All businesses need to keep their cool when the heat is on.
Photo by Crystal Kwok on Unsplash
This is just as much the case for office-based businesses which ought to have up-to-date air-conditioning installed to get the best out of their workforce in the summer months as it is for firms that rely on commercial refrigeration units. To be clear, commercial refrigeration refers to chiller cabinets, business-use fridges and freezers, refrigerated delivery vehicles, cold stores and insulated delivery systems.
If your business needs to keep items at a certain temperature, then investing in commercial refrigeration equipment is a must. The trouble is that many business owners and managers in the UK rely on antiquated chilling equipment. Worse still, they often fail to maintain it properly, something that is a false economy. According to TJ Refrigeration, commercial chilling experts based in Lancashire, simply by having refrigeration equipment inspected professionally once or twice a year can help to save money immediately. That said, maintaining commercial refrigeration equipment properly is not the only way to save businesses money because this sort of equipment can help with overheads in other areas, too.
Extend Shelf Life
Not all chiller equipment handles perishables. Drinks cabinets with bottles and cans, for example, are there simply to reduce the temperature to the level the customer demands. However, many chiller units are used to store perishable items that would go off sooner if they were not kept cold. By extending the shelf life of such items, it is possible for shops, restaurants, hotels and catering firms to sell their wares over an extended period without the need to resupply. As such, running commercial chiller equipment at the recommended temperature for such goods helps to save money.
Improve Safety and Compliance
Some items need to be kept at a certain temperature or they are no longer usable. Although this will affect frozen foods and certain fresh foodstuffs – such as seafood, for example – regulatory compliance also affects other classes of chilled goods. For instance, certain pharmaceutical or chemical products must be maintained within a particular temperature range or they will not be legal to sell or distribute. Maintaining compliance isn’t just about keeping consumers safe, however. Failing to do so with properly working commercial refrigeration equipment could lead to fines and a loss of income due to reputational damage.
Offer Customers a Better Service
With refrigeration, retailers can stock more, thereby offering greater choice to their customers. The same goes for restaurateurs, too, of course. That said, providing greater choice isn’t really a cost saving measure. That’s so until you look at it from the point of view of potentially lost custom. If you don’t offer customers the level of choice they want, then they’ll inevitably go elsewhere, leading to a drop in turnover and even the need to throw perfectly good stock away because you can no longer sell it.
Reduce Wastage
Finally, there are twin costs of wastage to consider. When you throw something away because it has gone off sooner than it otherwise would have done, you have made no money on it. Businesses cannot even sell items at a loss once they’ve gone past their best and tried to recoup some of the losses. Good refrigeration systems help to prevent such losses, of course. In addition, there is a cost to have commercial waste removed. The more you throw out, the greater the cost is. Consequently, commercial refrigeration can help to reduce the costs associated with business waste in two ways.