Opening A New Location: Is Your Outdoor Waste Enclosure Serviceable?

Opening a new location is always a source of anxiety and concern for the management teams involved. Whether it’s finding the right staff to work both the front and back ends of the establishment, putting the finishing touches on the grand opening advertising, or dealing with property management, local city ordinances and zoning issues, new restaurant management teams have a lot on their plates. With these numerous considerations at hand, an outdoor waste enclosure is perhaps one the most overlooked matters a new location may have. Nevertheless, a poorly planned enclosure may also result in creating additional costs for the restaurant, or result in a health department shutdown in the future.

“Our customers often rely on their internal design teams to build enclosures on their new sites. On many occasions, the design teams do not know what the waste hauler will need in order to handle the service properly. An inaccessible container can be subjected to a variety of different issues. This may result in the restaurant having to pay a lot more for hauling services than they should be if the enclosure was built properly,” commented Adi Andrews, Escalations and Sales Specialist, Waste Cost Solutions.

Most of the time, it is something very small that was overlooked by the design team working to build the new site. However, this may make a huge difference to the waste hauler, noted Andrews. I have personally consulted with several clients, who have struggled with this exact issue on their new builds. In addition, a few of our clients have taken me up on my suggestion to allow me to review the plans for an enclosure at a new site, while it is still in the planning process, Andrews added.

“I will tell them if the new enclosure appears to be completely serviceable and if I see anything that may be questionable. I also reach out to the prospective hauler to ensure that they are able to service the site. If the hauler tells me that there are issues with the plans, I will go back to our client with the new requirements and suggestions in order to have their team look at alternatives that may prove to be more cost effective for the restaurant in the long run,” noted Andrews.

The tricky part of these issues stem from a few different elements, such as each hauler has different size trucks and container sizes and/or styles, and the access point of an enclosure differs by location. Local city ordinances and property management also play a huge role in these issues.

While we can suggest many different things to resolve the “problematic enclosure,” the customer needs to implement the changes. If they do not implement changes, they may be subjected to a variety of possible charges, which could be either smaller containers on wheels with rollout fees, or have their site teams rollout the containers. Many haulers consider these roll-out containers to be a liability, as well as being a safety hazard to their drivers, Andrews commented. She added that a restaurant can also elect to find a more expensive hauler that will service the site.

“In more extreme cases, a restaurant may elect to rebuild their enclosure in order to make it serviceable to any hauler. I have seen as much as $25,000 to rebuild an enclosure that wasn’t built right in the first place. Had we helped these sites prior, the savings and headaches could have been avoided,” Andrews concluded.

Waste Cost Solutions is here to assist you with any waste management issue you may have, including structural matters, waste and recycling issues or other facilities service solutions. Whether your establishment needs new exterior and interior painting, your roof needs repaired, or you’re looking to update your outdoor enclosure, Waste Cost Solutions is here to assist you every step of the way. In addition to waste management services, Waste Cost Solutions also offers solutions for dumpster sizes, junk removal, and other facilities services to help keep your establishment clean and efficient.. Contact us today at 800-509-5399 or email us at help@WasteCostSolutions.com