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Oil Management: Converting a Cost Center to a Strategic, High-Impact Asset

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“Enemies” of Fryer OilFrying oils are derived from a variety of plants, including soybeans, canola, corn, cottonseed, peanuts and sunflowers. Every seed/bean undergoes essentially the same conversion process to become fryer oil, according to Bob Wainwright, Technical Director at Cargill, one of the world’s largest oil processors. Oil processing starts with harvesting, continues through refining, and ends with deodorizing.

The less processing the crude oil undergoes, Cargill experts say, the more resistant to deterioration it will be. So Cargill and other oil processors work to minimize the “treatment” as much as possible. But once the refined, bleached, and deodorized oils leave the processing plant, all oil types face common frying-line enemies, according to Cargill:

• Heat, combined with oxygen in the air, accelerates oil breakdown and degrades food flavor.

• Water (including frozen droplets attached to food) attacks fat molecules in oils and imparts a smoky flavor.

• Food particles, burn off of fried food and cause degradation of oil, changes in food color, and well as unpleasant food odors.

• Soaps used to clean fryers can react with oil to degrade food flavor and color and causes oil to smoke.

• Metals used during the cooking and cleaning process act as catalysts to break down oil.

The science behind fryer oil is serious business. Oil processors have invested heavily in research and testing to develop the best refining processes for canola, soybean and other oils, which have replaced trans fats in fryers. Major restaurant establishments and their independent counterparts spend significant time and study to arrive at the right oil recipe to satisfy their customers’ tastes – while controlling costs.

These two considerations are critical for every business that operates a frying line. Oil is an essential element of food flavor, and consistently flavorful food drives repeat business. At the same time, fryer oil is an increasingly expensive commodity. In the vast majority of food service businesses, oil expenditures exceed the cost of every other frying line item (e.g. fryers, cabinets, baskets, energy), excluding the food itself. And unlike frying hardware, all oils eventually deteriorate – even unused oils.

For the food service industry, these factors have shifted attention from the composition of fryer oil to the science of oil management. Today, businesses are increasingly installing automated oil management systems, rather than relying on haphazard – and too often wasteful – methods of manually handling fryer oil. And, based on market demand, fryer manufacturers are increasingly producing fryers that are pre-set to accommodate automated oil management solutions.

Using state-of-the-art closed-loop technology and sophisticated online reporting tools, food service companies are turning fryer oil into a strategically managed asset. And the benefits aren’t exclusive to large operations or those with multiple locations. A total oil management solution can be scaled in order to suit any size food service business across any industry, giving access to information that can enable incremental (or, in some cases, substantial) oil-handling improvements that boost return on investment.

This white paper details the reasons that oil management ranks above oil selection in enabling food service operators to meet their frying program goals - to select an oil that delivers the optimal combination of durability, flavor, nutrition and cost effectiveness. This document also prescribes that managing fryer oil as an asset is as important – or even more important – as choosing the right fryer equipment, or selecting a frying oil.

Heat

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Food Particles

Soaps

Metals

“Enemies of Fryer Oil”

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Says Cargill expert, this means that both oil processors and food service operators must share methods that best prolong the inevitable oil deterioration by addressing the fundamental enemies of oil, each in their own ways. However, since eliminating trans fat in oils often means switching to less stable oils, more so now than ever, it is the attention given during processing of the oil, in combination with use and care by the food service operators that determines the quality of the oil. Therefore, it is important to affect the rate at which this inevitability occurs during both processing and in the restaurant.

So how do food service operators affect the rate of oil deterioration given the human element that comes into play? First and foremost, stop spending countless hours worrying about the “type” of oil, and shift the focus to the oil management – the type of oil and specific properties that were initially important become a moot point if it’s not managed properly.

For kitchen employees, tending to the deep-fryer is the messiest, most unwelcome job in the kitchen. Even with the most prescriptive manual procedures in place, workers can’t always be depended upon to consistently filter the oil properly, which is a major contributing factor in extending oil life.

“Our old system was so messy, physically strenuous and even dangerous, that employees were cutting corners to avoid doing

the work,” said Tony De Salvo, a Bar Louie franchisee. “Instead of filtering the oil, employees would add fresh oil to bad oil.”

“Topping off” and even more structured approaches such as refreshing vats after a fixed number of shifts and starting each day with new oil cannot deliver the combined quality of flavor and ROI provided by an automated oil management system.

