FEATURES
scented liquid hand soap that he sells to
the properties. Elizabeth Meltz, director
of food safety and sustainability for
B&B Hospitality Group, describes the
arrangement as a perfect closed-loop
system, and an important step for an
industry that’s notorious for the quantity
of trash it produces.
wanted to dispose of it responsibly. A little
research led to a big idea. In addition to
soap, he’s also manufacturing a glycerin-based hand lotion.
“It’s hard to believe that the grease we
give him comes back as great-smelling
soap that keeps disappearing from our
restrooms,” Meltz says. “Patrons love the
concept. Further costs a bit more than
regular soap but has unquantifiable perks.”
It all began in 2004. Dostal was collecting
restaurant waste oil to produce biofuel for
the family cars. After doing that for a few
years, he had a lot of glycerin stored in
his garage. His wife wanted it out, and he
These days, Dostal sources his waste
vegetable oil from many establishments
around LA. Further’s soap is currently
found at 15 restaurants in five states,
including Houston’s, a chain that is part of
the Hillstone Restaurant Group, Beverly
Hills, Calif. There’s a good chance that
the fryer oil from Houston’s in Pasadena
will comprise at least a portion of the raw
material for the soap Dostal ships to the
chain’s Denver location. “We’re happy to
incorporate sustainable practices, and this is
such an easy way to do it,” says David Biel,
general manager at Houston’s in Denver.
electricity and captures residual heat to
warm water. Commercially available for
less than a year and, thus far, only in the
Northeast corridor, Peret’s creation has
already been endorsed by the Green
Restaurant Association and won a National
Restaurant Association 2010 Kitchen
Innovations Award. Ben Prentice, vice
president of sales and marketing for
Vegawatt, will demo the unit at the National
Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago this month.
Restaurants are given a sign to post that
explains the product. “The information
generates a lot of goodwill with
customers,” says Dostal.
A Vegawatt takes just a couple of hours
to install. Two wires connect it to the
circuit breaker. “Once it’s set up, there’s
nothing to turn on, no monitoring or staff
training required,” says Prentice, a former
restaurant operator. “I see no reason why
these won’t be standard equipment for
restaurant kitchens of the future.”
Even when the soap a restaurant
purchases isn’t made from its own grease,
the net result is that somebody else’s
grease is kept out of the waste stream.
According to Prentice, a 4-kilowatt system,
running almost 24 hours a day on 50
gallons of oil a week, provides 5%-25% of
a restaurant’s electrical needs, and delivers
a two- to four-year return on investment
(depending on utility rates) before factoring
in any state government or utility company
rebate incentive programs. Based on rates in
the Northeast, a typical restaurant could save
more than $600 per month in energy costs,
and its used oil would be worth $3.08 a gallon.
Out of the fryolator, into the future
There’s nothing revolutionary about a
generator, but James Peret, president/
CEO of Owl Power Co., Boylston, Mass.,
broke new ground when he invented
one that’s powered by used vegetable
oil. Dubbed “the Vegawatt,” it produces
Waste oil from restaurants is used to
make this bergamot-scented liquid hand
soap that is then sold to the venues for
use in their restrooms.
Finz Seafood and Grill in Dedham, Mass.,
was the test site for the prototype, and
now has the second-generation version.
The unit, approximately 6-feet tall and
24-inches deep, sits outside, behind the
restaurant in a utility area. The Vegawatt is
quiet, convenient and emits less odor than
