Budderfly, the premier sustainability partner for businesses with repeatable footprints, today announced a significant expansion of its partnership with O’Charley’s and 99 Restaurants, both operated by Restaurant Growth Services, LLC. Budderfly’s Energy Efficiency as a Service offering will be rolled out to 175 restaurants, which comprises 70 percent of both brands’ total locations.
Offering a holistic, single-vendor solution for outsourced energy management, Budderfly will make the upfront investment in energy efficiency technologies and equipment upgrades for the brands’ locations and provide ongoing measurement, monitoring, and maintenance. Budderfly’s investment of approximately $117,000 per restaurant will enable the brands to conserve capital expenditure, save on operating costs, and make a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions. Taken together, the expected savings in operating costs – avoiding equipment replacements and maintenance plus reduced utility costs – provides more than $20 million in value to the brands over the term of the 10-year agreement.
“O’Charley’s and 99 Restaurants collectively spend over $13 million per year on electricity – that is almost $37,000 per day. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were seeking ways to conserve our cash flow while also dealing with aging facilities and equipment. The success of our initial roll out with Budderfly demonstrated the huge opportunity to improve our business operations and cut costs, while being better stewards of the environment,” says Mark Spurgin, chief supply chain officer, Restaurant Growth Services, LLC. “We’re thrilled about the growth of our partnership and look forward to bringing additional restaurant locations on board in the year to come.”
Budderfly is targeting a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption for each restaurant, which will avert more than 15,000 megawatt hours annually. Meeting this goal will reduce the carbon footprint of the restaurant chains by the equivalent of more than one million gallons of gasoline consumed, having the same effect as removing more than 2,700 gas powered cars off the road for one year.
Budderfly will provide each restaurant with a contractually committed energy usage discount and a centralized platform for utility billing management, consolidation, and reporting. All non-LED interior and exterior light fixtures will be converted to LED, and rooftop HVAC units at the end of their useful life will be replaced with new high efficiency units. Budderfly’s portfolio of connected technologies and controls will help further reduce, measure, and manage energy consumption within the restaurants.
“The brand expansions with O’Charley’s and 99 Restaurants have helped define a year of explosive growth for Budderfly in which we have brought on nearly 900 new customer locations. Our business model is a proven recipe for scalability and impact, and we’re excited to support the O’Charley’s and 99 Restaurants brands on their growth and sustainability journey,” says Al Subbloie, founder and CEO, Budderfly.
