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Posted: 09/24/10 Written by: Mary Costa

Water filtration should be one of the top priorities for restaurant owners, but unfortunately it seems to fall by the wayside.  Instead, many owners seem to be more concerned with whether their water softener effectively works with their dishwasher. One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a nice upscale restaurant and tasting chlorine in their tap water (nice try using those lemons to cover the taste!).  They can focus on great décor and high quality ingredients for their cuisine, so why not make every effort to serve filtered water to their guests?

If restaurants do choose some kind of water filtration method, chances are they use a water softener for the building and a filter cartridge system at their sink.  A water softener adds salt to water, leaving the water full of sodium, chlorine, and dirt – not appetizing.  A reverse osmosis system removes everything from the water, including all the healthy nutrients (you didn’t really need that added calcium did you?).  The R.O. system also wastes a lot of water in the process – about three to eight gallons of water for every gallon of filtered water.  Yikes. Using this method of water filtration, restaurants are wasting a lot of money on salt and filters, they’re hurting the environment, and they aren’t producing a cost-effective high quality product for their customers.

Most restaurants may opt to serve bottled water, but obviously that’s a huge waste of money and resources. Let’s do the math – it costs $1.50 to $5.00 for every gallon of bottled water, whereas tap water costs under a penny per gallon.  Seems like a no-brainer! Granted, some restaurants charge their patrons even more money for a bottle of water for a small profit.  Cost issue aside, they’re serving customers water that’d been in chemical-ridden plastic for goodness knows how long.  Tempting, but I’ll pass.

Some smart restaurant owners have realized how easy and cost effective it is to install a filtration system to their main water line.  Elizabeth Vernsten is one such owner.  She operates Mazzarino’s Italian Food in Sherman Oaks, CA and raves about the benefits her LifeSource Water System has brought to her restaurant. Vernsten says that having the system has drastically improved the taste of soups and pastas,  lemonade, coffee, and soda fountain drinks.

Noto’s Italian Dining in Grand Rapids, MI noted a similar improvement to the restaurant’s beverages upon installing a LifeSource Water System. Owner Tom Noto noticed that the establishment now uses considerably less syrup in the soda machine since there’s no more nasty chlorine taste to mask. Patrons like the tap water so much that some customers even bring their own canisters to fill up and take home with them…now that’s love!

It is encouraging to see restaurants following this enlightened path and investing in commercial water filtration systems.  It’s benefiting them in every regard.  Their customers are happier because they’ll  recognize the difference in not only the taste of the water, but in everything the water is made with – drinks, soups, pastas, you name it.  They’ll also respect the restaurant for being eco-conscious.   On top of that, restaurant owners will have less maintenance to deal with, more storage space, and more money.  See that? Everyone wins with clean healthy water.

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