With online shopping and the bevy of grocery delivery services that are becoming increasingly popular, brick and mortar retail stores have to keep their profit margins as tight as possible. Ideally, keeping the cost of running a physical store as low as possible is a high priority. There are many location-based costs that businesses must be wary of such as rent. Such an example includes but is not limited to any licenses needed to operate, physical assets that the store requires such as shelves, display racks, and furniture. Of these costs, it can be easy to overlook the energy consumption of commercial refrigerators that you are using to merchandise the store.
Commercial Refrigerators Are a Big Energy Cost
Small business owners tend to forget about this until the power bill comes, but big grocery chains are no stranger to the fact that having so many display coolers in a store costs a lot of money. A report by Energy Star states that merchandising trends are creating an additional expense on top of the already high cost of running large display freezers for the majority of the day, for the majority of the year. For many businesses, these costs are entirely unavoidable as it is not an option to run a grocery store that has no refrigeration. Energy Star asserts that the trends towards fresher foods, tighter temperature standards for food safety, growing sales of prepared foods as well as the resurrection of frozen foods are big factors in burgeoning electrical costs for supermarkets.
Commercial Refrigeration Energy Efficiency is Priority #1
If commercial display freezers are exorbitantly expensive for stores to run, then it stands to reason that the profit margins are still in favor of keeping as many as you can. Simply put, the potential return on this investment is often enough to make up for the cost. Simple business savvy would then argue that keeping your electrical costs as low as possible will maximize your profit margins in what is perhaps the most important category for grocery retail and small food markets.
Not only does being energy efficient save you money, but having a high Energy Star rating can be a great source of positive marketing for your business. Many people are passionate about going green and adopting more environmentally friendly practices. If your business can achieve a good rating, not only will you be doing a service to the planet and future generations, but you will also gain a much deserved positive reputation boost from it.
The largest contributors to the power bill are lighting and refrigeration. Many businesses are switching to all LED lights in their facilities because LEDs are far more power-efficient than fluorescent or HID. LED’s use only 1/3 of the power that fluorescent bulbs use and are also more efficient than HID lighting.
When it comes to commercial refrigeration, the most important thing outside of choosing a quality cooler is maintenance. The issue many businesses have is, of course, keeping costs low. Maintenance often falls under that category of items that gets swept under the rug until it becomes an issue—i.e., a breakdown. Doing preventative maintenance may almost feel like an unnecessary cost; many people abide by the mantra, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. However, this ends up costing more in the long run. This is especially true of commercial refrigeration, where a break down not only leaves you with the repair cost of the machine. It also leaves you with the paying for the absence of the utility value the machine provides (merchandising opportunity) as well as the literal cost of the merchandise that most likely went bad before the breakdown was noticed.
Commercial Refrigeration Repair and Solutions
Excellence Industries is a premier leader of commercial refrigeration solutions. Not only do you get the highest quality of coolers when you purchase from us, but we also have a network of highly qualified field technicians who can diagnose and repair any problem in the event that you are experiencing difficulties. Visit our contact page or give us a call at (813)-870-0340!
