A CHANGE IN THE AIR

By Don Shilling

New Castle company’s product ‘helps out a lot’

The air curtain keeps the heat and cold away from drive-through workers.

STRUTHERS — Working the drive-through window at an Arby’s here just became more pleasant.

A new device installed at the top of the window blows a curtain of air that keeps out unwanted intruders such as heat and flies in the summer, cold in the winter and car fumes all year round.

“It helps out a lot,” said Angela Melchionne, 21, of Boardman, who works the window at the Youngstown-Poland Road restaurant. “It keeps you from freezing over there.”

Before the device was installed, Melchionne found she couldn’t work well in a bulky coat. So during the winter, she tried to endure the blast of cold air whenever she opened the window.

Now, she stays comfortable because the device blows warm air over the window opening.

The device, which is made by Berner International in New Castle, Pa., was given its first test at the Struthers restaurant during last winter and spring.

It worked so well that the franchisee, Niles Restaurant Business, plans to install them in all nine of the Arby’s that it runs in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, said Mark Cole, chief operating officer of the Canfield-based company.

Not only does it keep employees more comfortable, it also cuts down on heating and cooling costs, he said.

It’s not all about saving money and staying comfortable, however. Such units can protect the health of drive-through workers.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends blowers for drive-through windows to limit employees exposure to car exhaust. Carbon monoxide in the fumes can be dangerous to their health, the agency said.

Mike Pijar, Berner International general manager, said protecting drive-through workers isn’t a new idea. Berner and other makers of devices called air curtains long have had products that were advertised for that use.

In talking with customers, however, Berner found that restaurant officials and employees weren’t too happy with the products that were on the market.

They often were not being used because they were too large for the job, Pijar said.

They produced too much noise and so much air that they could blow away food bags or money.

Pijar said Berner’s new product, called DTU, is smaller than other devices the company made.

Because it blows a three-foot curtain of air, compared with an eight-foot curtain in other products, it can be installed directly inside the window and not affect the transaction with the customer, he said.

Vicki Vitullo, general manager of the Arby’s in Struthers, said she found that the blown air doesn’t interfere with exchanging money or food as long as the unit was tilted just slightly.

She said she wasn’t sure what to think of the unit when it was first installed but quickly came to like it.

It was almost winter last year when the unit went in, and she noticed that workers were much more comfortable when working the window.

She noticed another advantage when summer came.

“In late summer, we can get a lot of flies. It can be horrible, so we normally have to call in an exterminator. But this year, we had maybe 10 flies,” she said.

The restaurant is moving down the street in January to a new location that is being built. Vitullo said it’s being designed to include a new air-curtain unit, while the current unit will be sent to another restaurant.

Pijar said Berner, which employs 60, is working to expand sales to other fast-food operators about the unit. It is the featured product on the company’s Web site.

shilling@vindy.com