Podcast

Transcript

Josh (00:20.686)

All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Five and 20 podcast by Remarkable Academic Foods. I'm your host, Joshua Miller, where we have at least another five questions in 20 something minutes. Today's topic is focused a little bit more on the college and university side of food service instead of the K-12. And it's a topic that is going to help make jobs a little bit easier for your team members, which is important in this very labor competitive market we have today. Makes their job a little bit safer and contributes to sustainability. So it starts all with one very simple piece of equipment, your fryers. So if you're not already using external resources to help you measure or manage that side of your operation for quality and safety, there's opportunity there. And you've guessed it, if you stick around for this episode, you'll get some value into just how.

All right, we have with us Grant Eldred from Restaurant Technologies. Grant, welcome and thank you for joining in on this episode with us today and to talk a little bit more about your solutions. So to kick things off, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself first and foremost, what is your guilty pleasure snack?

Grant Eldred (01:39.861)

I gotta be honest, peanuts. I buy peanuts and I eat them by the handfuls and it's a habit that I've been trying to break a little bit, but I'm definitely, I have an addiction for just peanuts.

Josh (01:42.632)

peanuts.

Hehehe

Josh (01:52.606)

So then peanut butter naturally falls into that. Anything with peanut butter. That's funny. I've had quite a few people come on here and that's one of the things that falls under. So hey, I'm all with it. I love peanuts and peanut butter too. Awesome. So Grant, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and restaurant technologies here to kick us off.

Grant Eldred (02:14.017)

Yeah. So my role at Restaurant Technologies, I am the product manager for Total Oil Management. At Restaurant Technologies, we've got two products. We've got Total Oil Management. We've got Auto Mist. I've got the Total Oil Management piece. From an education standpoint, my background is I've got a degree in chemical engineering, and then also a degree in business as well. So engineering and business. And over the course of my career, I've worked in a few different functions for a large portion of it, I spent a lot of time working in operations as a manufacturing process engineer and operations leader. And then, uh, for the last several years, I've been involved with new product development and as of recent now I'm in product management, um, and I've worked in a variety of different industries. So that's a little bit about where I come from.

Josh (03:07.662)

Nice. And obviously with the restaurant technology, it sounds like a perfect fitting background because they're trying to blend the technology into the food service world. And so I think the biggest topic that we're talking about today revolves around the oil management. So let's start off with why. So why would organizations consider using an external resource as an option here?

Grant Eldred (03:35.233)

Yeah, so you know the historic method for dealing with oil as you and I discussed is to when it comes to adding oil buying oil in a jug in the box 35 pound container and then picking it up and Dumping it up into the fryer. You're going to have to probably use multiple of them to fill up the fryer And then when it comes time to dispose The oil is hot usually when you're disposing a lot of times you're using a stock pot putting it underneath the fryer, you're opening a valve and you're discharging the hot oil into that stock pot. And then after that, you've got to pick that stock pot up of hot oil and walk it out through the back door to the back parking lot where there's a rendering tank and dump the oil. And that's been the status quo for many years. And as you can imagine, there's so many injuries that have come along with that, whether it be.

You know, strains and pains related to working with the jug in the box or the pot. But then kind of on the more horrendous side of things is some of the burn accidents that have come out of everything. So with our system, what we provide customers is a system that plumbs the fresh oil tank and a used cooking oil tank directly to the fryer.

And so now when it comes time for customers to add oil, they might use an add wand, which looks something like what you use to put gas in your vehicle, to just spray the oil right into the fryer. You don't have to worry about a jug in the box anymore. And then on the dispose side, we would connect to the fryer in a way that it allows you to pump the hot oil right from the fryer, right to the used cooking oil tank. So it reduces or dramatically eliminates or dramatically reduces the chances of people being burned in the process of disposing hot oil. Along with that, we've got some technology in our new oil tank. We've got a sensor that keeps track of what the level and the new oil is, communicates that to us so that we can dispatch our fleet of trucks to a restaurant site and keep the new oil tank topped off.

In other words, a customer no longer has to place orders for oil because we would always keep that new oil tank full. And while we're there, we're going to go ahead and remove the used cooking oil that's in the used cooking oil tank. So really a peace of mind for owner operators around the supply chain piece of oil. We also really think it's important for customers to think about extending the life of their oil.

And in order for them to do that, we would provide customers who don't already have built-in filtration in their fryers. We provide them with a roll-up filter box. This is a machine that allows them to filter their oil daily, sometimes multiple times per day, kind of pulls out some of the waste products of degrading oil and really helps make the oil last longer.

I know oil is one of the more expensive ingredients and for most restaurants. So this is a huge cost savings for them. And then on top of that, we've got a website where all of that oil level information is being reported to a website where customers can go in that website and they can view how they're using their oil and get a sense for, you know, maybe they're disposing too frequently.

