Hi guys,

Would like to find out how much other restauranteurs are paying monthly for their electricity.
Currently, im running:

1x 4-door standing freezer (running 24 hours)
1x 4-door standing chiller (running 24 hours)
4x horizontal chillers (24 hours)
1x standing chiller (24 hours)
Kitchen ventilation (12 hours)
3x 3 horsepower casette air-conds (12 hours)

Lighting should contirbute a small % because they are all flourescent and energy saving which are left on for about 12 hours a day.
Operations are 7 days a week.

Lowest ive paid is RM3.2k, while highest is about RM3.9k monthly. Is this normal?

Edit: Restaurant size = 1,500 sq ft. and seats about 65pax. Kitchen takes up approx. 1/3 of the area.

This post has been edited by Bogardan: Mar 30 2009, 09:01 PM

Based on converting your amount into Singapore dollars (as electric tariffs are similar after conversion), amount is quite reasonable based off your total seating capacity and usage pattern.

You might consider doing refrigerant change of your 3x split units to R22a, my own experience is an average 30% drop in energy consumption of the condenser unit based on higher efficiency of R22a.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I will check to see what kind of condensers im currently packing.

3 doors fridge x 2
One 6 door fridge x 1
all 24-7
and I use fans for cooling in restaurant
Electricity bill averagely at 1.5k

Actually im considering removing 1x 3hp Cassette to replace with fan for circulation.

How many watts of power it use?

honestly i dont know man.. Do i have to buy a watt calculator or something to check?

Do you still have the technical specification document of the said cassette?
If not, try surveying around the hardware, there should be a sticker or notification to state the amount of power used per hour.

The fan coil unit (cassette) is the least of your worries; the condenser is the key. But before replacing or removing a condenser unit, be sure that the total remaining BTU capacity of the leftover 2 is able to cool down the entire restaurant at full load.

Just for an idea, turn one unit completely off during operation period and see if customers complain. If they do, DON'T remove it. You would do better by deploying a air curtain at all entrances so as to keep the cool air in.

sometimes i wonder how can a restaurant survive as a table of 4 spend an average of RM100. Let say 1 hour has 10 tables, so RM2000 only, thus from 7pm to 9pm has 30 tables, thus RM3000 gross profit only.

In reality, it's not that much.

I forgot to add that i do have an air curtain running daily for about 12 hours throughout operations..

Thanks everyone for the input.. just doing all i can to survive in these economic conditions. Already looked at raw material costs and salaries and managed to reduce by almost 50% while not compromising as much as possible on quality.

This post has been edited by Bogardan: Mar 31 2009, 04:04 AM

Retailing (minimarket, supermarket) and restaurants are some of the most competitive industries to be in. But I still see so many of them mushrooming here and there.

This post has been edited by Icehart: Mar 31 2009, 09:04 PM

Hypermarkets destroy mini/supermarkets in this day and age. They can sell vegetables below market price because of their volume. Some ppl dont realize how complex starting a restaurant can be. I've got comments like "..so.. starting own restaurant ah? Must be shaking leg now la!" (); Zzz...

Food has a 50% or more profit margin.

install this type of air-condition, its actually fan but better



its called evaporative cooling system or keruilai, saves lots of electricity, and if you overhaul your whole electric system via inverter and it'll saves another more 50% electricity bill. need some engineer to do that thou..

That is not entirely true. Pricing is a science. Really depends on what kind of food & which socio-economic group its targeted at. Its not as simple as Profit = Selling price - Cost. There are things like average overheads and wages to take into account. After taking everything into account, a 12% profit on any item sold is already reasonable.

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Added on April 1, 2009, 1:00 amWow, something worth looking into.. thanks

This post has been edited by Bogardan: Apr 1 2009, 01:00 AM

Such a system cannot be successfully deployed within Malaysia as the fundamentals of it requires dry atmosphere; relative humidity in Malaysia is above 70%, and with such a system you would be raising the humidity to mid 90% which will cause adverse reactions (ie. rusting of metal, deteoration of wood), not to forget that the temperature does not drop as humid air retains heat, and having an air conditioner to work doubly hard to remove the heat + humidity results in negative returns; no way you will be able to achieve "more 50% electricity bill".

Additionally, swapping out an entire existing air conditioning system for an inverter based system (either VRV or VFV type systems) does not necessarily mean savings; if the entire restaurant is already running the system at near-full load, nothing can make it run lesser. Additionally, inverter systems on average deliver approximately 10 - 25% savings for small loads, and is not cumulative to "50%" as you mentioned.

This post has been edited by Nicholas Chan: Apr 1 2009, 01:05 AM

Changing the whole cable with a new and thick one will save more than 40% of the electricity bill. It's proven, I'm using it.

You mean the electrical cable or the copper coil?

Is it applicable to household? If yes, change the whole cable wiring or just the main phase there?

Copper losses typically is in the range of 2 - 5% for copper cables older than 10 years; there is no way you can achieve 40% savings simply by changing to thick copper cables.