FSR August 2023

SPONSORED BY STRATAS FOODS

“The biggest mistake I see restaurants making is not treating their frying oil like a food item.”

STRATAS FOODS

What to Know When Buying Frying Oil And why many top quick-service brands buy high-performance oils. M any of the comforting foods served by restau rants have something in common: They are fried in oil. And yet, not all restaurants take fry ing oil as seriously as they should, says Mike “I often tell people that fryer oil is a lot like buying tires for your car,” Nestor says. “Better tires perform better and last longer. You get more miles out of it. It’s the same as your oil—in the long run, it’s going to cost you less to invest in a high-performance oil.” Nestor also recommends that chain restaurant brands of just about any size reach out to their sup plier of choice for options to lock in long-term pric ing. Drawing up a contract for high-performing oils can help restaurants avoid massive spikes in oil cost.

Nestor, vice president of sales at Stratas Foods. “The biggest mistake I see restaurants making is not treating their frying oil like a food item,” Nestor says. “You have to find the right oil for your food and not just buy a box of oil from whoever is selling it at whatever is cheapest. Operators wouldn’t do that with other food ingredients they source, and they shouldn’t be doing it with oil.” Treating oil as a food item is something that many of the top quick-service brands already do, Nestor says. Because Stratas Foods services a large per centage of the top quick-service brands, Nestor knows that very few of them use a commodity oil in their deep fryers. Instead, the brands find that spend ing a little bit more on a high-performing oil will lead to less money wasted in the long run.

With operating costs at an all-time high, Nestor and his team are talking to an increasing number of restaurant operators who are looking to cut costs where they can. Their oil program, Nestor says, may be a place that they haven’t considered enough—he encourages them to reach out to him and his team if they have pressing questions about best practices and how to get more out of oil for less money spent. “It’s important that operators understand what their options are, what di erent types of oil are avail able and to take a serious look at which oil makes the most sense for them,” Nestor says. “And to then figure out what the ideal source would be to pur chase that oil.” S

FOR MORE ON BUYING FYING OIL, VISIT STRATASFOODS.COM.

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AUGUST 2023