Why Do Restaurants Blast the AC?
Restaurants blast the AC because it enhances the dining experience for customers and the working experience for employees.
8 Reasons Why Restaurants Blast the AC
1. Comfortable environment for employees
As you can imagine, restaurant employees move a lot. Chefs are on their feet all day. Waiters walk back and forth from the kitchen to the serving area. This is exercise.
Physical activity makes people sweat. Then, they want to cool down. Otherwise, they won’t feel comfortable or happy.
Moreover, cooking processes generate heat. Ovens and stoves are commonly set at a few hundred degrees to cook food properly. What happens when you stand next to a heat source like that for eight hours a day (and sometimes much longer)? You feel warm.
Therefore, blasting the air conditioner is necessary to make working conditions bearable.
2. Comfortable environment for customers
Have you ever been in a crowded room with no air ventilation system? I have, and it is not pretty. Normally, a person’s body temperature should be 98.6°F.¹
This means that the room temperature can quickly increase if there is no way for that heat to dissipate. Then, you run into issues like body odor and sweat stains. Yuck!
Therefore, restaurants are not just thinking about their employees when they turn on the air conditioner. They are also thinking about their customers. Restaurants want to create a comfortable environment for customers to enjoy good food.
Room temperature, in addition to music, lighting, and decorations, adds to the restaurant’s ambiance. Customers are more likely to come back if the restaurant has a good ambiance.
3. Food safety
Safety is another reason why restaurants turn on the air conditioner. At high temperatures, food can quickly go bad.² That’s because bacteria and other microorganisms thrive in warm environments.
Of course, restaurants use commercial refrigerators to store raw ingredients. However, that might not be enough.
Spoilage can still happen during that time window when ingredients are out of the fridge and before they get cooked.
Customers can get food poisoning if they eat contaminated food.³ They might then sue the restaurant.
4. Odor control
Restaurants use air conditioning to keep unwanted smells away. They do this in two ways. Firstly, we’ve already talked about how high temperatures make people sweat profusely. Air conditioning is used to prevent the unpleasant odors often associated with sweating.
In addition, air conditioners in business establishments are often part of larger HVAC units. This means that in addition to temperature control, restaurants actively filter the air to get rid of pollutants. This helps the restaurants maintain good air quality and achieve satisfactory ratings from the local health department.
5. Noise control
Restaurants must be insulated from the outdoors for air conditioning to be as effective as possible. Foam and other insulants are used to prevent the unfiltered outside air from entering the restaurant.
This insulation has an added benefit: soundproofing. If restaurants are protected from outside sounds, then they can create atmospheres that differ from the outdoors.
For example, there might be a lot of commotion right outside the restaurant. It might be a busy area with lots of people and cars going in different directions.
If the restaurant wants to create a more peaceful ambiance for its customers, then it can do that using insulation materials. The sound of the air conditioner itself can also serve as pleasant background noise.
Ultimately, the restaurant becomes a sanctuary that people go to if they want to escape the stressors of everyday life.
6. Marketing
Restaurants also use air conditioning as a marketing tactic, especially during the summer. This is when the weather can get painfully hot and humid. People want to seek refuge from the weather when it is like this. They will go to places where they can cool off.
If people know that a restaurant has high-quality air conditioning, then they will go to that restaurant. They will order something and sit down so that they can relax for a little while.
Sure, blasting the air conditioning costs money. But the restaurant will make up for that money if it has enough customers.
7. Preservation of decor
Some restaurants are decorated with expensive artwork and furniture, especially if they cater to affluent customers. Restaurant owners want to protect these valuables from damage. Ordering replacements will take time and money.
Unfortunately, high temperatures degrade artwork and furniture because of several reasons. For one thing, high temperatures are often accompanied by high humidity, which fosters mold growth.⁴
Also, heat causes materials to expand.⁵ This can make objects crack or bend out of shape.
Thirdly, heat causes discoloration as it accelerates chemical reactions.⁶
Therefore, it is no surprise that restaurants want to blast the air conditioner to protect the structural integrity of their decorations.
8. Prevention of flies
Flies want to be in restaurants because they have food (duh). But flies are filthy. They can contaminate food and make customers sick.⁷
There is also a marketing issue at play. Would you want to eat at a restaurant with swarms of flies? I doubt it. You would probably think the restaurant does not know what they are doing.
Therefore, restaurants try their best to deter flies from coming in. One way they can do this is by installing an air curtain. Mounted above the door, this device sends a strong gust of air downward, thereby creating a “curtain.”
Flies cannot get through the curtain because it is too strong. As a result, the flies are kept outside and everyone in the restaurant stays happy.
Sources:
1. MedlinePlus article on normal body temperature
2. USDA article on how temperatures affect food
3. Mayo Clinic article on food poisoning
4. North Carolina health department article on humidity and mold
5. ScienceDirect article on thermal expansion