— By Michael Hess — Learning from 2022: How to optimize your retail and restaurant waste management programs in 2023. As 2022 comes to a close, it’s always important to look back and reflect on the year. You might have run into disruptors or issues that you’ll likely want to get ahead of or leave behind. But more importantly, what did you learn? What can you take with you to grow any facet of your restaurant or retail location in 2023? Let’s look ahead at a few …
— By Casey Hoffhines — The importance and functionality of parking lot bollards to protect your stores, restaurants and customers. Parking bollards are short, protective posts that are embedded into the ground and serve as a parking lot safety barrier that protects pedestrians and building infrastructures from car accidents. A paving contractor will strategically place parking lot bollards in areas that are likely to sustain damage from vehicles. So, what are bollards and where did it all begin? They made their way through history by making their first appearance …
— By Sean Gillespie — Why it’s important — even during challenging times — to keep multi-site painting programs consistent and on track. There is no question the past few years have presented more challenges than solutions relative to multi-site painting programs. As things have begun moving into a new degree of normalcy, labor and supply chain struggles have been part of the adjustment. Now, as interest rate hikes are implemented to stem the tide of inflation, there are rumblings of “recession.” While not all agree on the specifics, …
— By Jason Narod — Why it pays for your retail and restaurant facilities to be grid-interactive. Rising costs, energy mandates, electrification trends and more prevalent power disruptions — as seen recently in California and Texas — are all trends putting the energy transition at the forefront of business stakeholder priorities. More energy demand due to mass electrification collides with needs to decarbonize existing buildings as much as possible. Commercial businesses will be disproportionately burdened by the costs and forced to adapt to these quickly changing trends …
— By Al Subbloie — How one Arkansas-based IHOP operator received new equipment, lowered his energy bills and improved operations without out-out-pocket costs. Restaurants use anywhere from five to seven times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings, and for quick-service restaurants energy consumption can be up to 10 times more. In an industry that traditionally operates on narrow profit margins, any reduction in energy costs will dramatically improve the bottom line. As many restaurant businesses are feeling the squeeze from rising inflation and increasing labor …
— By Kait Paradowski — The benefits of custom mosaics for F&B and retail applications. In order to stand out from the competition, restaurants and retail spaces are seeking thoughtful ways to create memorable experiences and touchpoints for patrons and shoppers to take part in and interact with while perusing store aisles or having a bite to eat. One way owners, operators and designers are helping customers immerse themselves into a brand is through art and, more specifically, custom mosaics. Thanks to modern technology, mosaic designs can be made …
— By Scott Green — How odor management can prevent pest infestations. Retail and restaurant establishments dealing with unwanted pest issues are like a ticking time bomb. One batch of contaminated food or product, one pest sighting posted on social media, or any number of possible negative outcomes can quickly create havoc, sending the brand reputation and the business on a downward spiral. Pest infestations are often a secondary problem to a primary stressor. For food retail and restaurant establishments, that primary stressor can be lingering or pungent odors …
— By George Lessmeister — 6 reasons to ‘go gig’ — and give hourly workers the flexibility they want. Sitting at a restaurant we’ve all become more patient. We know staffing is tight. And we know the people who are working…are working hard. Still, there’s no doubt you’ve asked the question — where has everyone gone? Back in 2019, headlines were all about low unemployment, the gig workforce was growing, and things were great. Then came COVID. Our world got smaller. First, we all had to stay …
— By Sonja Berry — From LED retrofits to lighting controls and daylight harvesting, this is where efficient, cutting-edge commercial lighting is headed. It is well known that upgrading your company’s lighting system to LED greatly reduces energy consumption as well as utility bill costs. LEDs can save 60% to 80% over other energy saving or standard retail lighting. A straight replacement of halogen or incandescent bulbs with LEDs — called an “LED retrofit” — can dramatically reduce a building’s lighting energy consumption and thereby reducing utility bill …
— By Shawn Morrow — Proactive practices to protect your retail/restaurant roof when severe weather strikes. Severe weather events can be considered the Number 1 enemy to a commercial roof. Depending on where a building is located in the country, a roof can fall prey to snow and ice storms in the winter, high wind, hail and rainstorms in the spring and summer, and hurricanes in the fall. Unfortunately, severe weather events are on the rise due to global weather pattern changes. In fact, the EPA recently reported that …
