Commercial, Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  December 17, 2021

Wendy's Franchise Expands Program to Lower Energy Use

Meritage Hospitality Group, one of the largest Wendy’s franchise entities with 345 restaurant locations, will expand its deployment of a technology platform designed to lower its energy use following a successful five-site pilot.

The program began in February 2021 as Meritage worked with GridPoint at five locations with a goal to reduce energy use by a minimum of 10%, as well as to provide detailed reporting and analytics on energy and equipment operations. The pilot was successful, with one restaurant in Florida lowering its energy savings by 23%. GridPoint will continue to expand across the remaining 340 locations over the first quarter of 2022.

“During our pilot with GridPoint our locations saw an immediate reduction of energy consumption and we discovered a correctable equipment issue causing excess, avoidable energy costs,” said Greg Corr, Executive Vice President at Meritage Hospitality Group in a statement. “They helped us optimize HVAC run-times and electrical demand to make our restaurants more efficient while also ensuring comfort for our customers and employees. Ultimately our partnership with GridPoint results in lower energy and operational costs, more resilient buildings, and more sustainable franchise to support continued growth of the Wendy’s brand.”

GridPoint’s technology is installed across other Wendy’s franchise and corporate locations and GridPoint has been recognized as a key partner of Wendy's global brand in its first Sustainability Report, published in 2020.

Wendy’s said it plans to sustainably source 100% of customer-facing packaging by 2026 by optimizing customer-facing packaging and transition to sustainable options including items that have higher recycled content; use fewer raw materials; adhere to an established restricted substances list; are recyclable, compostable or reusable; and are sourced from areas that do not contribute to deforestation. 

The fast-food chain also said it would benchmark, track and reduce Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 GHG emissions and set a science-based target by the end of 2023. 

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