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Saving energy with employee engagement: Strategies for restaurants

What’s the secret to successful execution of a restaurant energy strategy? Two words: Employee engagement.

June 25, 2015

By Nate Kessman, VP of Business Development, Great Eastern Energy

If I were to ask you what kind of a business uses a lot of energy, you might say, "A factory, an office building, or a warehouse." But would you say…a restaurant?

If you would, you’d be smart: The average restaurant uses five to seven times as much energy per square foot as other commercial buildings. Typically, restaurants can minimize costs by implementing straightforward efficiency measures; the cheapest kilowatt-hour is the one you never use. And restaurants, which typically have low margins (only 3 to 9 percent of revenue) and limited access to capital, stand to benefit more than most businesses from the cash savings that energy efficiency can bring. On top of that, 52 percent of consumers said they would visit a restaurant that engages in environmentally sustainable practices more frequently, according to a recent industry survey. In short, energy efficiency is good for a restaurant’s brand and bottom line.

The good news is that energy use in restaurants is very concentrated. In fact, 69 to 81 percent of total energy use comes from just four sources: Cooking, water heating, refrigeration and lighting.

Even better news: There are tried-and-true methods for reducing waste from these four sources that, with some proactive work and the advice of a trained energy professional, can be exploited in a very effective energy strategy. There are four steps: assessing your energy use, setting goals for improvement, monitoring progress (once the measures have been undertaken), and reviewing the effectiveness (and tweaking the solutions as necessary).

An effective energy strategy must also have at its core an energy plan: i.e., the core elements of the measures that will be taken. The plan should be concise. It should have a clear goal and roughly four main objectives, corresponding with the areas where energy is to be conserved. It should ensure accountability for all aspects throughout the organization. This way, the monitoring is set up to succeed.

The plan should have reviews and milestones for consistent improvement over time, and it should promote the overall objectives. But while it’s fairly straightforward to create an energy efficiency strategy, it’s not so easy to follow through —and unfortunately, not many restaurants do it well. What’s the secret, then, to successful execution of a restaurant energy strategy? Two words: employee engagement.

Any business owner needs to be aware that employees are on the front lines for implementing the energy strategy in the place of business. Since they’re coming early, closing up shop and using the equipment, they need to be well trained and bought in for the strategy to succeed.

Energy management is a three-legged stool. The first leg is having quick wins for fast return on investment. Many efficiency measures cost money, so you want many of them to pay for themselves quickly; high-efficiency LED lights and fixing water leaks are two good examples. Second, have an energy strategy. And last but not least is employee engagement.

There are some indispensable ingredients in the recipe for successfully engaging employees.

First, have a staff meeting to communicate the importance of your business decision to become more sustainable. Behavior is a big component of energy conservation, and no one will modify their behavior unless they are motivated. To be motivated, employees have to care. A business owner or manager should make the case for sustainability, and convince the staff that a sustainable, clean world – clean air and water, low carbon emissions – will provide low-cost energy and good living. The energy plan should also be presented at the meeting.

Second, make the meeting interactive and get ideas from staff on how they can help. Not only will the employees care more if they help orchestrate the plan, but since they know the facilities best, they can identify the leaky sinks and balky dishwasher better than anyone else.

Third, establish an energy team because there should be a dedicated group of employees who help the others find the trouble spots and meet their objectives.

Fourth, appoint an energy director. Just like any team, there needs to be a leader who is accountable, and who motivates and oversees others.

Finally, institute an energy policy that everyone can share. A plan that rests on the shoulders of only a couple of employees is likely to fail. It should be a collegial exercise, and one that engenders support, not indifference.

Energy efficiency is hard for a lot of reasons — gathering data to measure progress and securing financing for more expensive upgrades are two of them — but the biggest of all is commitment and behavioral change. If employees are successfully engaged, you’ve already won more than half the battle.

Nate Kessman served initially as Director of Business Development at Great Eastern Energy, focusing on customer loyalty and service, Nate used a team approach to help grow new markets and improve the customer experience. This proved to be so successful that Nate was promoted to Vice President of Business Development before the end of his first year.