“We thought we were doing a good job filtering for the proper length of time each shift,” said Jeff Lingel of Apple American Group, which owns more than 440 Applebee’s stores across the nation. “Once we installed an automated oil management technology, we found that, not only were we not filtering for the proper amount of time,

sometimes we weren’t filtering at all.”

Automation DefinedApple American Group, more than 9,000 McDonald’s, 800 Jack in the Box, 600 KFC, 400 White Castle locations, 1,200 grocery stores, 75 hotels and thousands of other corporate, franchise and independent restaurant outlets have switched from manual to automated oil management technology from Restaurant Technologies Inc. (RTI). The comprehensive, turn-key system from RTI automates the delivery, storage, handling and disposal of fryer oil – plus tracks usage and filtration data, and helps managers understand and control oil quality and cost.

Each location that uses the RTI oil management system is outfitted with two tanks – one for fresh oil and one for waste oil and a secure fill box mounted to the exterior of the building. RTI trucks routinely fill the fresh oil tank, while pumping out the old oil and hauling it away for recycling into biodiesel fuel.

“Both oil processors and food service operators must share methods that best prolong the inevitable oil deterioration by addressing the fundamental enemies of oil, each in their own ways.

It is important to affect the rate at which this inevitability occurs during both processing and in the restaurant.”Cargill Expert

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The science behind the system lies in its advanced technology, including RTI’s Total Oil Management (TOM™) online portal. This online tool provides managers with access to real-time data on oil usage, filtration and other key fryer-performance information.

“RTI tracks critical information, like our food-to-oil ratio, and the data is available 24 hours a day, via the online portal,” said Jim Hannan,

vice president of operations for Burger King locations owned by TEAM Schostak, a Michigan-based franchisee. “Our managers know exactly how many times each fryer at each restaurant is

filtered, emptied and re-filled because of RTI’s built-in software.”

The Business – and Taste – CaseFive major trends are helping drive food service companies to adopt automated oil management systems.

1. Rising oil prices. Replacing fryer oil everyday should be a habit left behind us because of the rising costs of agricultural resource commodities. Competitive agricultural conditions have driven up the cost of oil processors’ raw materials. A leveling in that trend line – much less, a return to previous pricing – is unlikely.

This factor has made the management of frying oil a smart, strategic business decision. For example, oil usage at Red Fish Grill in New Orleans decreased 48 percent after just 60 days with the RTI system. Today, managing fryer oil as an asset is as important – or even more important – as choosing the right fryer equipment, or selecting an oil formula that delivers the optimal combination of durability, flavor, nutrition, and cost effectiveness.

2. Healthy frying practices. Vegetable and nut formulations that are higher in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats – aimed at meeting consumer demands for healthier, low - or zero-trans fat foods – are inherently less stable than saturated oils. This means a shorter shelf and fry life. Restaurant operators are left with two options: accept the increased costs that come with frequently replacing these less durable oils, or adopt oil management automation to eliminate guess work, and drive consistent adherence to oil life extension practices like filtering.

Normal breakdown of oil is the constant enemy of quality and taste of fried food, regardless of oil type. Commercial frying creates chemical reactions that begin degrading oil the moment it emerges from proper storage. Given oil cost pressures and traditionally thin margins, restaurant owners are best served by automated oil management, which is proven to slow down oil breakdown, especially the degradation caused by food and other particulates that are by-products of frying.

3. Data, analytics and real-time monitoring. Preparing deep-fried food today – especially because of efforts to improve the category’s health profile – is a thoroughly studied science. Oil management has also become a science, primarily through the application of advanced technologies and online tools developed to optimize oil life and food quality.

Five major trends driving food service companies to adopt automated oil management systems:

• Rising oil prices

• Healthy frying practices

• Data, analytics and real-time monitoring

• Need for employee behavior modification

• Ability to customize SOPs and business practices

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Using Automation, Analytics and Visibility to Optimize

Oil Usage and Food Quality

Food-to-oil is a metric that characterizes oil management efficiency at the individual store and concept levels. In graph 1, it’s an example of fried food pounds divided by oil pounds to calculate and plot individual store ratios. Identifying each establishment’s value creates a concept-specific trend line of the midpoint of all values specific to the concept.

The objective is to minimize variation across each of the stores so that guests are getting the same fried food experience every time. If that fried food experience isn’t up to par, the objective would be for all kitchens within the establishment to improve their fried food to oil ratios to upgrade the overall food quality.

