Free Used Cooking Oil Collection for Restaurants

Free Used Cooking Oil Collection

Used cooking oil — also called UCO — is a byproduct of every commercial kitchen. Grand Natural picks it up on a regular schedule and recycles it into biodiesel fuel, at no cost to your restaurant. We offer a FREE service, and the service can also be applied as a trade-off against other Grand Natural services.

Grand Natural handles every aspect of the process — equipment, scheduling, collection, and recycling — at no charge to your restaurant.

How It Works

Getting started with Grand Natural's used cooking oil collection program takes one call. After that, everything runs on autopilot:

• Grand Natural installs a free oil container at your location — available in multiple sizes for indoor or outdoor placement, with lockable lid options in high-theft areas
• Your kitchen team pours used oil into the container as normal — no sorting, no special handling required
• Grand Natural services your location on a regular schedule and adjusts pickup frequency based on your needs
• After each collection, collection is logged with volume recorded
• Every pickup is logged in your EcoSystem dashboard with manifest, volume, and service details

Oil Types Accepted

Grand Natural accepts all common restaurant cooking oils and animal fats:

• Vegetable oil (soybean, canola, sunflower, corn)
• Frying oil blends
• Pork fat and lard
• Chicken fat and schmaltz
• Bacon grease
• Fish frying oil
• Beef tallow

Contaminated oil — oil mixed with water, cleaning chemicals, or non-food waste — cannot be accepted. Your team does not need to filter or treat oil before disposal.

Container Sizes and Options

Grand Natural provides free oil containers in sizes ranging from 55-gallon drums to 275-gallon IBC tote tanks and larger outdoor vault units. The right size depends on your kitchen's weekly frying volume. When you sign up, Grand Natural determines the appropriate container size based on your menu and estimated oil output.

Why Restaurants Switch to Grand Natural

The most common reason restaurants contact Grand Natural is that their previous oil collection company stopped showing up reliably, or that they were paying for oil collection while other restaurants received free service. Grand Natural operates on auto-scheduling — the collection frequency adjusts to your actual volume, so your container never overflows and you are never waiting on a call-back to schedule a pickup.

For multi-location operators, Grand Natural's EcoSystem™ platform consolidates oil collection data, service records, and manifests across all locations in a single dashboard. Regional managers can see total gallons collected, service history for every site in real time.

Environmental Impact

Every gallon of used cooking oil collected by Grand Natural is processed through certified rendering and biodiesel production facilities. The oil is refined into biodiesel fuel that meets ASTM D6751 standards, reducing net carbon emissions compared to petroleum diesel. Grand Natural's oil-to-biodiesel program diverts 100% of collected oil from landfill and wastewater systems — contributing to restaurants' sustainability reporting and reducing municipal FOG (fats, oils, and grease) compliance issues.

Grease Theft Protection

Used cooking oil theft has become a significant problem in urban restaurant markets. High commodity prices have made UCO containers a target for organized theft rings, which drill containers or haul them away entirely. Grand Natural offers lockable containers with tamper-evident seals for restaurants in areas where theft is a concern. Theft prevention is included at no additional charge.