YORK, Pa. — Retailer Rutter’s Farm Stores, York, Pa., has partnered with Restaurant Technologies to install the company’s Total Oil Management system in 55 of the chain’s convenience stores. The oil-management solution will be used in all stores that offer fried foods and installed in Rutter’s new stores going forward.

“The Total Oil Management system has completely transformed the way we manage oil,” said Ryan Krebs, Rutter’s director of foodservice. “It eliminates the need for our employees to manually handle fryer oil at any point in the process. This modernizes our operations and greatly boosts our labor efficiencies, allowing staff to focus on the customer and more productive tasks.”

Previously, Rutter’s manually managed fryer oil by shuttling 35-pound jugs of hot, used oil to a rendering tank located outside of each facility, and pouring equally heavy jugs of new oil into the hot fryer. According to the company, this process was causing labor inefficiencies in the convenience store’s standard operating procedures and raised employee safety concerns.

Rutter’s ran a 60-day test of the oil management system in three locations; the new system reduced the chain’s oil usage in these units by about 15%. Additionally, Rutter’s managers reported improvement and consistency in food quality due to the system’s requirement to filter the oil every day for a minimum of 5 minutes—ensuring that the oil is cleaner and fresher.

Rutter’s also reported that automated oil management has helped the chain maintain a cleaner facility in the test stores, since oil spills have been eliminated.

“The increased demands for quality, on-the-go meal options has accelerated the adoption of the Total Oil Management system across the c-store segment,” said Kevin Thorne, national sales executive for Restaurant Technologies. “It’s an honor to support Rutter’s as they continue to improve their fried-food quality and operational efficiency to meet consumers’ expectations.”

Mendota Heights, Minn.-based Restaurant Technologies is a provider of cooking-oil management and back-of-house exhaust cleaning solutions to more than 25,000 national quick-service and full-service restaurant chains, independent restaurants, grocery delis, hotels, casinos, universities and hospitals.