Food service locations using too little oil compared to the mid-point (upper left) may have potential food quality issues. Locations using too much oil (lower right) may realize oil and cost savings by bringing oil use in line with the mid-point.

RTI’s Total Oil Management (TOMTM) online portal provides managers with seamless access to real-time performance data via a web-based dashboard and exception based alerts to enable immediate corrective action on opportunity areas vs. sifting through data to find trends.

Real-time monitoring and robust analytics drive more precise and consistent filtering control, accurate depleted-oil disposal, and the use of key performance indicators, like fried food-to-oil ratios. As shown in Graph 1, food-to-oil ratios create an actual versus theoretical value for cooking oil.

In addition, an optional filtration monitoring system helps managers track filtration practices and helps employees adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“We must have the ability to monitor and measure actual filtration start and stop times for each restaurant,” explained Joe Sciortino,

procurement manager for Wild Wing Cafe. “Those analytics are important because they show how well we’re maximizing the life

of our oil. And that’s important because business cost savings and food quality are deeply impacted by proper oil usage.”

4. Need for employee behavior modification. Nearly every kitchen manager supervising a deep-frying program is firmly pro-filtering. Manual oil management approaches, however, allow execution to vary significantly from one employee and shift to the next. Without the ability to measure SOP performance, food service managers can’t enforce compliance.

Lacking visibility into oil usage and filtering, organizations sometimes “hedge their bets” on SOPs. It’s common, for example, for kitchen managers to mandate oil filtering three times a day – with the secret expectation that it will actually happen at least twice daily.

With an automated system in place, kitchen employees know that managers are monitoring oil level performance. This creates greater consciousness – and conscientiousness – among employees about the need for consistent oil management.

Comparing a location’s oil pounds used with the amount that corresponds to the establishment’s mid-point, assuming that mid-point is producing acceptable food quality, indicates overuse of 233 pounds per month. A $.80/pound, the location’s savings opportunity is $178, OR $2,100 annually.

Graph 1: Food-to-oil ratio shows potential savings from proper oil use over time

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The shift in behavior has been demonstrated in tests conducted in restaurants before and after the installation of automated oil management systems. Compliance with oil filtering SOPs, for example, frequently moves sharply upward, from below 30 percent to as high as 90 percent across automated locations, based on information reported to RTI.

5. Ability to customize SOPs and business practices. With manual oil handling, the degree of variation in SOP compliance and the lack of actionable data hinder an organization’s ability to pinpoint problem areas, fine-tune processes and act quickly on improvement opportunities.

The precise information provided by an automated oil management system allows food service operations to customize SOPs and business practices to suit their specific needs. For example, establishments with multiple and even disparate locations can establish their own standards for frying and filtering requirements, and monitor adherence from a single, central and remote location.

As Image 1 shows – via an online portal, managers of any size operation can track daily oil usage and/or receive email alerts when fryer oil exceeds its daily usage threshold or scheduled filtration events fail to occur. Managers can also view their current oil on hand, evaluate trends in usage, and view their fresh oil delivery and waste oil disposal history online.

Taking this data even further, managers can review historical data, compare oil usage or filtration activity over time, and produce downloadable reports that allow them to pinpoint and take action on potential problem areas.

ConclusionOil selection, while an important part of the value chain, will never deliver the prescribed value when resting upon its’ own laurels. Using the industry standard, state-of-the-art RTI closed-loop automated oil management system and online reporting tools – food service operators can experience the oil life, flavor, and health profile that they sought out when initially selecting the oil. Additionally, food service operators can frequently reduce premiums paid on oil by switching to a non-premium oil and focusing on appropriate management of that oil to improve fry life and flavor.

Utilize RTI’s closed-loop system to control drivers like rising oil prices and health profile demand and gain insight into actual filtration practices to help improve food flavor, oil life, employee behavior and overall business success. Managing fryer oil as an asset is as important – or even more important – than choosing the right fryer equipment, or selecting the right oil formula.

Dashboard’s Power, Flexibility, Drive

Fact-Based Decisions

• Regularly updated data tracks daily or monthly performance compared to oil management SOPs, location by location, shift by shift.

• Real time email alerts delivered daily to identify and action non-compliant activities.

• Managers can customize dashboards using different views and downloadable reports to review historical data and compare oil usage and/or filtration activity over time.

Image 1: Online customer portal gives dashboard for visibility SOPs