save money

Have you ever put some thought into how much money you spend on the most basic needs of your business? You would be amazed at the amount of cash you spend on small things needed for your business. The costs may be low, but when you add up all of those small expenses, the number becomes huge.

In today’s economic climate, every dollar counts. Instead of cutting back on workers, you can just take the matter into your own hands and invest your money where you need it. My name is John Ling and I know how things work because I am an owner and the general manager of the Dragon Restaurant for more than two decades now.

We opened in the late 80’s when things worked differently. I didn’t care much for small expenses because I didn’t need to. I had a third party take care of everything that the restaurant needed to work well and bring in some cash. The business was doing great so we devised a plan on how to bring in even more customers.

cocktail bar

At the time, there were no cocktail bars for miles around my restaurant so I decided to add them to the menu. I didn’t know what to expect, so we started with a small menu of available drinks. The cocktail business exploded in a couple of months and the demand was huge. My small counter-top ice machine was not big enough to satisfy the restaurant’s needs. The bigger, under-counter machines were way too expensive back then, so I called up the local ice factory and they delivered ice to the restaurant for 15 years.

This worked great. The ice wasn’t much of an expense and I didn’t have to worry about it. The company did their deliveries on the regular. They would bring in top quality ice every two or three days and my cocktail business was blooming. The cost of the ice was much lower than my selling price, so that worked great.

Years have passed, the economy took a couple of big blows and that changed the game for everyone. Less money meant fewer customers, a smaller income, and a bigger cash outflow. That is when I had to sit down and calculate all of those small expenses. The ice delivery service was on my list. Since it worked great for years, I never even thought of getting an alternative. The monthly bill for ice was between $50 and $100 a month when I started, but it reached the average of $300 a couple of years ago. 

ice from ice machine

It still didn’t bother me because it was one of the lowest expenses, but since I’m a curious person, I decided to see how the market for ice machines was doing. I had to say, I was totally surprised when I saw the prices. Things changed since I opened the restaurant and so did the technology. These machines were now between $300 and $1000 dollars. I like investing in good things and this seemed like one.

I took the phone, called the ice-making company and told them I no longer needed their services. Then, I went to the local dealership and got an under-counter ice machine for the restaurant. It was the Whynter UIM-155 Built-in Ice Maker. There were much more expensive models that produce three times much Ice as this model. I chose it because it was cheap and the math told me that I would pay it off within a year. 

Whynter UIM-155 Built-in

We installed it in the restaurant’s kitchen and it has been producing ice for a year now. I wanted to see if the machine was, in fact, saving me money after the first six months of usage. I sat down, got all of the bills and expense reports. I added the numbers up and compared them to the expenses I had when I was buying ice. Saying that I was surprised would be an understatement. This awesome ice machine has saved me $2.765 in the first six months and it paid itself off!

I was so excited with the results that I decided to share them with the world. Every restaurant owner that uses large quantities of ice should get one of these machines right away. It will save you a ton of money on a yearly basis and you can always get a bigger one if your ice needs grow. One way or another, you will save a ton of money!