Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions Adds 4 Well Known New Clients
SpaceX, NASA Space Center, 100+ Whole Foods Locations
Orlando, FL – Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions, a pioneering leader of active fryer management and environmental kitchen sustainability across the food and hospitality industries, added many new clients in the first half of 2023 including SpaceX in Cape Canaveral, Fla., NASA Space Center in Houston, more than 100 Whole Foods locations nationwide, Yosemite National Park in California, and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
“We are always thrilled to add new clients,” said Filta CEO Tom Dunn. “But the heart of our business is local franchise owners helping both high profile customers like SpaceX and Whole Foods, and independent and multi-unit restaurant operators dependably deliver better tasting fried food to patrons while improving employee safety. We have more than 130 franchisees who filter then pick up waste cooking oil every week, recycling more than 5 million gallons a year from thousands of commercial and independent kitchens nationwide. We make kitchens faster, greener, safer, and cleaner.”
SpaceX is serviced by Filta franchise owner Sam Merrill who works in Florida’s Volusia and Brevard Counties. He began working in SpaceX’s main kitchen facility in Cape Canaveral after a months-long security protocol and now microfilters and removes the spent oil from a total of five 50-pound fryers inside kitchens and food trucks on the campus.
NASA Space Center in Houston is serviced by Filta franchise owner Mike Powers, who has a personal passion for the intergalactic, growing up with a dad who was an Apollo project engineer and a mom who was a NASA secretary. This spring, he began servicing the Space Center’s three 80-pound fryers and two 50-pounders that he says cook up chicken tenders that are “out of this world.” Filta also works in more than 50 hospitals in the Houston metro and services the six 50-pound fryers in the Product Evaluation Center at the Sysco Food world headquarters, a hub for kitchen research and development.
In Texas, Filta also services all 12 Whole Foods locations in the Houston metro and, in Austin, franchise owner Pablo Gracia services all six locations in the metro that have fryers, including the original location.
Whole Foods is known for its fastidious focus on quality, safety, health and cleanliness. Through a relationship as a national vendor with RTS/Elytus, Filta has become a valued partner with more than 100 Whole Foods locations nationwide which increasingly rely on Filta to help its kitchens run faster, greener, safer and cleaner. In addition to Texas, locations include more than 20 in the Washington, D.C. metro, supervised by franchise owner Derek Riebel, and nearly 10 in the Midwest region of Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington and Columbus, supervised by franchise owners Ken Melick and Ryan Hopper. In the Philadelphia area, franchise owner Allen Whitehead services more than eight Whole Foods, several of which offer other food concepts within their locations including Federal Donuts and Plant Burger.
Even more Whole Foods locations are expected to come on board as Filta proves its advantages to kitchens and more individual Filta franchisees nationwide provide free site evaluations, service capabilities for microfiltration, and sample Environmental Impact Reports.
Also interested in sustainability and cost reduction, Yosemite National Park approached Filta corporate more than a year ago but more urgently to mitigate a bear problem. With bins of waste oil wafting tempting smells to the wildlife, bears were venturing down to the valley. Arthur and Patricia Haggerty opened the local franchise and re-engaged Yosemite National Park with the assistance of Tim Whipple, the franchise owner in Northern California.
Filta removes oil immediately after service leaving kitchens bin free so since Haggerty has been filtering and recycling, there is no need for waste oil bins in Yosemite’s kitchens, fryers are well-managed, and Yosemite staff doesn’t have dump oil, risking spills, falls and burns – and the bears need to find their snacks elsewhere. Filta regularly services 20 fryers ranging from 50- to 100-pounds in six Yosemite hotels and restaurants. When winter comes, Haggerty will service 11 fryers in two locations, the Yosemite Valley Lodge and Badger Pass Ski Resort.
Churchill Downs became a Filta customer just days before the Kentucky Derby in early May 2023. Midwest franchise owners Ken Melick and Ryan Hopper had the business to service the high-end Matt Winn’s Steakhouse in the new first turn building and other kitchens were so impressed that Filta was asked to work with the entire team of 15 executive chefs and service 22 50-pound fryers, 23 90-pound fryers as well as an additional 10 50-pound fryers brought in for the actual Derby on May 6. All this with Melick and Hopper’s team doing the final walk through just two days before the Derby began – talk about a last stretch sprint.
“The commitment of our franchise owners from the Midwest to California and from Houston to Florida is what has allowed our system to grow and prosper,” said Dunn. “It’s always nice to toss around fancy household names but it’s more gratifying to me knowing that our owners just ‘Do The Right Thing’ with each and every one of their clients, day in and day out.”
Filta makes commercial kitchens faster, cleaner, safer and greener by micro-filtering existing cooking oil, providing bin-free waste oil collection, deep cleaning fryers, and recycling waste oil. Customers range from single and chain restaurants to commercial kitchens inside hospitals, hotels, groceries, universities, casinos, business facilities, stadiums (NFL, NCAA, MLB, NHL), and more. Filta has recycled nearly 1 billion pounds of used cooking oil into biodiesel, significantly reducing the impact of waste fryer oil on the environment. For every gallon of biodiesel put into use, Filta prevents 16 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
About Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions
Since its inception in 1996, Filta has positioned itself as the pioneering leader of active fryer management and environmental kitchen sustainability across the food and hospitality industries. Brought to North America in 2002 as a franchise concept, Filta is part of United Kingdom-based Franchise Brands (AIM: FRAN). The cornerstone of the company’s offering is FiltaFry – gofilta.com – the complete fryer management service incorporating on-site micro-filtration as well as the removal, recycling, and replacement of cooking oil. Furthermore, the brand provides humidity control in cold storage devices through FiltaCool, prevents drain blockage through its grease-free drain foam brand FiltaDrain, and uses steam to sanitize kitchens with FiltaClean.
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