How restaurants and bars cut energy costs
In a restaurant, refrigeration and the cooking line run the bill. Both waste energy quietly, and refrigeration that is failing costs you twice: once in power, again in stock.
Where the energy goes
- Refrigeration: walk-in cold rooms, reach-ins, display units and freezers, running 24 hours a day
- Cooking line: ranges, fryers, grills, combi ovens and hot cupboards
- Extraction: canopy fans, often at full speed from prep to clean-down
- Dishwashing and hot water
- In a bar: cellar cooling, beer lines, glass washers and bottle coolers
- Lighting and heating front of house
Five savings that cost nothing
- Switch-on times: bring equipment up to heat when it is needed, not at opening
- Extraction: slow or stop canopy fans between services
- Fridge doors and seals: a failing seal shows up in the power draw weeks before the temperature
- Overnight load: check what runs when you are closed
- Deliveries: keep cold room doors shut while stock comes in
Monitoring that protects stock
A fridge or freezer starting to fail draws more power long before it loses temperature. An alert on that circuit lets you call an engineer before the stock is lost, and that one save often pays for the monitoring.
For groups
Measure every site the same way and compare energy per cover or per opening hour. The site that uses more than its peers is where the savings are.
Common questions
How much electricity does a commercial kitchen use?
It varies widely with size, menu and hours. The only reliable answer for your kitchen is to measure it: sub-metering the cooking line, refrigeration and extraction shows exactly what each uses and when.
What uses the most energy in a pub?
Cellar cooling and refrigeration usually run the largest continuous load, followed by the kitchen if there is one, heating, glass washers and lighting.
How can a restaurant reduce refrigeration costs?
Keep condensers clean, replace failing door seals, keep doors shut during deliveries, and monitor each unit's power draw so faults are caught early. Compressor controls such as CUES can cut refrigeration energy further where the load is large.
Want this applied to your building?
Start with an energy audit. If you spend over ten thousand euro a year on energy, the SEAI grant covers most of the cost.