Rock Fish Seafood Grill/ OdorExpert Success Story

Background

ROCKFISH Seafood Grill is a 16 unit chain based in Dallas, Texas. The company takes pride in serving impeccably fresh seafood at a casual dining price point. The first Rockfish opened in March of 1998 and was an instant hit with seafood lovers in Plano, TX. Upon the opening of their fifth restaurant a few years later, the company was approached by Brinker International. A partnership was formed and Rockfish began to grow at an even faster rate. In 2005 Brinker wanted to focus on its larger concepts and the original Rockfish partners seized the opportunity to buy back Brinker’s interest. The company has resumed growth at a slower but steady pace.

Challenge

Intermittent yet persistent “rotten egg” odor problems plagued brand new and older restaurants. There was lots of finger pointing going on. It seemed every time Rockfish prepared to open a new restaurant there was a last minute fire-drill regarding the odor problem. On brand new restaurants the operations team blamed the contractor, who blamed the plumber, who blamed the MEP engineering, etc. The plumbers extended the vent stacks high into the air in hopes the breeze would carry the odor away before it could enter the building. On some buildings this made the problem bearable and on others it only made a minimal improvement.

The operations team was faced with an opening to conduct and learned to spray deodorizer or walk through the dining room with a pan of sizzling garlic when the odor was bad. When an odor problem was detected in an older restaurant the blame was usually placed on the unit level management for not keeping the restaurant clean enough. Since the problem was inherently intermittent, it was thought that the cleanings were effective. The odor, however, always came back. Sometimes plumbers were called in and found dried up P-traps in floor drains or leaking wax seals around toilet flanges. These repairs were needed and did help, but the intermittent and randomly located “rotten egg” odor always came back. Sometimes managers would complain about the odor to their supervisors. Usually by the time someone visited the restaurant it was gone.

Reports were surfacing of customer complaints and parties walking out, refusing to finish their meals. This was not just a minor inconvenience for the staff members of the restaurant. It was affecting the guests’ experience, the restaurant’s reputation and profitability! Rockfish needed a solution to its odor problems fast… it was negatively affecting the business.

Solution

During the opening of the company’s Woodlands, TX Rockfish, VP of Development, Tim Fox was trouble shooting a particularly bad odor problem. The usual remedy of extending the vent stacks was not helping much and the upscale mall they were located in was complaining about the unsightly plastic pipes visible above the roof parapet wall. He discovered an odor control product that was designed for use in waste water treatment facilities. He reasoned that if it would work on waste water treatment odors, a restaurant would be easy. The vent stacks were cut down and filter canisters filled with the high tech odor absorbing media were installed on all five roof top vents.

Results

The impact was immediate. Over two years has passed since the filters were installed and not a single odor incident has been reported. The mall is also happy because nothing is visible above the roof line. Rockfish has since installed the filters on five more restaurants that had the problem with the same results. Rockfish CEO, Randy DeWitt and it’s now former VP of Development, Tim Fox were so impressed with this new product they recently invested in OdorExpert. They believe every restaurant company should know about this simple solution to common restaurant odors. If you would like more information about OdorExpert’s odor control solutions, please go to our Marketing Services section or Contact Us now.