.e. exhaust, makeup air, and conditioning).

Sophisticated hood systems can cost more than $1,000 per linear foot, but most kitchen designers will use a number closer to $1,500 – $2,000 per linear foot and calculating the energy consumption is complicated. Several factors come into play (seasonal changes, hours of operation, local utility costs, etc.), which add to the variability.

In an article written by Don Fisher for ASHRAE Journal, he looked at multiple operations and a variety of conditions to account for this variability. In conclusion, each CFM of exhaust costs about $1 on an annual basis. This means a reduction of 500 CFM results in saving about $500.

For every foot of medium duty hood, you can eliminate, you’ll see a savings of $300 per year – every year. For a heavy duty hood, the savings would be $400 – every year. You can find additional savings by switching from an underfired broiler (heavy duty) to a gas griddle (medium duty).

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Our advice – choose equipment that provides better, more consistent food with greater throughput capacity, and a smaller footprint. www.gasplancha.com.