HOTLIPS Pizza has always prided itself on being sustainable and efficiency minded. Owner David Yudkin balances that need with making smart use of the company’s operations budget. A smart energy-efficiency investment serves both purposes.
In early 2011, HOTLIPS installed adaptive controls on a walk-in refrigerator and another on a freezer in its central kitchen in Southeast Portland’s Hawthorne neighborhood.
The new controls are so named because they “learn” how the walk-in and freezer are used, and adapt their cycles to that use. For example, at night when the refrigerator isn’t being opened, it can delay the compressor kicking in a little longer and still keep the unit at its target 40 degrees.
Real-life results at HOTLIPS Pizza
On these units, the savings averaged about 28 percent. That translates to about $1,000 per year in electricity costs saved for the local Portland chain.
“In the big picture of a $5 million operation it’s not that much,” Yudkin explains, “But in relation to business transactions — where you’re operating with pennies — it adds up.”
“That’s the hardest thing to grasp about restaurant transactions,” he adds. “The accumulation of small savings has this big effect at the end of the year.”
Measures implemented
- Cool Expert MIC mini e3 refrigeration and freezer controls that adapt to the way the walk-ins are used
Estimated annual energy saving on $4,668 project
Benefits
- Energy Trust of Oregon cash incentives: $2,334
- Ongoing annual energy savings
- Food kept at a more even temperature
- Because the fans don’t run as frequently, food is less likely to dry out
- Motors and parts last longer because they run only when needed
- Monitoring system sends an alert when walk-ins aren’t functioning properly; can prevent expensive food losses