With over 2,700 locations in North America alone, Popeyes is one of the largest fried chicken Quick Serve Restaurants in the world. Gilligan Company owns and operates several Popeye locations, including seven in Columbus, OH with two more slated to open in the next year or so. Their Popeyes restaurant on Cleveland Avenue is not their biggest location in the city, but it is the busiest ringing up about $55,000 worth of transactions a week.
District Manager Kaleigh Timko oversees the day-to-day operations of this location. She relies on the UniVac® from Kaivac to keep the restaurant’s floors clean, safe, and sanitary. Timko first encountered a Kaivac machine when she worked as the Assistant Manager at Ohio State University’s dining hall. She wanted to bring that power and convenience to Popeyes.
“I fell in love with the Kaivac back at school,” Timko remembers. “The cleaning process is so streamlined. No mopping, deck scrubbing, or squeegeeing.”
Yet mopping, deck scrubbing, and squeegeeing was exactly how Popeyes employees cleaned their kitchen’s 60-year-old tile and grout floor. The job, “everyone’s least favorite task,” according to Timko, took at least a half hour every night. Even after all the work, the results proved less than optimal.
Part of the issue was trying to clean all the cracks and crevices in the old, worn tile with a mop. Another challenge was excess flour. Popeyes employees hand bread all their proteins in house. This process often leads to flour on the floor that mops could not pick up. “It was very frustrating to arrive in the morning and see floors streaked with flour residue,” says Timko.
Switching to the UniVac turned the entire process around. The 30-minute job now takes between 10 to 15 minutes and the floor is noticeably cleaner. Even better, employees no longer fuss about cleaning after a long day. “After a busy Friday night no one wants to spend half an hour on just the kitchen floor,” says Timko. “Staff are excited to use the UniVac. It’s quick and effective.”
Employees use the UniVac every night in the kitchen and once or twice a week in the dining room. They also use the machine to pick up spills throughout the day. “We set it up in the morning, tuck it away, and bring it out when needed,” explains Timko. “It’s so convenient for a busy store like ours.” Timko also reports saving money on labor hours and cleaning chemical costs.
This Popeyes will soon be moving to a brand new, bigger location. The kitchen will have a state-of-the-art epoxy floors. Still, Timko will “beg, plead, and cry” to bring the UniVac along with the move. “I want to maintain that standard of cleanliness from day one,” she says.
