Friday February 24, 2017
Clean and simple: a series of blogs from Cleanline expert Rod Hale.
We asked our Cleanline expert ‘Which professional cleaning products provide the best cost in use?’
And here’s what he told us…
Cleanline Expert – Rod Hale Twitter – @rodhale2
In the hospitality sector today there are thousands upon thousands of chemical cleaning products on the market. They come in all sorts of different packages, colours and sizes and they do all sorts of different cleaning jobs. There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” range of products because the nature of the industry is so diverse.
For example, if you are running a small B&B in the country you wouldn’t need to have a wall mounted dosing system for diluting super concentrated cleaning products fitted in your kitchen or in the cupboard under the stairs; you’d just need to have a few retail type products that do the routine jobs simply and efficiently. You don’t need to mix up any solutions with water, when the product container is empty, you throw it away. We call these Ready to Use products (RTU) and they are typically purchased in a 750Ml trigger spray bottle.
On the other hand, let’s say you’re in charge of a big hospital kitchen. The surface areas to be cleaned, degreased and sanitised are so vast that one of those RTU 750Ml spray bottles would probably last a couple of hours, if that. In no time the bins would be overflowing with empty bottles and, because the single use plastic bottle and its trigger spray mechanism are usually more expensive to manufacture than the liquid inside it, your costs would be very high. So in this case it’s far more effective to mix a super concentrated product with water in a reusable trigger spray via a wall mounted pump on site.
The cost in use of both these types of products, RTU and super concentrate are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Typically, once it’s been mixed with water, 10 litres of super concentrated liquid will make anything between 100 and 400 litres of usable diluted cleaning liquid. You’re using the same re-usable trigger spray bottle again and again, you’re using your own water, your own labour and it doesn’t have to be delivered. Taking all these cost savings into account the price per diluted litre is more likely to be in the pennies not the pounds – RTU products are frequently up to ten times the price of mixed on site super concentrated products.
However, smaller businesses usually opt for the ready to use products because the initial outlay for the super concentrated product is perceived to be too high, there probably isn’t enough wall space for a dosing system and the super concentrated products would probably last longer than their shelf lives.
There are plenty of other factors influencing cost in use too. There’s the cost of labour for example. The cleaning product you’re using has to work first time otherwise it’s going to take twice as long to do the job – and time is money. This is even more pronounced with dishwasher detergents. If a rack of plates comes out dirty because of inefficient detergent then it’ll have to be put through the machine again. This time it’s not only the increased cost of labour to consider, but increased energy and water costs as well, not to mention the wear and tear costs of the dishwasher itself.
So all this means that when you’re choosing a range of cleaning chemicals you’ve got to ask some serious questions before you make up your mind. What are my cleaning tasks? Can I use any products that have more than one function – like a washroom cleaner that sanitises as well? What are my business levels likely to be? What sort of range would suit my team? Are there any added value items like wall charts and online training packages included in the price of the products? Do I need a dosing pump for my dishwasher? Who else uses these products successfully?
There is an easier way though; all you have to do is contact us about our exclusive brand of cleaning chemicals, Cleanline. We’ll give you all the professional advice you need and for larger and busier sites we’ll arrange a free on site survey on request. That way you’ll be assured of the most efficient and cost effective cleaning system available to provide an exact fit for your business.
