According to estimates from the U.S. Department of Energy, commercial buildings in the country use 18% of all the energy, costing businesses $190 billion annually. Additionally, the impact goes beyond economics since the buildings sector is responsible for about 826 million metric tons of annual CO2 emissions.

Statistically, restaurants use five to seven times more energy per square foot compared to other commercial buildings. In fact, high-volume quick-service restaurants (QSRs) can consume up to ten times as much energy per square foot as other commercial structures. At 28%, HVAC typically consumes the most electricity after cooking itself, followed by lighting (13%) and refrigeration/cooling (6%).

In addition to providing economical savings, optimizing energy use in commercial buildings often enables restaurant operators to meet federal efficiency standards and reduce the building's environmental effects.

As restaurant operators increasingly search for ways to reduce energy and maintenance expenses and/or drive operations efficiency, the market is flooded with tech companies claiming to meet these increasing demands. Digital transformation initiatives succeed more often when the solution is tied to the business’s strategic goals. Three primary areas that offer new solutions to increase operating margins, business outcomes, and sustainability are Smart Buildings, Smart Equipment, and Smart Processes.

1. Smart Buildings

   It's no accident that Internet of Things (IoT)-based intelligent building systems have crossed industrial boundaries and made it possible to optimize the maintenance and operation of restaurant buildings and equipment. To meet operational and strategic objectives, technology-savvy restauranteurs are now quickly converting to smarter, greener building management solutions made possible by IoT.

   Smart Building platforms typically provide a streamlined user interface that unifies nearly all data from the IoT and Building Management System into a single pane of glass view.

   The in-restaurant component of the solution typically consists of intelligent kits of durable IoT hardware modules, which connect with a cloud-based gateway that is usually quick, easy, and simple to install. These kits may include meters, sensors, controllers, and other IoT hardware modules.

   1. Equipment Availability: Enables restaurant owners to schedule tasks to mitigate the impacts of equipment breakdowns on business operations.
   2. Compliance: Enables operators to maintain operational and environmental standards, improve customer satisfaction, and raise staff productivity.
   3. Maintenance: Enables proactive detection of building and equipment issues and facilitates proactive maintenance.
   4. Efficiency: Enables operators to prioritize actions to improve operational efficiency, leading to energy cost savings on both the demand and supply sides.

2. Smart Equipment

   Smart equipment is a set of connected devices that generate data, which when fed to a pre-determined set of rules guides a more operationally efficient decision-making process. Some of the basic functionalities of smart equipment include:

   1. A set of rules that describes how commercial kitchen equipment can communicate with computing devices.
   2. They allow operators to:
      1. Automate maintenance and service schedules
      2. Enable troubleshooting and diagnostic capabilities
      3. Monitor energy consumption and reduce costs
      4. Maximize product quality through consistent preparation
      5. Monitor trends and collect historical and real-time information
      6. Reduce equipment downtime
   
   

   Some commonly used smart restaurant equipment technologies include:

   1. High-efficiency gas boilers that create less radiant heat, thus saving energy and reducing cooling costs.
   2. Smart ventilation systems with photoelectric smoke or heat detection mode.
   3. Hot holding equipment can help save time, labor, and money.
   4. Induction technology that offers environmentally-responsible cooking.
   5. Smart conveyor belt ovens sense downtime and lower the temperatures/belt speed.
   6. Multi-cook systems cook different foods at the same time, with customized temp, fan speed, and time control.
   7. Blast chilling/freezing allows food to be prepared ahead of time without sacrificing freshness or quality-feature smart technology data collection/automatic start functionality.

3. Automation/Robotics

   Recent developments in AI, software, and machine robotics have captured headlines as operators look for new ways to reduce labor costs and automate food production efficiently. However, for more than a decade, many equipment manufacturers have developed highly efficient automation technologies across several parts of the restaurant operation.

   Examples include:

   1. Automated safety and sanitation processes including high-tech dishwashers/sanitizers, touchless cooking equipment, safety monitoring equipment, and temperature gauges.
   2. Autonomous robots that utilize UV-C lights to sanitize surfaces and the indoor air after-hours during cleaning.
   3. Demand-based exhaust control systems that use sensors to monitor cooking and vary the exhaust fan speed to match ventilation requirements.
   4. Dishwashers with dual rinse zones or built-in heat recovery systems to help save water and energy.
   5. Griddles with advanced thermostats that automatically regulate griddle temperature.
   6. Combi-ovens/rapid-cook ovens with automated sensors to determine when food is cooked perfectly.
   7. Frying equipment with automated controls, cooking, and oil replacement technology.
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5. Smart Processes

   According to a survey on smart buildings, building owners and operators are not benefiting from the utilization and analysis of data provided by buildings.

   According to research, 42% of end users do not evaluate building data from their buildings to find variations and patterns that can improve the structures, even though 77% of them store the data created by their facilities, management, and operation.

   It is clear from the above statistics that although implementing smart building technologies is an important step forward, restaurants cannot fully realize the potential of collecting data unless they create processes that bring out the best of the equipment and make the most of the investment in connectivity. Operators need to operate and maintain equipment efficiently, so as to lower energy bills and maintenance costs.

   These processes must be comprehensive yet agile enough to react to different contexts – including weather, festivals, and key events. For most operators, it can be overwhelming to create processes and ensure adherence across multiple stores. That’s where having a remote operations center or a command center helps significantly.

   Command centers can work with data and technology to ensure that predictive building and equipment insights are used to proactively address concerns before they turn into significant problems.

   Command centers can help AI and IoT solutions be more effective. The true value of an AI solution is realized by ensuring that the predictions and recommended actions are acted upon through automation, remote resolution, or – as a last resort – timely field actions.

   There’s a lot to gain from this approach, not only in terms of energy costs but also in avoidance of truck rolls that contribute to fuel emissions. So having processes in place and having a team to ensure they are followed and suitably updated, is key to ensuring the most ROI from dollars invested in the latest technology solutions.

A success story of using AI and IoT together with remote monitoring to achieve results

A restaurant operator, with over 300 casual dining pizza restaurants in southern California and Utah, set a goal in 2015 to reduce energy consumption by 15% over its 2014 baseline consumption by 2018.

The operator adopted a program that used an AI and IoT platform supported by a central command center to identify opportunities and act on them, to improve operations and conserve energy. The AI layer was used to proactively identify Roof Top Unit (RTU) health issues, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) based deviations as well as refrigeration equipment performance. The IoT layer was used to implement corrective actions and the remote monitoring team at the command center provided the human support to plan and take actions proactively.

The program helped the operator meet its savings targets. Across the period from 2017 - 2022, over 21 million kWh was saved. Moreover, the performance of HVAC, refrigeration, and kitchen equipment was continuously monitored to address all identified inefficiencies. As a result, food storage compliance was also maintained at above 68.9% and occupant comfort adherence was above 85%.

This is an example of how technology together with processes, enabled energy savings and operational improvements.