What Is Total Grease Management? A Restaurant Operator’s Guide

If you run a restaurant or other commercial kitchen, you deal with grease and used cooking oil every day. It can show up around fryers, prep stations, sinks, floor drains, grease traps, interceptors, and used cooking oil storage areas.

Most of the time, grease management stays in the background. Your team changes fryer oil, keeps prep moving, stores used oil, and counts on drains, traps, and containers to work the way they should. But when something goes wrong, the problem can quickly get out of control.

Backed-up drains, overflowing grease traps, bad odors, and messy oil storage areas can affect your service, create extra work for your staff, and turn a normal day into a maintenance headache.

After working with restaurants for many decades, Baker Commodities created Total Grease Management® to help simplify how commercial kitchens handle grease, used cooking oil, drains, traps, and related maintenance. It gives restaurant operators a more complete way to keep these essential parts of the business working as they should.

What Is Total Grease Management® ?

Total Grease Management® is Baker Commodities’ comprehensive service program for managing grease, used cooking oil, traps, drains, exterior grease buildup, wastewater from pressure washing, and related kitchen equipment. As a restaurant operator, you can have a single company manage all aspects of grease management.

The service is completely customizable to each restaurant’s needs. Whether you need grease collection, drain cleaning, power washing with water recovery, or preventive maintenance, we can take care of it.

Baker Commodities’ Used Cooking Oil Collection Service

Used Cooking Oil Pickup

One of the primary services under Total Grease Management is used cooking oil collection. As you produce used oil from your fryer, it must be removed safely and regularly. For restaurant operators, consistency can be a game-changer. Used oil has a designated place to go, pickups happen on a schedule, and staff members don’t have to deal with overflowing containers or unclear disposal routines.

Storage Container Options

Baker Commodities offers multiple containers, for both inside and outside storage. From caddies and small containment tanks, to high-volume tanks and large outdoor bins.

Grease Trap and Interceptor Pumping

Grease traps and interceptors capture fats, oils, grease, and solids before they enter your main plumbing or wastewater system. As grease and solids build up, the trap or interceptor must be cleaned. Otherwise, your kitchen can experience odors, slow drainage, backups, and even compliance issues.

Baker Commodities sends technicians to your location to access your interceptor, collect trap grease, and recycle the grease. Regular pumping helps keep grease and solids from becoming a problem during a busy shift, when a backup or odor issue is the last thing your team needs.

Drain Cleaning and Plumbing Support

Grease issues can show up throughout your plumbing system, from sinks, to floor drains, to sewer lines. Baker Commodities offers hydrojetting services to cut through and clean stubborn grease from your plumbing lines.

Ultimately, this keeps your drains working during busy service days so a slow drain doesn’t affect your lunch or dinner rush.

High-Pressure Power Washing

Grease can often build up in your outside and back-of-house areas. We use power washing equipment to clean these spaces, such as dumpster pads, loading areas, service entrances, sidewalks, patios, and waste storage areas.

When power washing grease-heavy exterior areas, the wastewater can contain grease, sludge, food particles, cleaning residue, and other materials that should not flow into storm drains or uncontrolled drainage areas. Baker’s service includes wastewater recovery to collect and manage that wash water more responsibly (where available).

Preventative Maintenance

Regular service means that you can prevent problems before they start. Our restaurant grease management maintenance solutions include drain and sink cleaning, plus video camera pipe inspections to detect potential signs of trouble and reduce the risk of costly repairs.

Who Can Benefit From Total Grease Management?

Total Grease Management can support many types of foodservice operations, including:

• Quick-service restaurants
• Full-service restaurants
• Hotels
• Cafeterias
• Commissary kitchens
• Schools
• Food processors
• Food markets
• Catering companies
• Multi-location restaurant groups
• Grocery Stores and Supermarkets

Any operation that handles fryer oil, grease traps, interceptors, floor drains, or grease-heavy exterior areas can benefit from having a clearer system in place.

