How to keep your Grease Bin safe
Restaurants have gotten a lot busier as the pandemic eased, and keeping the grease bin safe is not on anyone’s mind. But, if your grease bin sits out back or on the side of your restaurant, a great many customers will see it as they enter your restaurant. You wouldn’t want them to see this grease bin:
What would they think? Uh, let’s keep driving and look for another restaurant?
If you want to keep your grease bin safe and customers happy here’s how to do it.
Make it easy to get to
Make sure your grease bin has easy access. Place it close to the kitchen and be sure there is a clear and easy path from kitchen to bin. Hauling cooking oil over a path full of obstacles like steps and broken tiles will insure oil ends up on the sidewalk, the kitchen floor or the parking lot or the grass. Worse yet, an employee may end up slipping or falling in the same spot.
Getting the oil in the bin
Lift the lid, ensure there is room to pour—and pour carefully—through the grate. Make sure you are pouring only used cooking oil and not waste water or foodstuffs. Pouring things other than cooking oil will contaminate your oil, cost your UCO collector money and possibly prevent you from getting a rebate. The bin is for used cooking oil and only used cooking oil
After you pour the oil, wipe down the lid, the grate and the side of the bin. Oil can harden quickly with a drop in temperature and block the next disposal causing spills. Oil running down the side of the bin will make for slips and falls on future trips.
Keeping the lid closed
It sounds pedantic but don’t forget to close the lid. Leaving it open allows rainwater and other contaminants in, which might prevent cost-effective recycling of the oil into biodiesel fuel.
Handling spills when they happen
Invariably spills will occur, both in the kitchen and outside. Keep a bag of kitty litter on-hand to soak up the spill immediately after it occurs. Leaving oil on the floor or sidewalk is an invitation for disaster and possibly a lawsuit. Slips, burns and falls cost restaurants $12B each year.
What about automating your used cooking oil storage?
The best solution, if you have the space, is to get an indoor system, enclose the entire system and eliminate the trips to the bin and all of the risks. With a direct connect system, or a caddy to transfer oil your employees never have to handle hot oil again. The safest and easiest solution is a completely enclosed cooking oil system. CleanFri manufactures these to fit your kitchen. We can provide the virgin oil and keep it contained until we pick-up the used cooking oil.
Call CleanFri today to discuss your options