An interview with Mike Hickey, Executive Vice President and President, Ecolab Global Institutional; Member, National Restaurant Association Board of Directors; and Treasurer, National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation Board of Trustees.
RDN: How does Ecolab serve the restaurant and foodservice industry?
MH: We offer comprehensive cleaning and sanitizing products and programs to help restaurant and foodservice operators serve safe food, improve operational efficiency, increase guest satisfaction, meet their sustainability goals and enhance their brands. Our products and programs help ensure that dishes, glassware and utensils are clean, food safety practices are followed, kitchen equipment is well maintained and pests are eliminated.
For more information, visit booth 4000 at NRA 2013, go online to www.whycleanmatters.com or www.ecolab.com, call 651-293-2233 or email [email protected].
RDN: What sets Ecolab apart?
MH: Without a doubt, it’s our people and the personalized service they deliver to our customers—both on a scheduled basis and when emergencies occur, no matter the time of day. Our representatives bring extensive expertise in warewashing, cleaning and sanitizing, food safety, equipment maintenance and pest services. And they’re equipped to educate and train restaurant and food service operators and their employees in best practices and keep them up to date on safety regulations. The personalized, direct service our representatives provide make them true partners in our customers’ success.
RDN: What is your current product emphasis?
MH: Our focus is on helping restaurants and foodservice operators ensure the safety of the food they serve, improve the efficiency of their operations and reduce their environmental footprint. Increasingly, we are enhancing our ability to deliver in these critical areas by incorporating information technologies into our solutions to gain real-time performance data—information that allows operators to have greater control over their warewashing programs, ultimately achieving optimal cleaning results with less water and energy, reducing costs and enhancing environmental sustainability.
RDN: What will visitors find at the Ecolab booth this year?
MH: We will again have our “top-secret” Innovation Room, where we preview some of our future innovations under development by our R&D team. You’ll need an invitation to get in, but getting one is simple: Just call your Ecolab representative.
In addition, we are highlighting several offerings, including our Dishmachine Lease Program. Equipment leasing can offer attractive financial advantages and provide access to up-to-date technologies. Under our program, customers may choose from a range of leasing options, all of which provide access to Ecolab’s warewashing technologies and around-the-clock service. Our next-generation Apex2 warewashing program, which enables operators to monitor dishmachine performance, streamline the warewashing process so that dishes are cleaned with one pass and reduce the costs of energy, labor, water and wastewater disposal while lowering environmental impact.
Our new Antimicrobial Fruit and Vegetable Treatment (AFVT) is the industry’s first no-rinse produce wash to earn both Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration and Food and Drug Administration clearance and be proven effective on both whole and further processed fruits and vegetables. Our Smart CareR program offers comprehensive service for commercial kitchen equipment and helps improve food quality, save energy, decrease downtime and extend equipment life. Our StealthR Fusion Fly Light which attracts and eliminates flies inside a restaurant to keep them from becoming a problem. As always, we’re excited to be part of NRA and look forward to welcoming attendees to our booth.
Comments