Buninyong FoodWorks up and running during power outages

AVOIDING the risk of food spoilage, loss of sales and inconvenienced customers were the key reasons Alison and Trevor Rickard, Buninyong FoodWorks owners purchased a diesel generator.

The generator, commissioned in July, served its purpose admirably for the first time on Friday, 25 January when with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees, the power was off for four and a half hours in Buninyong.

“We had a few of our locals offer to bring a deck chair down to sit in the aisles that afternoon,” Mrs Rickard said.

“12 months ago, the power went out on a similar day, a hot Friday afternoon, and we had substantial loss of sales and costs of wages for the staff sent home.If the chicken cooker goes down in the middle of the cook you have to throw all of those chickens out, so loss of stock is also involved.”

Mr Rickard said smart purchasing make the investment even better.

“If this was a new generator wired into our building the cost would be somewhere around $50,000-$60,000,” he said.

“As a second hand one it was a good deal, for us with all our refrigeration, we realised we couldn’t afford not to have one now.”