Johnson And Wales University

Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island is one of the premier culinary artsschools in America. Sporting an enrollment over 4,750 aspiring chefs, the majority of the classrooms on its Providence campus are fully functioning kitchens. Johnson & Wales also maintains several off campus Practicum Facilities where students receive hands-on training in the arena of hotel & restaurant management.

In early 1992, the Narragansett Bay Commission (an aggressive pretreatment authority covering the Greater Providence area) was established to control the amounts of FOG (fats, oils and grease) released into the collection system. The University and the nearly 4,000 meals generated there per day quickly became a prime target of the NBC pretreatment program. There is a lift station adjacent to the University’s Harborside Campus that continuously faced problems caused by grease and oils. Suspicion fell on the University, for there were few other users connected to the collection system serviced by the lift station. The Commission’s maintenance department also had to jet out the sewer lines coming out of the University on a frequent basis.They occasionally had to do this as often as once a week.

Each classroom on campus is a fully functioning kitchen, and are used up to three times a day for instruction. Not only do the faculty of Johnson & Wales train students in the culinary arts, but they also train students how to run an entire restaurant. This instruction includes grease trap maintenance practices. Previous to installing Big Dipper systems, each kitchen was serviced by a manual, passive trap. However, even the most eager of aspiring chefs was loath to get down on their hands and knees to scoop the fragrant grease and oils out of there. Consequently, the traps were neglected and problems developed. An alternative was definitely needed.

Around 1992, Regulatory Administrator Ken Harvey became acquainted with Big Dipper. We were looking for an alternative that would last a long time, was simple to use, and had flexibility. The simplicity of operation was a key factor; our kitchens are used for instruction, sprayed down and cleaned up, and the next class begins. There is not a lot of time for maintenance. Flexibility was also important. We rearrange our kitchens on a frequent basis, and we needed something that could be moved and/or altered to fit into our kitchens. The Big Dipper seemed the best alternative.