Restaurants have always been price sensitive when it comes to goods and labor, but high costs due to inflation are putting substantial pressure on the bottom line. With most businesses seeing costs rise nearly or greater than 10% year over year, their operational budgets are under immense strain. Reluctant to pass costs on to the customers, many restaurants are looking to cut costs out of other areas of the budget.
And one of the first budget casualties has one of the most outsized impacts on customer satisfaction: facilities maintenance.
Facilities maintenance affects employee productivity and the overall customer experience. No matter how good or reasonably priced the food is, a location with dirty, broken, and uncomfortable environments detracts from the dining atmosphere. Beyond its direct, visible benefits, preventive maintenance contributes to soft benefits, such as customer perception and satisfaction, carry weight, according to FacilitiesNet.
Preventative maintenance is a proactive approach to managing and maintaining the physical assets of a restaurant, such as equipment, facilities, and systems, to prevent breakdowns, prolong their lifespan, and ensure their efficient performance. While it may seem like an additional expense, investing in preventative maintenance can actually result in significant cost benefits for restaurants in the long run.
Regularly scheduled maintenance checks and inspections can help identify potential issues before they escalate into costly emergency repairs. For example, identifying and fixing a malfunctioning oven burner during a preventative maintenance check can save a restaurant from having to deal with a breakdown during peak hours, leading to lost sales and dissatisfied customers.
Restaurant equipment is expensive, and replacing equipment can be a significant cost burden. However, with proper preventative maintenance, the lifespan of the equipment can be extended, delaying the need for costly replacements. This can result in considerable cost savings over time and help restaurants get the most out of their investments.
Energy costs are a significant expense for restaurants. Preventative maintenance can help optimize the performance of equipment such as HVAC systems, refrigeration units, and kitchen appliances, ensuring they operate at peak efficiency. This can result in lower energy consumption and reduced utility bills, leading to long-term cost savings.
Unplanned equipment breakdowns can lead to costly downtime, resulting in lost revenue and dissatisfied customers. Preventative maintenance helps identify and address potential issues proactively, minimizing downtime and keeping operations running smoothly. This can save restaurants from revenue losses and maintain their reputation among customers.
To reap the cost benefits of preventative maintenance, restaurants should implement a comprehensive program that covers key components. These may include:
To ensure the effectiveness of a preventative maintenance program, it's essential to monitor and measure its success. This can be done through advanced performance metrics and maintenance logs.
Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of a maintenance program is reduced downtime. In a restaurant, for example, preventative maintenance can keep equipment working as planned which results in keeping the food and business running. In a retail store, maintenance heads off electrical malfunctions before they interfere with business. Consider that 95% of shoppers say that unclean restrooms and unpleasant odors influence their shopping decisions along with dirty floors, spills or stains, and other factors.
A run-to-failure model looks like better financial sense given that costs are only incurred when something fails. However, the additional costs of unplanned downtime, customer dissatisfaction, and potentially higher fees for emergency repairs outweighs any potential cost savings. Look to establish a preventative maintenance program to better manage your restaurants’ maintenance costs and driven down and stabilize these costs over time.