Make some decisions about how they could be filtering more, disposing less, gives them visibility, and gives them a tool for them to extend the life of their oil. And then lastly, if a customer signs up with us, we provide service. So all of our equipment, we would service that through the length of the contract.

Josh (07:45.054)

Nice, nice. Yeah, I have many, many stories and experiences with dealing with the fryer oil myself and seeing it. And I've seen the restaurant technologies used in operations. And it's so beautiful to see it. It's like beautiful symphonies playing in the background when I see it in use versus the manual way of doing it. And I mean, even if you invest in these shortening shuttles that are designed to make it a little bit safer and disposing of the oil and it's very well made and all that but it still does not take away from a the possibility of its you know you slipping and falling with it especially if you're going down a ramp or anything like that and the ugly factor of the back dock is like impossible to keep those oil tanks that are out back that you're manually dumping into free of all that.

Debris and build up and just it's yeah, it's Very much so appreciated it when people do take advantage of this option So in terms of you know, if there's operations out there that are considering using this kind of service Let's talk about retrofitting. Let's say they're already in operation. Yeah, they already have their equipment. You know what kind of options exist for them to retrofit with their existing equipment?

Grant Eldred (09:09.173)

Yeah, so typically when we do an installation, the technicians will come out and they'll do a survey. And what they're going to be looking for is they're going to be looking for a good location to put the tanks. So these tanks are each about 28 inches in diameter, and they're roughly eight foot tall when you stack some equipment on top of them. And there'll be two of them. One will be a new and won't be a used cooking oil tank. So they're going to find a place for where those tanks are. They're also going to find a place to install a fill box and a fill box is really that port that will be installed in the wall and it's got an outside part and an inside part. The outside part is where our delivery truck would actually connect to it. Okay so we'll have a connection from the fill box to the tanks so that we can get oil from the fill box to the tanks and then we've got a connection that'll happen between the tanks and the fryers.

And I should mention that one thing the customer has to worry about, or I guess, in order to get prepared for an installation would be to install the electrical near the tanks so that we have electricity to be able to run the pumps and stuff as part of the system. But once you go from the tanks to the fryer, then the connections at the fryer really depends on what type of fryer the customer has.

Fryers that have built-in filtration, they might have fryers that don't have built-in filtration, or on the other end of the spectrum, they might have fryers that are smart fryers. And so with fryers that do not have built-in filtration, in that case, we would provide that roll-up filter box and the customer would get to add one that I mentioned before, kind of like a gas pump. And then...

they would use the pump on the roll-up filter box to actually help facilitate the dispose, use the pump that's on the fill box to do, pardon me, pump on the roll-up filter box to do that. If customers have built-in filtration, a lot of times we would install a valve inside the fryer that mounts to a switch box so that when customers want to add oil or dispose,

Grant Eldred (11:33.085)

It's simply the flip of a switch, a toggle switch on that box. There are a lot of cases where it makes more sense to actually add an add wand for built-in filtration too, but there's a couple options there. And then with some of the latest technology in fryers, they call these in general smart fryers. Those fryers oftentimes have ports on the back for a bulk oil connection.

And we basically can just connect right to those connections. And then using the controls that come along with the fryer, it can help, it can actually control adding and disposing of oil. So that's kind of on the far end of the technology spectrum for fryers.

Josh (12:16.814)

Wow.

Nice, nice, very nice. So sounds like there's lots of flexibility options. You know, pretty much anyone out there with fryers can definitely take advantage of something like this. So let's talk cost is there's like this huge upfront investment. Obviously, you talked about electricity, they have to make sure that that's near the fryers wherever they're going to be having those service. But you know, outside of that with the tanks and everything is there like this big upfront investment to this.

Grant Eldred (12:48.117)

Actually, there's no upfront cost. We install all of this capital equipment on our dime. As part of the fee though, there is a program fee, so weekly program fee that goes along with it to help pay back that over time over the course of the contract.

Josh (13:01.545)

Mm-hmm.

Amazing. Yeah, that's definitely refreshing to hear that they don't have to really look at, we have to have so much in capital spending to be able to look into this. So you mentioned these mobile units that can go around and help with filtration. So those essentially connect to the tanks as well outside and you just walk it around your operation. So that sounds like a good option where dining halls as...food gets spaced more and more out, you may have fryers in two, three, four different locations just in one building alone. So is that definitely a good place to use something like that?

Grant Eldred (13:47.097)

So what I've been talking about so far has been a roll-up filter box. But for customers that have long distances between the tank and the fryer, we do offer a portable tank system. And so it's a fresh oil and a new oil tank that are on wheels. And how this would work if a customer had this installation, they would get the normal indoor tanks that I just mentioned. And then

Josh (13:51.982)

Mm-hmm.

Grant Eldred (14:15.413)

At the fryer, you'd make the connection at the fryer. You would not connect the tanks together, or the tank to the fryer, pardon me, but you would make a connection at the fryer and bring it back to like a docking station that might be in a hallway or something like that, where it's kind of out of the way for customers. And then this portable tank on wheels, it can, when it's empty,

Josh (14:34.411)

Yeah.

