Many ski areas try to recycle food service ware, such as plastic cups and plates, but because of their isolated location — particularly the on-mountain operations — these products often need to be hauled great distances to recyclers. In response to this, there is a trend among ski areas to use non-disposable crockery, glass and silverware service items.
Switching to non-disposables at Mission Ridge, Wash., and Sunday River, Me., has produced a bottom-line profit in food and beverage operations as well as reduced garbage costs.
Jim Largess, director of food and beverage at Sunday River, and his counterpart, Woody Hoye at Mission Ridge, say no additional labor is needed to handle washing the food-service items because the dishwasher would be bussing tables and hauling trash to the dumpster with plastic service ware. The dishwashers work as prep people in the morning and, instead of bussing tables and hauling out the trash, they wash dishes when service begins.
The food service area at Sunday River’s on-mountain operation, the Peak, seats about 300. Largess estimates that he needs 200 plates, 300 hot cups, 450 settings of silverware and 200 bowls to adequately stock this operation. He uses paper cold cups because the volume in soft drinks is such that it would be difficult to stock glasses on the beverage islands.
Largess attempted to use plastic hot cups and plates, but he found skiers would often throw those items in the garbage and he has switched to all china.
The average ski area uses about five percent of gross F&B sales in paperware. By using china, these areas have been able to cut paper and supply costs to about three percent. The average cost for a china plate is about $2.65; the average paper plate costs about $.07. Using a china plate 37 times, the savings begin to occur. A hot cup costs about $1.20 compared to $.05 for a disposable cup. Using a hot cup 40 times begins to realize savings. Largess estimates that he uses a single plate as many as three times on a busy day, and after about five weekends, the plate has paid for itself. Largess also estimates that his replacement cost for all the service items will total about $815 for the ski year.
In order to get maximum benefit from non-disposables, the dishroom must be set up to sort various items. Typically, overhead racks are used and shelves located next to the dishwasher must be capable of supporting racks for hot cups, bowls and plates on a total length of about nine feet. Once the racks are all filled, they are fed into the dishwasher. Largess uses a low-temperature machine with a 90-second cycle. When the washing is completed, the hot cups are loaded on dollies for storage.
At Mission Ridge, Hoye installed “lowerators” into the beverage islands for storage of hot cups. These are spring-controlled devices that hold up to nine racks with a total capacity of 175 cups and take up 36 inches of space on the counter. The plates, bowls and silverware are put directly back into service so little storage area is needed.
At this point, the amount of garbage reduction has not been itemized, but both Largess and Hoye are certain that the use of non-disposables does save in operational costs. Neither ski area has publicized the use of non-disposables in marketing and public-awareness campaigns, but as more data is available about the trash reduction, this will probably become a public relations point.
