HOW RESTAURANTS ARE WORKING TO KICK THEIR ENERGY HABIT CONTINUED...
SPECIAL REPORT
For instance, Hart had long viewed Sonic’s unique drive-in can- opies as a perfect place to put solar panels. When he opened his fifth lo- cation in 2021, he was hell-bent on making it happen. The project end- ed up being a lot harder and more expensive than he had planned. Then about two years ago, Hart heard about Budderfly in a newslet- ter sent out by Sonic’s parent com- pany, Inspire Brands. Budderfly’s pitch was appealing: It promised to make restaurants more eco-friend- ly by overhauling their energy in- frastructure—at no cost to the op- erator. In fact, the restaurant would actually save money by signing up. To Hart, it seemed almost too good to be true. But, “it’s really worked out to be everything that they said,” he said. Founded in 2017 by Subbloie, Budderfly calls itself an ener- gy-as-a-service provider. Subbloie saw restaurants’ outdated ener- gy infrastructure as a burden that would be difficult for operators to fix on their own. “They’re in the business of de- livering great food to customers,” Subbloie said. “We created a busi- ness model that made it really easy for restaurants to solve the whole [energy] thing.” With Budderfly, restaurants agree to outsource their energy management to the company for 10 years. Budderfly takes over the restaurant’s utility bill, and the oper- ator begins paying Budderfly rather than its energy providers. Budderfly then works to lower that bill by in- stalling things like energy-efficient HVAC systems and LED lights. It also puts in high-tech thermostats and other devices that can help it pinpoint ways to save more, all on its own dime. For the first three years of the contract, the restaurant is guaran- teed energy cost savings of up to 10%, with Budderfly keeping the rest. This allows Budderfly to re-
coup its costs and reinvest. After the first three years, savings over 25% are split evenly between Budderfly and the restaurant.
thousands of dollars. Budderfly buys HVACs in bulk, so it can get them for 40% less than list price, Subbloie said. A new, en- ergy-efficient HVAC alone can cut a restaurant’s energy use in half, he said. The arrangement with Budderfly is currently saving Hart 3% to 5% per month on utilities, which trans- lates to thousands of dollars back into his pocket, he said. That’s not to mention the money he did not have to spend on solar panels and a new HVAC. “If I did all of this by myself, I would realize some of the savings that Budderfly is keeping, but it would cost me a lot of capital up front,” he said. And, because Hart is not an energy expert, “I wouldn’t know what I wouldn’t know. [Bud- derfly] is gonna keep doing things that I wouldn’t know to do.” In 2024, Budderfly has reduced customers' energy consumption by 43% more than last year, avoiding 219,100 metric tons of carbon emis- sions—equivalent to 560 million miles driven by an average gaso- line-powered vehicle. It currently services about 7,000 locations— mostly restaurants—and plans to add 2,000 to 3,000 a year starting next year.
Things are changing, and I feel like we all have a responsibility to do what we can.” —SPENCER HART, SONIC FRANCHISEE
Because Budderfly’s model hinges on lowering energy costs, it’s incentivized to invest in things that will do that. At Hart’s Sonic stores, for instance, the company footed the bill for solar panels on the other four locations. But the most significant change Budderfly made for Hart was re- placing the HVAC system at one of his Sonics, an update that would have cost the franchisee tens of
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JANUARY 2025
PHOTO COURTESY: SPENCER HART
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