When your costs go up, you have just two choices — reduce your spending or raise your prices. Most restaurant owners are raising prices. Revenue Management Solutions found that full-service prices shot up 9% year-over-year between August 2021 and August 2022. Customers have noticed. As a result, about 45% of diners say they’re eating out...
The Environmental Impact of Energy Consumption in Restaurants
From the air to the ocean, the environment is affected by the choices we make and the energy we use. In an article from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it was estimated that around 40% of total energy consumed in the U.S. is used for producing electricity. (If you want to read the EPA’s...Continue reading
How to Choose the Right Energy-Efficient Equipment for Your Restaurant
The investment you make into the efficiency of your restaurant and the savings those choices yield should have a direct relationship. The more you invest in saving energy, the more energy you should be saving; a significant investment should yield an equally significant result. One of these high-investment, high-yield choices restaurant owners must make is...Continue reading
How to Manage Energy During Peak Hours in Your Restaurant
There are several hours each day when restaurants can plan to be busy. From about 12–1:30 p.m. and 6–8:30 p.m., most dining rooms will be full of customers. Of course, this business is welcome, but with the rush of people also comes a spike in energy usage. In order to keep your restaurant as profitable...Continue reading
5 Energy-Saving Tips for Your Restaurant’s Bar Area
The bar is often a focal point for restaurants. There’s usually plenty of laughter and chatter, but you want to make sure that there isn’t a great deal of energy loss. If your bar is not operating efficiently in terms of energy, it’s not giving your restaurant the financial boost that it could be. If...Continue reading
The Importance of HVAC Maintenance for Your Restaurant’s Energy Efficiency
Air conditioning was invented in the early 1900s, and—boy oh boy—have we come to depend on it since then. Gone are the days of sweating or shivering while inside a building. Now, if we are too hot or too cold, we’ll simply adjust the thermostat or find a place that is more comfortable. Considering how...Continue reading
The Top 5 Energy-Saving Myths Debunked for Restaurant Owners
Myths circle around for a variety of reasons, and it seems like there is a myth for every part of life. There are probably even a few myths you were told as a child to help keep you safe! While myths can be interesting to research, one thing you do not want to do is...Continue reading
How to Educate Your Staff on Energy-Saving Techniques for Your Restaurant
When you’re working to make green choices for your restaurant, it’s important to make sure everyone on your team is on the same page. It’s likely that many of your staff members will whole-heartedly jump on board with the environmentally friendly plan, but there will probably be others who are a little more unwilling to...Continue reading
The Importance of Energy Benchmarking for Your Restaurant
Have you ever opened your electric bill and thought, “That’s better than it used to be, but it still seems high. Are other restaurant owners like me paying this much?” Man, wouldn’t it be nice to know the answer to that question! Well, you can with a process called “energy benchmarking.” Energy benchmarking is a...Continue reading
4 Energy-Efficient Kitchen Equipment Options for Your Restaurant
The kitchen—you can’t have a restaurant without it, but there is no question that the kitchen is a massive energy consumer. The ovens and fryers cook the food, sending out stifling waves of heat while the ovens and freezers continuously pump out frigid air to keep food fresh, and it’s all going on in the...Continue reading
How to Implement an Effective Energy Management Plan for Your Restaurant
So, you’ve made the choice to have a more energy-efficient restaurant. Congratulations! Perhaps in the future, your computer will be able to pop out a few pieces of confetti in honor of your decision—not today, though. What you can do today is start implementing the next steps for making your restaurant’s operations even better for...Continue reading