Restaurants and food-service facilities are among the most energy-intensive commercial buildings per square metre. Ovens, fryers, refrigeration, ventilation, and HVAC all operate for long hours, often in older buildings with limited controls. At Energy Solutions, structured energy audits provide a roadmap to reduce utility costs and emissions without compromising food safety or customer experience.
Restaurants use energy very differently from offices or retail stores. Cooking, dishwashing, refrigeration, ventilation, and comfort conditioning drive high peak loads and long operating hours. Understanding this baseline is critical before prioritising measures.
| End Use | Share of Site Energy | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking & hot water | 3040% | Ovens, fryers, ranges, dishwashers |
| Refrigeration | 2030% | Walk-ins, reach-ins, ice machines |
| HVAC & ventilation | 2025% | Dining area HVAC, make-up air, hoods |
| Lighting & plug loads | 1020% | Dining, kitchen, signage, office equipment |
Source: Energy Solutions analysis of audit data for North American and European sites.
Energy audits typically recommend a mix of operational, low-capex, and capex-intensive measures. The table below summarises stylised savings ranges for common actions.
| Measure Category | Illustrative Measure | Annual Savings | Simple Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigeration | Night covers, door gaskets, ECM motors, setpoint optimisation | 510% total energy | 13 years |
| HVAC & ventilation | Demand-controlled kitchen ventilation, tune-ups, economisers | 512% | 24 years |
| Lighting | LED retrofit with controls | 37% | 12 years |
| Cooking equipment | High-efficiency fryers/ovens, controls, idle management | 48% | 36 years |
Source: Energy Solutions audit portfolio (normalised ranges).
For many small and mid-sized restaurants, capital is constrained and downtime must be minimised. Energy audits therefore prioritise short-payback measures and align larger retrofits with equipment replacement cycles.
A typical package of measures can often deliver the following:
Source: Energy Solutions modelling for an average full-service site (no incentives).
A quick-service restaurant chain implemented a phased audit and retrofit programme across 120 locations.
A European casual-dining group integrated audits with kitchen equipment upgrades and refrigeration heat recovery for DHW.
Restaurant energy audits are most mature in markets with high energy prices and strong efficiency programmes; however, interest is growing worldwide as food-service operators face margin pressure and ESG expectations.
Source: Energy Solutions scenarios; energy per mē of dining area.
Operators and auditors highlight practical constraints:
Successful programmes treat audits as part of an ongoing performance-management cycle, not as one-off reports.
By 20302035, digital tools, remote monitoring, and standardised audit templates are expected to reduce the cost and time required for high-quality audits. Chains increasingly integrate energy KPIs into store dashboards and corporate reporting.
Alignment with green-building labels and operational certification schemes will further normalise energy audits as an integral part of restaurant asset management.
Most audits can be scheduled to minimise disruption, combining on-site visits during off-hours with remote data analysis. Implementation of certain measures may require short closures or staged work during non-peak periods.
At minimum, 1224 months of utility bills and basic site information are needed. Interval metering, sub-metering of major end uses, and equipment inventories significantly improve the quality of recommendations.
Smaller operators often start with low-cost checklists and utility programmes. Where bills are high or equipment is due for replacement, a formal audit can identify deeper and better-timed savings opportunities.
Many chains revisit audits every 35 years or when major equipment or concept changes occur. Ongoing monitoring and maintenance fill the gap between audit cycles.