For restaurant owner-operators, customer satisfaction is the key to repeat business, which is the linchpin of success. Ultimately, without consistent sales, you won’t be able to make payroll or keep the lights on; however, short-term success has as much to do with careful money management as it does with actual revenue. Some costs you have will generally be of the fixed type — payroll might be one if you have reliable staff and low turnover, for example. Others are more variable, and from month to month, can cause concern about their impact on your budget. Chief among these: heating and cooling costs.
Preventing unnecessary operation of your HVAC systems can be as simple as installing air curtains over all the doors your restaurant uses to allow patrons to enter. When regular ingress and egress aren’t causing the consistent loss of conditioned air to the outdoor environment, you save. Air curtains do more than just help to control volatility regarding what you pay for electricity month to month. They can have a bigger overall impact on your business by actually improving customer satisfaction — and as we know, that can easily lead to better word-of-mouth and more sales. How do they make a difference?
Customer Comfort is Paramount
Air curtains work to improve the environment inside your restaurant in a few ways. First and foremost, they make it easier to maintain a constant temperature inside the store. By using an invisible sheet of air to partition the interior and exterior spaces each time a door opens, you’re able to minimize the infiltration of hot or cold outside air into your climate-controlled space. Likewise, the air inside no longer rushes out the door, forcing your HVAC system to pick up the slack. In extreme weather conditions, such as a scorching summer, this can easily lead to an elevated interior temperature even with a fully functioning air conditioner. Air curtains allow you to easily set and maintain a target temperature, making it more comfortable to stay for longer periods of time.
You may already be losing business if you have seating placed near the doors, too. According to one case study prepared by top air curtain company Berner, a restaurant was consistently under capacity in the wintertime due to the cold draft that hit the tables near the doors anytime a new customer entered. Previous expensive solutions did not work. However, with the installation of a heated air curtain, the restaurant was able to reclaim space, drop their HVAC bills, and retain higher numbers of customers throughout the season. With a cozier space, the restaurant’s clientele was happier, and since air curtains typically operate quietly, their addition didn’t impact the ambiance.
Why Pay to Air Condition the Neighborhood?
Satisfied customers are important, but so is keeping your budget in good shape. As mentioned above, open doors create a vigorous exchange of air between the interior and exterior of your restaurant. When you pay for the electricity it takes to cool the space down to a comfortable temperature, your system should only need a little additional effort to keep it steady. With customers coming and going, especially during busy times of the day, it can grow hot quickly. The same is true in the opposite direction during the winter. You’re practically paying to send hot or cool air your system created straight out the door.
By isolating the interior environment with an air curtain, you never have to worry about out-of-control cooling costs in the summer ever again. What about the impact of operating the curtains on your budget? That shouldn’t be a concern, either; since they only run for short periods of time and don’t require a lot of power to begin with, air curtains typically cost a fraction of your overall HVAC bill. The savings mean your air curtains will more than pay for themselves.
Maintain a Pristine and Hygienic Indoor Environment
There is one final reason to consider why your restaurant doors need an air curtain: the sanctity of the environment inside. Whether you want to keep out potentially offensive odors (such as car exhaust fumes from a busy street) or to put up a barrier that will stop flying insects from coming in the front or back doors, air curtains can do the job here, too. The invisible curtain over your door doesn’t just minimize the flow of air between inside and out; it’s also strong enough to keep insects such as mosquitoes or flies from getting into the restaurant. If one flies into the air curtain, it’s merely pushed downward and back outside.
Customers will lodge fewer complaints about seeing insects and achieving a food-safe environment, especially in prep areas, becomes much more straightforward. On top of that, the only smells your patrons will notice will be the delightful aroma of the foods your kitchen has prepared for them — not anything that tried to follow them in from outdoors. In this way, an air door can be one of the most versatile pieces of equipment you have in your building.
Adding air curtains to the doors in your restaurant can be a simple process. With many models available to suit diverse needs, from basic insect barriers to heated curtains ideal for wintertime use, matching one to your space doesn’t have to be difficult. At Air Door Distributors, we can put our well-developed understanding of the industry to help you identify and purchase the ideal unit. Take control of your heating and cooling costs, improve the comfort of your interior spaces, and continue to drive repeat business for long-term success. Contact us today for additional information and help.