Starting a Restaurant

[chefmike1973]

I am in the process of opening my own restaurant, about 2,500sq. ft. and 50 seats.  I am trying to find out about how much the chemical and cleaning supplies will be each month?  Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

Your food wholesaler (Sysco, Shamrock, whoever) rep can give you some estimates based on what other places are ordering. What you use to sanitize dishes will be a big cost factor, bleach is cheap but hard on hands and dishes, quat is expensive but gentler. There are bargain soaps, but, you'll use a lot less if you choose name brands, so that comes out pretty even. (just like liquid soap for hand dishwashing at home) my personal preference for cleaning windows is to use rubbing alcohol, which is very cheap. But, you have bathroom cleaners, floor cleaners, mop heads, towels, dishwashing, stuff to scour stoves with, and more to consider. There will be variables we can't estimate for you like if your floors need special products for upkeep. (waxes, sealers, etc.)

 

I've never broken it down by month, some supplies (like soap for the automatic dispensing systems) come in giant containers you might change every few months, some stuff seems to get used up weekly.

[gfron1]

I'm too small to be helpful, but what I will say is that I resisted getting a dishwashing machine until the rep broke it down for me on a daily cost. A leased machine with chems is running me less than $4 a day plus utilities.  The Sysco/Sham/US Foods rep certainly will help you but also know they are much more expensive than buying from a local store if you've got the time to shop yourself.

[gfweb]

I'm too small to be helpful, but what I will say is that I resisted getting a dishwashing machine until the rep broke it down for me on a daily cost. A leased machine with chems is running me less than $4 a day plus utilities.  The Sysco/Sham/US Foods rep certainly will help you but also know they are much more expensive than buying from a local store if you've got the time to shop yourself.

Wow!

Anything for $5/day is way worth it, compared to the cost of even a 1 hour a day employee.