auto-clor vs. ecolab - Page 2

P.S. I resent the allegation that 'all chemical guys screw the customer' by turning up the dispensers. I pride myself in making sure that the correct dilutions are set up for every dispenser. Yes there are dirt-bags out there but not all of us screw you!

Long term customer retention is better than short term profits. (I have only lost 1 customer in past 12 months and thats a failing restaurant that thinks the $30 a month savings is going to save his business.)

MY NAME is my reputation, not the company I work for.

standard in the business is it cost you 50 cents to run each rack, that price includes labor , chemical, heat, utilities, etc

you have to remember ecolab lease the machines, but parts and labor are free. A conveyor wash pump motor replaced for free by ecolab, can cost up to $1,000 to replace if you own your own machine. leases varies from $80. a month for single door machine, to $200.00  m.onth for conveyors

I agree with the Dish Doctor. Enough Said!

Thanks,

The Soap Man

i worked for Ecolab,  jackson machines are junk, spend the xtra money and buy Hobart or CMA.

Did you made a decision, I am in the same position right now and would like advise...any experience with auto chlor??

I, too am an ex Executive Chef with 32 years experience.  I am now an A.E. for Auto-Chlor in DC.  I saw the light after about 20 years as far as getting bad service and high prices from the Eco Lab people that I dealt with. Once I used AC that was all I ever used again and that is why I went to work for them.   I agree that there are good and bad everywhere from all companies.  My best friends were Sysco salesman and while they liked the income gained from selling chemicals they despised having to deal with repercussions from unhappy customers when performance issues cropped up. 

Eco Lab is an 18 million dollar a year traded company that has many shareholders that must see a profit.  Their machines are merely dispensers for their liquid gold, the chems.  They do a great job of taking care of their larger customers but the little guys don't see too much of that.  All companies must make a profit, it's just "how much" is the difference. 

I make a killing now by converting people over to AC from Eco Lab because I know how some of them operate and if I get a chance to see their invoices it's an easy sell.  I am a chef/owner's dream because I am concerned about the big picture, Serv Safe Certified, and am more like a consultant for my clients.  I treat them fairly and follow up with all of them and continue to go to all of my accounts, as they are my partners, for as long as they are AC customers. 

I was a chef for over 30 years and now an AE for Auto-Chlor in northern VA/DC.  I make a killing converting Eco Lab clients over to us because I know how they operate.  Their machines are merely dispensers for their "liquid gold".  They use other companies  machines and many times contract out the labor.  Their business is chemicals.  AC is the only company who makes their own patented low-temp machines, their own chems, and their own techs to service them.  This is an easy sell for me when I go up against EL.

I hate low temps for a number of reasons.

1) one more chemical to buy, which also has a finite shelf life.  Plus the sanitzer is more corrosive than regular detergent or rinse aid, so the lines have to be changed more frequently as well as the dispensor units

2) Plates come out p___ warm, not hot.  This means they take much longer to dry, which  translates  in kitchen language to stacks of cold, wet plates and puddles of water.

3) Glassware doesn't come out all so clean.  Grease, fingerprints, and especially lipstick needs hot water to  get removed, and the low temp can't deliver on this.  Who cares if the wash cyle is 140 or 180 seconds instead of the standard 120?  It still won't come out clean if the water ain't hot enough.

Every dishwasher I've trained starts off with two questions:  "You watched the first Harry Potter movie, right?  Remember the scene where the uncle sticks his fat face in the camera and says "there's no such thing as magic?  And :  As a kid, I trust you've jumped through a garden sprinkler on a hot day?  It might have got you wet, but it probably didn't get you clean.  This dishwasher is no different, it just flings water around in the hopes of getting stuff clean.  If it isn't more or less clean before it goes in, it sure as (deleted) won't be clean when you take it out. "

This is always followed by instructions on how to scrape plates clean, how to use cardboard box tops to wipe out grease and crud out of pans and pots before washing, how you can't wash dishes if your tank water is filthy, how to look at both wash and rinse arms for blockages, how to monitor soap and rise aid, and how to rattle the racks in the machine before taking them out so you don't trail water all over the place.

It ain't the machine or the soap that gets stuff clean, it's the operator.  Only people who understand this concept will have clean dishes with a minimum amount of trouble and service calls.