Driving Operational Excellence at Scale in Fast Casual Dining

Total Value Delivered: $15.4 Million
Story Image

Background

Ecolab has partnered with a leading fast casual chain for more than 30 years, supporting performance across 2,000+ locations. The key to their success: ensuring operational consistency at scale. Across their locations, they deliver fresh, quality food, fast. The team has to navigate challenges with limited labor bandwidth and zero tolerance for food safety risk, while effectively managing spoilage and inventory accuracy.

To meet these demands, they needed a partner that could go above and beyond expectations. They turned to Ecolab to elevate their operation, bringing food safety, pest prevention and cleaning programs all together under a single vendor.

Solution

As a trusted partner with deep expertise across their business, Ecolab delivered a comprehensive suite of programs including pest prevention, food safety protocols, brand protection and more to maximize labor efficiency, build a culture of food safety and optimize resource management. Having everything unified with Ecolab empowered the brand to move from a reactive, location-by-location approach to a more proactive, enterprise-wide operating model. According to the customer’s operations manager, the overarching solution improved outcomes across the board. “Everything’s better,” she says. “I don’t think it could have happened with another vendor.”

"My life would be so much more difficult — and it would be the same for all of our Cafés — if we didn’t have Ecolab. "

— National Operations Manager,

Results

Over the course of a year, Ecolab conducted 20,000 location assessments, capturing more than 64,000 observations with on-site managers. Leveraging this data and actionable insights, the program delivered and estimated total value of $15.4 million. Succes was seen across three key outcome areas: maximized labor efficiency, a culture of food safety and optimal resource management.

  • Reallocated 968,704 employee hours, resulting in an estimated $13.4 million in labor savings
  • Reduced critical findings by 10.1% over the past 10 years and decreased incidence of issues requiring intervention
  • Saved $552,200 in energy costs, 45 million gallons of water and tens of thousands pounds of cardboard and plastic waste**
Download Full Customer Story
eROI Logo
Annual Impact
Business Outcomes
Food Safety

10.1% reduction in critical findings
since partnership began by Ecolab associates

Brand Protection

20K+ assessments
over the course of one year by Ecolab associates

Operational Performance
Labor Productivity

968+ hours of labor reallocation
(per industry hourly average)

Total Value Delivered
$15.4 Million
Learn More About eROI

* Total Value Delivered (TVD) is an estimate based on customer operational data, Ecolab assessment observations, service records, customer feedback, industry benchmarks, and approved calculation methodologies. Assessment data may include observations collected through EcoSure®, Pest Elimination, Institutional, and other Ecolab service programs. Estimates are based on assumptions and limitations current at the time of calculation and are intended to reflect historical program outcomes. Results are not guaranteed and actual customer results may vary. Environmental Impact estimates are calculated using approved methodologies, customer-specific operational data, and applicable industry conversion factors. Actual results may vary.
Estimated values are based on 13 months of customer data (01/01/25 – 01/31/26)
**Environmental Impact estimates, including water, waste, energy, and packaging reductions are derived using approved calculation methodologies, customer-specific inputs, and industry standard conversion factors, where applicable.

Related Success Stories

Partnering with customers to solve their greatest challenges.

View All Stories