What if there was a way to help prevent equipment breakdowns, save money and improve consistency?
Steamers, combi ovens, warewashing systems and beverage machines all depend on water to perform. Yet while operators carefully monitor food costs, labour and energy use, water quality often remains overlooked until performance issues begin to surface.
“Scale causes fluctuations in pressure, performance and ultimately reliability of often very expensive pieces of equipment,” explains Graham Hilton, Business Account Manager for Professional Filters at BRITA. “Just 1mm of scale means equipment uses 7% more energy to function.”
For operators managing rising operational costs alongside growing expectations around consistency and reliability, a clear view of what’s happening is key.
This is where the BRITA iQ Meter brings connectivity to water filtration.
Designed to bring real-time visibility and proactive control into kitchen operations, the iQ Meter continuously monitors water usage, filter capacity and projected replacement timelines.
“BRITA iQ allows you to track usage via a dashboard that can cover your entire estate from a single location,” Hilton explains. “It will give you a timely message highlighting that a filter is nearing capacity and to book in a filter exchange.”
Rather than relying on fixed replacement schedules or waiting until scale-related issues appear, operators can proactively manage filtration based on actual usage and operational demand.
This shift from reactive servicing to connected monitoring is particularly valuable in multi-site hospitality operations, where maintaining consistency across locations can be challenging.
FROM PASSIVE FILTRATION TO PROACTIVE CONTROL
Kitchen operations rarely follow predictable patterns. Seasonal demand fluctuates, service volumes vary between sites and equipment usage changes constantly throughout the year.
Without accurate visibility into water usage and filter performance, operators can easily find themselves replacing filters too early, increasing unnecessary spend, or too late, allowing scale-related damage to develop.
According to Hilton, many operators only begin to focus on filtration once breakdowns occur.
“By the time you’re reacting to a breakdown, the hidden costs have already built up through energy inefficiency, component strain and reduced performance,” he says.
The consequences can escalate quickly in busy hospitality environments.
“As combi ovens are the workhorse of most kitchens, if they are AWOL this can have a huge effect on service – menu reductions, loss of customers, even closure.”
The BRITA iQ Meter changes that approach by creating visibility before issues impact service. And the system is simple to install, automatically connecting to the cloud via a mobile data connection. The iQ Meter also includes an LTE data plan, so there’s no separate subscription or WiFi network needed.
For engineering and operations teams managing multiple locations, this system creates clearer oversight across an entire estate. Maintenance schedules become easier to coordinate, while reporting helps identify usage trends and standardise filtration management across sites.
INSIDE THE SYSTEM
The iQ Meter is designed to work alongside BRITA Professional’s wider filtration portfolio, including the PURITY Clean range, creating a more connected approach to water optimisation across commercial kitchens.
Water hardness varies significantly across the UK and different types of equipment require different filtration approaches.
“It is vital to test your water to ensure the correct BRITA filter is put in place to improve the water, subsequently protecting the machines from scale-related issues,” says Hilton.
This is where BRITA’s PURITY C iQ can help – it’s a smart water filter, automatically adjusting to water hardness and optimising filtration, so you’re always protected.
Together, the iQ Meter and PURITY Clean range help improve operational efficiency and support long-term equipment performance.
“Having the filter working as it should will prevent scale, keeping the machines operating as efficiently as possible and eliminating any scale-related breakdowns,” Hilton explains. “It goes back to being proactive and knowing how many filter exchanges are required and budgeting for that, minimising the sudden costs of a repair.”
RESPONSIBLE FILTRATION FOR MODERN KITCHENS
Alongside operational performance, sustainability is increasingly shaping decision-making across hospitality operations.
By reducing scale build-up, operators can lower energy consumption, extend equipment lifespan and reduce the need for engineer callouts, all of which contribute towards more sustainable kitchen operations.
BRITA has operated its cartridge recycling scheme since 1992, and today nearly 80% of professional filter cartridges are recycled, with up to 85% of cartridge materials able to be returned to the recycling cycle.
“Using BRITA products means customers experience fewer service calls, equipment lasts longer and uses considerably less energy to run,” says Hilton.
“By using BRITA you can rest assured knowing that we are being as sustainable as possible across our entire supply chain and production line, from solar panels in our warehouse to our recycling plant in Germany.”
In modern hospitality operations, the systems working behind the scenes often have the biggest influence on long-term performance.
By combining connected monitoring through the BRITA iQ Meter with filtration solutions such as the PURITY Clean range, operators can gain greater visibility, stronger cost control and improved confidence in the equipment their kitchens rely on every single day.
To learn more, visit brita.co.uk/iq-range