Grant Eldred (14:41.365)

You could wheel it to those indoor tanks. You'd be able to add new oil, get rid of the old oil. And then now it's ready to go. And then you'd wheel it to the docking station and connect it to the docking station. And then once it's in the docking station, it really would operate just like our normal system until it's empty. And then when it's empty, then the customer would take it and wheel it back and fill it up and get rid of the old used.

So that's a very popular use case for situations where customers have long distances between the tank and the fryer, and also where you've got multiple kitchens within a facility, or like a hotel.

Josh (15:23.426)

Gotcha, nice.

So lots of options. You can place the tanks inside. You can place them outside. You can have these mobile units. So there's lots of flexibility with all of this. And taking it a step even further, and this is me going into the allergen food safety world, you may even have a separate filtration unit for your fryers that are dealing with gluten-sensitive foods, gluten-friendly foods, so that way you don't have that cross-contact. So that's been something that I've been starting to pay more attention to, especially, and redesigns this.

If you're going to have three or four tanks of fryers, do one or two of those need to be gluten friendly, in which case you have to have separate filtration for it. Otherwise, as soon as you filter it, it's done. In terms of technology, you mentioned a little bit about the online...

Grant Eldred (16:10.274)

Yeah.

Josh (16:18.53)

dashboard, if you may, that can be an option for people. So what is all the resources, all this technology that ties into everything here?

Grant Eldred (16:27.961)

So I mentioned the sensor that's in the new cooking oil tank. That is picking up the level in that tank, and then it's communicating out through cellular technology to us. So we're collecting signals from all of our customers that really help us put together optimal routes for us to route trucks and make sure everyone's topped off. Along with that, some customers opt for an option called fryer filtration monitoring.

Josh (16:51.53)

Nice.

Grant Eldred (16:57.685)

Which what that does is that we install some hardware on the fryer that gives us visibility to when customers are actually filtering. And with that information, we can compare that to their standard operating procedures and report back to them through our portal, our website, on how their staff is actually performing with regards to filtration. And so that is really handy for...owner operators that have multiple sites and they really want to know, you know, of all the sites that they have, who's performing well and who maybe isn't performing as well as they should be. And then we talked about the, our Tom portal or a website, which really gives visibility to what's going on, uh, as regarding usage and filtration.

Josh (17:49.918)

Nice, nice. I'm always a fan of technology when it makes sense, not just tech to be tech. And it does, and like this does have some use case depending on the size of the operation more so. And what about training? Are there any training resources for, you know, you guys come in, you install everything, get it all set up and you walk away. What resources available for people to make sure that they're actually doing this right and not misusing the equipment.

Grant Eldred (18:16.629)

Yes, so if you go on our website, www.RTI-INC.com, up towards the top of that website, there is a link to training. And within there, there's a bunch of different videos that really give detailed instruction as far as how to use our equipment. And on top of that, at the end of our install, we will connect with people that are there and give training as well.

Josh (18:47.286)

Nice, very cool. And it sounds like this is something that everyone should be at least considering if they don't have any system in place, if your cooks are still scooping fryer oil into big stockpots, which is wrong on so many levels. Definitely something for...people to look into as an option. So if people wanted to connect and learn more about RTI, get the conversation going about the option for them and their area, where can they go?

Grant Eldred (19:18.313)

I direct them right to our website, so rti-inc.com. And on there, there is a link to connect with us. And we'd reach out and talk to you about installing at your facility.

Josh (19:32.458)

All right, awesome. Thank you, thank you for taking the time to come in on this episode with us and share a little bit more about restaurant technologies and everything that you're doing. I'm definitely an advocate for, whether it's your solutions or just any solution is making the workplace environment safer, cleaner, a little bit easier, and also contributing to the sustainability. Speaking of that, where does all this oil go? once you guys take the used oil into your trucks.

Grant Eldred (20:05.333)

Yeah, we actually have a partnership with a company that converts it into renewable diesel fuel. So it's definitely a move in the right direction for sustainability.

Josh (20:15.862)

For sure, for sure. And a lot of those tanks that I was talking about earlier, those little oil dumpsters, I mean, essentially they're doing the same exact thing, except again, the issue is you're having to manually take it out there, and it's definitely an eyesore to take care of with all that grease. This is like a closed loop system, which is beautiful in that retrofit. I'm sorry, which is beautiful in that aspect. So do you have anything else to add for our audience here?

Grant Eldred (20:46.264)

Um, nothing else for my end.

Josh (20:48.77)

All right, awesome. Well, everyone, thank you for tuning in for another episode of this podcast. I hope you got some value from it, and hopefully you're looking into something like this, not necessarily if it's this year, next year, or year after. Definitely keep your eyes and ears open for solutions to make things better for your workplace and safer for your workplace. This is your host, Joshua Miller, and until next time, signing off.