Equipment Options for Grease Management

The right equipment can make grease management easier for staff and more efficient for your business. Depending on the space, oil volume, and service needs, Baker Commodities can help restaurants choose equipment that fits your kitchen’s layout and workflow.

Indoor Containment Tanks

When outdoor space is unavailable or limited, indoor containment tanks can help you maximize cooking oil storage space. Baker Commodities offers multiple tanks at various sizes, so it gives you the storage space you need while fitting into your current kitchen setup.

Outdoor Containment Tanks

When you have larger cooking oil storage needs, and have the necessary outdoor space, our outdoor containment tanks are the perfect solution. From smaller 2x3x3 containers to large bins, Baker Commodities offers numerous used cooking oil storage options.

Fresh Oil Systems

Fresh oil systems help restaurants store, monitor, and dispense fresh cooking oil more easily. Instead of relying only on manual handling, Baker Commodities’ equipment can help move fresh oil in and out of fryers with a safer and cleaner process.

Depending on your kitchen setup, fresh oil equipment may include a rack system to dispense fresh oil, a pump that moves oil from an external source to the fryer, and a containment tank to store used cooking oil.

For busy kitchens, this can reduce heavy lifting and make everyday oil management easier and safer for staff.

Drain Filter and Lock Systems

Drain filters help prevent food from entering drains and pipes, which reduce clogs and create a cleaner plumbing system.

What a Custom Grease Management Plan Might Include

Our Total Grease Management programs are customizable and can include all the services that are the best fit for your restaurant.

Services for a typical restaurant might include:

• Used cooking oil collection
• Outdoor containment with locks for added security
• Regular grease trap or interceptor pumping
• Drain cleaning when needed
• Preventive inspections
• Power washing for greasy service areas

Services for a multi-location operator might include:

• Standardized pickup across locations
• Grease trap and interceptor service planning
• Equipment recommendations by site
• Support for different regional needs

Why Choose Baker Commodities

Decades of Experience

Baker Commodities is a three-generation, family-owned and operated business that has been an industry leader since 1937. We bring all of our experience to best serve your business.

National Coverage

We serve the entire United States, including Hawaii. Wherever your restaurant is located, Baker Commodities can create a customized Total Grease Management plan to collect used cooking oil, clean grease traps, install containment tanks, and more.

A Recycling Focused Company

Instead of treating grease and used cooking oil as waste, Baker Commodities collects, processes, and recycles them into useful products such as biodiesel, animal feed ingredients, and yellow grease, which can operate as a base ingredient in many industrial chemcials.

This recycling-focused approach helps keep grease and used oil out of drains, landfills, and improper disposal channels while supporting a cleaner, more responsible way to manage restaurant byproducts.

Frequently Asked Questions About Total Grease Management

Is Total Grease Management only for used cooking oil pickup?

No, used cooking oil collection is one part of the program. Baker Commodities’ Total Grease Management service can also include grease trap and interceptor pumping, drain cleaning, plumbing support, high-pressure power washing, water recovery, preventive maintenance, and equipment.

What services can be included in Total Grease Management?

Total Grease Management can include used cooking oil collection, grease trap and interceptor pumping, drain cleaning, plumbing support, high-pressure power washing with wastewater recovery, preventive maintenance, and grease management equipment.

Can I choose the services I need?

Yes. Our Total Grease Management program can be tailored to your business’ needs. You can select from our menu of services based on your operations.

Does Baker provide grease management equipment?

Yes, we can supply all necessary equipment, including containment tanks, pipe locks, drain filters, and fresh oil systems.

Contact Baker Commodities About Total Grease Management

For restaurants, grease is part of daily operations. But it shouldn’t become a daily problem. Used cooking oil, grease traps, drains, exterior cleaning, storage containers, and equipment all need the right system behind them.

Baker Commodities’ Total Grease Management program helps restaurant operators bring those moving parts into one organized service plan. Whether your kitchen needs used cooking oil pickup, grease trap service, drain cleaning, power washing with water recovery, equipment, or a more complete program, Baker can help build a plan around your operation.

Contact Baker Commodities today to discuss your restaurant and learn which grease management services make sense for your kitchen.