Operations

McDonald's, Wendy's franchisee partners with Perch Energy

Photo: Perch Energy

January 24, 2025

All Star Management, which is owned by Mike Allegro, has partnered with Perch Energy in 31 Wendy's and McDonald's locations across northern Illinois. The move is set to save the franchises more than $20,000 on electricity costs from local community solar farms annually, according to a press release.

Based on the franchises' energy use through 2024, the fast-food locations would collectively save an estimated $1 million over two decades.

In the first round of community solar subscriptions with Perch Energy, the restaurants will lock in about $500,000 of savings from solar farms producing almost 8 MW of clean electricity. As additional capacity becomes available, the franchises will have the opportunity to double their initial subscription to achieve their estimated $1 million savings potential. The energy produced from these solar farms is the carbon equivalent of avoiding 13,437 metric tons of CO2 emissions, or like removing 3,134 cars from the road each year.

"It was an easy decision. A lot of our restaurants are open early and close late. And some are open 24 hours a day, so we use a lot of electricity," Allegro said in the release "Everything is more expensive these days, but while the cost of everything else is going up, it's one bill that Perch and Solar On Earth are helping to bring back down."

"This partnership shows how beneficial community solar can be for all customers. Any business, organization, municipality, family or individual — really the whole community — stands to benefit from energy savings with community solar" Bruce Stewart, president and CEO of Perch Energy, said in the release. "It's the local McDonald's and Wendy's, but it's also the school, the apartment building, the homeowner and all of Main Street that gets to access savings in a real way."

By tapping into community solar, Allegro joins a growing network of businesses enrolled in community solar with Perch — a powerful way for big and small enterprises alike to have an environmental impact and operational efficiency.