Franchise business sees sizzling growth

Orlando-based FiltaFry has grown to 80 locations and 1,500 customers in 3 years.

Between five and 10 businessmen and women from around the United States fly here free each week to discover if they want to make a new life -- cleaning hot grease.

While their families visit Central Florida attractions, potential investors are courted by FiltaFry, an Orlando-based franchise business that specializes in cleaning and maintaining deep fryers and cooking oil for restaurants and commercial kitchens.

It's hardly glamorous work, but it's vital to the restaurant industry. Grimy cooking oil can spoil the taste of fried food. And, though restaurants focus on safety, cleaning fryers still can be dangerous work.

Using technology borrowed from oil-filtration systems for aircraft and construction equipment, FiltaFry aims to clean fryers safely and allow filtered oil to be reused.

The firm's technology has little direct competition because most restaurants and kitchens use equipment with built-in filtration systems, experts said.

Launched in the United States three years ago, FiltaFry has grown to 80 locations and more than 1,500 commercial customers in 32 states. Plans call for expansion to about 170 U.S. outlets by the end of the year, including up to 17 in Florida, six more than are operating now in the state.

About half of the visitors to FiltaFry's weekly "discovery" day, which provides background on the business, opt to plunk down about $75,000 for a franchise, said company President Victor Clewes, a former British businessman who now lives in Apopka.

Franchise operators also receive training in the science of deep frying, like calibrating a thermostat so food is cooked at precisely 365 degrees for better taste and longer-lasting oil.

In addition, FiltaFry franchisees learn to use the company's system, transported by truck, that removes tiny food particles and reduces the burns that sometimes accompany the standard way of cleaning greasy deep fryers -- water, chemicals and old-fashioned elbow grease.

The multistep FiltaFry process calls for a technician to remove the oil through a filtration machine, clean the fryer with a vacuum-based system and return the filtered oil to the fryer. A one-hour visit can cost about $50 or more, but a larger restaurant with multiple fryers may cost more.

Customers at O-Boys Real Smoked Bar-b-q, which has three stores in the Orlando area, noticed a change in the taste of fried foods after FiltaFry began cleaning its fryers and cooking oil a couple of years ago, said Dustin Boyer, assistant general manager.

Cooking with clean oil is essential to serving better-tasting food, said Mark DeGraff, general manager at Boston's Fish House in Winter Park. The restaurant, which isn't a FiltaFry customer, cleans its oil five or six times a day, using a commercial system that pumps the grease through a filter to remove small particles.

The job of cleaning grease can be dangerous, DeGraff said, but if workers are careful and conscientious, they're not exposed to undue risks.

Source: Orlando Times
Author: Chris Cobbs

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