Efficiency Matters to Quick-Service Restaurant, Driving $50M in Savings

With rising energy & labor costs, the CEO of a quick-service restaurant knew the company would need a concerted effort to cut costs and increase operational efficiency. Their vision was to create Efficiency Matters, a data-driven efficiency program that united the organization around aggressive goals to reduce energy and water consumption.

Solution

Experienced in strategic planning, efficiency engineering, and holistic organizational engagement, ENGIE Impact was selected as the quick-service restaurant’s efficiency partner of choice. Leveraging ENGIE Impact’s technical expertise and robust benchmarking tools, the restaurant was able to identify opportunities, build a roadmap, validate new technologies, and ensure seamless implementation of efficiency measures across their organization. Over the 5-year engagement, ENGIE Impact helped them save over $50M through the Efficiency Matters program.

The Pillars of a Data-Driven Efficiency Program

1. Identify Opportunities: Conducting on-site audits and remote portfolio wide surveys to determine opportunities for water and energy savings.
2. Pilot Technology: Launching several efficiency projects at selected locations in order to build a better business case for a broader roll-out.
3. Expand Company Wide: Analyzing pilot data to prioritize projects with the largest savings and resource reduction for portfolio-wide implementation.
4. Maintain Savings: Continuing to ensure efficiency measures are incorporated in all aspects of the business to guarantee cost savings, optimized operations and organizational alignment.

5,028 projects implemented under the Efficiency Matters Program

With so much change, it can be a challenge to align all departments. To enable alignment, ENGIE Impact worked with stakeholders across groups like new construction, facilities, and procurement to understand processes and key performance indicators. During this time, the quick-service restaurant discovered new efficiency technologies were being installed in retrofits but not during new construction. Once this disconnect was identified, the restaurant’s opened up channels of communication to make sure all teams had the same specifications.

Seeking to further use technology, the restaurant implemented an Energy Management System (EMS) at 1,164 restaurants. This gave them greater visibility into real-time data and kitchen operations, resulting in:

• Consistent, Safe Cooking: Tracking what temperature meat was being cooked at and for how long.
• Effective HVAC Management: Installing connected thermostats and maintaining consistent temperature set points and corporate control over roof top units.
• Optimized Operations: Monitoring maintenance activities and equipment performance in real-time to reduce costs and trigger replacements before equipment failure.

Results

Over the 5-year engagement, ENGIE Impact helped the restaurant implement over 5,000 energy and water efficiency projects which saved over $50 million through the Efficiency Matters program.

The restaurant’s partnership with ENGIE Impact resulted in a clear, data driven, actionable roadmap. This provided the business case to gain executive approval of capital expenditures required to support energy and water reduction goals. The benefits of the Efficiency Matters program are being seen from the boardroom to the restaurant level.

The insight the restaurant gained from this program not only identified opportunities to improve operations and reduce costs, but it ensured savings would be immediate, impactful and lasting. As the restaurant shifts their strategy to focus on continual improvement and maintaining savings, the roadmap and four pillars will serve as a guiding principle for future efficiency endeavors.