Taco Bell switching to green grills

Taco Bell switching to green grills
Tags: Equipment & Supplies, Food & Beverage, Going Green, Mexican, Operations Management, Trends / Statistics
April 30, 2008

IRVINE, Calif. — Taco Bell is rolling out its new Grill-to-Order cooking method by installing water- and energy-saving electric grills that will conserve 300 million gallons of water per year.

The company plans to have all of its 5,600 restaurants using the Grill-to-Order cooking method by 2010. About 3,000 Taco Bell restaurants are already using Grill-to-Order.

The new grills will save roughly 200 million kwH of electricity each year, the company said. Additionally, the grills will save more than 1.2 million therms of gas each year by not heating water.

The company has seen savings of as much as $5,900 a year in electricity cost per store where the new grills have been installed, said Rick Winfree, Taco Bell's senior director of engineering.