10 Reasons Why Monitoring Restaurant Refrigerators and Freezers is Essential
As a restauranteur, your refrigerators and freezers make up a significant part of your business investment. Monitoring restaurant refrigerators and freezers is a wise decision for many reasons. Here is our list of the ten advantages that installing a monitoring system can offer your business.
Reason #1: Preserve as Much Cold Inventory as Possible
At your restaurant, each of your ingredients needs to maintain a specific temperature range. Too warm, and your food spoils. But too cold, and your ingredients lose their nutritional value and optimal flavor.
In the hustle and bustle of the restaurant business, many employees may not notice a temperature shift just above or below its ideal range. Aside from the dangers of serving spoiled food to guests, unmonitored refrigerator and freezer temperatures could force business owners to replace thousands of dollars worth of food.
Refrigerator and freezer monitoring systems keep you abreast of any out-of-the-ordinary temperature shifts. They can even alert you if a negligent employee leaves the door ajar or accidentally adjusts the temperature settings.
Reason #2: Improve the Accuracy of Maintenance Checks
The latest in refrigerator and freezer monitoring devices keep a digital log of alerts or operational interruptions. These digital logs are irrefutable and can provide sufficient data to indicate problems with your kitchen equipment or electrical system.
You can also use these logs to perform industrial equipment audits.
Reason #3: Fewer Manual Equipment Quality Checks
Not only do your "spot checks" become more accurate with the help of refrigerator and freezer monitoring systems, but you won't have to do as many.
Industrial machine sensors proactively alert you when a problem exists. With access to equipment status reports and alert logs, it isn't necessary to perform the same number of manual checks as you would without the monitoring technology.
Reason #4: Real-time Feedback on Refrigerator or Freezer Malfunctions
The most significant value to investing in technology that will monitor your restaurant refrigerators and freezers is real-time feedback.
21st-century monitoring devices send malfunction or operational interruption alerts instantly. You'll know right away when something is wrong in the face of an electrical or refrigerator/freezer issue. This benefit allows you to respond as soon as possible and save your food inventory.
Reason #5: Meet Industry Compliance Standards
Depending upon the kind of food you serve and where you're located, you likely have specific compliance standards enforced by a local foodservice agency. Equipping your restaurant with monitoring sensors for your refrigerators and freezers makes it easier for you to maintain those compliance standards.
Reason #6: One Step Closer to Becoming a Smart Establishment
With the growing Internet of Things (IoT) movement, homes and businesses can become "smart" in the technological sense. Smart homes and businesses use artificial intelligence devices to streamline day-to-day operations for everything from HVAC systems to dishwashers.
The best fridge and freezer monitoring sensors are WiFi-enabled. As such, you can integrate entire categories of equipment to run smoothly and optimally. Not only do these devices increase the life of your most expensive appliances, but they can also help you lower your utility usage.
Reason #7: Immediate Notifications on Power Outages
As devices monitoring your refrigerators and freezers alert you to equipment issues, you will find out immediately if your restaurant suffers a power outage. Not only will you be able to save your cold ingredient inventory, but you will be able to address any other adverse effects that a power outage could have on your business operations.
For example, during business hours, power outages will impact your restaurant's ability to process payments or keep the facility well-lit. If you're away from your restaurant during business hours when you receive a power outage alert, you can respond immediately and direct your staff to help them cope with the inconvenience.
Reason #8: Mobile-friendly Refrigerator and Freezer Monitoring
Current monitoring systems are mobile-friendly, meaning you can access logs and receive alerts in the palm of your hand. Before mobile-friendly monitoring, you would have needed to find a desktop computer to check the status of your restaurant refrigerators and freezers.
Today, you can disconnect from your business and trust the technology to alert you if a problem arises. Further, you can program the monitoring system to notify more than one person, such as you and your general manager.
Reason #9: Simple Audits for "Out of Hour" Monitoring
After hours (or during extended closures like the recent economic shutdowns in response to COVID-19), restaurant refrigerators and freezers unequipped with monitoring systems could go hours and days before anyone would discover a critical malfunction.
By the time you discover the problem, you may have already lost thousands of dollars to spoiled inventory and bloated maintenance costs.
But thanks to refrigerator and freezer electric sensors, you can reference audit information closer to the moment of an operational interruption. This feature will help you keep your losses to a minimum and address equipment problems before they become irreparable.
Reason #10: Prevents Premature Equipment Replacement
One simple malfunction left unattended could result in a full equipment breakdown. It is one thing to lose food ingredients. But it is quite another thing to have to replace a refrigerator or freezer.
Investing in technology to monitor restaurant refrigerators and freezers can save you the cost of having to replace expensive industrial machines. Depending upon your margins, a $100 monitoring device could mean the difference between a profitable month or the moment when broken equipment costs put you out of business.
In Conclusion: Choosing the Best Product for Monitoring Restaurant Refrigerators and Freezers
At Proteus, our state-of-the-art devices protect the integrity of your appliances at home and work. The C5 electric sensor is WiFi-enabled and will keep you informed of any operational interruptions to your industrial equipment, to include your refrigerator or freezer.
Our Proteus C5 does not require an electrician for proper installation. It clamps on to your power cord with ease and will not force you to perform any cutting or splicing. When you plug the base unit into the wall, it will not obstruct the second outlet.
Lastly, you can use the C5 sensor to create alerts to multiple phones and emails. You can monitor your refrigerators and freezers from anywhere in the world so long as your smartphone has an Internet connection.