Refrigeration
Walk-ins and display units running all night. A failing door seal or a dirty condenser shows up in the draw long before it shows up in the temperature.
Energy monitoring for restaurants
Refrigeration and the cooking line dominate a restaurant's bill, and both fail slowly enough that nobody notices until the food does.
Where the energy actually goes
Cooking line
Equipment brought up to heat hours before the first cover and left there.
Extraction
Canopy fans at full speed through prep and clean-down.
Lighting and front of house
Simple, schedulable, and usually the first thing a site can fix itself.
What the data usually catches first
For a group, the value is comparison. Once every site is measured the same way, the outliers name themselves.
- A fridge drawing more each week as its seal goes
- Equipment switched on two hours before it is needed
- One branch in a group consistently higher than its peers
- Doors left open during deliveries
Bars, restaurants and gastropubs
A bar and restaurant runs cellar cooling, glass washers, a full cooking line, refrigeration and extraction, often for fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. Energy is one of the largest costs after staff and stock, and most of it is invisible on a monthly bill.
The pattern we see most is equipment switched on at opening and left on until close, whether the kitchen is busy or not, and refrigeration working harder each month as seals wear and condensers clog.
What we do for restaurant groups
The work follows the same path for a single restaurant or a group.
- An energy audit: SEAI-funded for SMEs spending over €10,000 a year on energy, or the mandatory four-yearly audit for groups with 250 or more staff
- Monitoring on refrigeration, the cooking line, extraction, cellar cooling and the incomer
- Alerts when a fridge or freezer starts drawing more than it should, before the stock is at risk
- Refrigeration compressor control (CUES) where the cooling load is large
- Monthly energy management, comparing every site on the same basis
Paying for it
Monitoring hardware can be bought outright or leased, and grant support is available for the hardware. Typical payback on a monitoring installation is 1 to 3 years, and a savings guarantee can be agreed per client.
How it works
The same three parts, whatever the building.
HardwareEniscope meters on the circuits that matter, reading every few seconds. Installed in a few hours, no shutdown.
SoftwareA cloud dashboard showing use by asset, site and hour, with alerts when something changes.
Our teamEnergy management from people who read the data every month and tell you what to do about it.Common questions
How can a restaurant in Ireland reduce its energy costs?
Measure the big loads separately: refrigeration, the cooking line, extraction and lighting. Most restaurants find equipment brought up to heat hours before it is needed, extraction running through prep and clean-down, and fridges drawing more each week as door seals fail. Fixing schedules and catching failing equipment early costs little and saves on both energy and stock.
Which equipment uses the most energy in a restaurant?
Refrigeration and the cooking line usually dominate, followed by extraction, dishwashing and hot water, and lighting. In a bar and restaurant, cellar cooling and glass washers add a large continuous load.
Can energy monitoring stop food loss?
It can give early warning. A fridge or freezer that is starting to fail usually draws more power days or weeks before the temperature rises. An alert on that circuit lets the site call an engineer before the stock is lost.
Can a restaurant get an SEAI grant for an energy audit?
Yes, if it is an SME spending over €10,000 a year on energy. The SEAI Support Scheme for Energy Audits provides a €2,000 voucher towards the audit.
Start with an audit. The SEAI pays €2,000 of it
If you spend over €10,000 a year on energy, the Support Scheme for Energy Audits covers most of the cost. An engineer walks the site and writes up what to fix and what it returns.
