CASE STUDY: Franchisee Turns to Tech to Save on Utilities, Improve Sustainability
Spencer Hart operates five Sonic and two Jersey Mike’s locations on Long Island, New York.
“We've always had a desire to make our company as sustainable and environmentally conscious as [possible],” Hart said.
Its newest Sonic, which opened in 2021, features solar panels on the canopies.
“They're perfect for solar,” he says. “I've always wanted to do that, and I did that on my own.”
Even though Hart wanted to add solar, he discovered that the project was difficult and time-consuming to manage. Then Hart discovered Budderfly, an energy-as-a-service provider, through one of the Sonic franchise newsletters.
An Immediate Connection
“It was an immediate, good connection with them because their business model is exactly what I was looking for. We all hire a lot of experts to do a lot of things. We hire plumbers and electricians to take care of our repair and maintenance. We have real estate agents to help us choose the sites. We use experts for everything; no one thinks about energy management, and I didn't really realize what I was looking for until I met Budderfly,” Hart said.
“I loved the fact that I was able to find an expert in energy management to come in because I don't know a lot about it. I have a desire to be efficient -- both because I like being environmentally sensitive but also I like the economics of saving money -- and they could do both for me.”
No Capital Required
Here’s how it works: Budderfly comes in and does an energy audit and provides the capital for the equipment upgrades and provides continuous monitoring. The restaurant receives one simplified bill.
“What I really liked was that I didn't have to put up any capital. I got immediate savings off of my electric bill, and we get the benefit of those two good economic things along with helping the environment,” Hart said.
When Budderfly first described what they were able to do, Hart leaped at the partnership.
“We very quickly became the first Sonic to be on the program. We put all five of our stores on it and it works exactly like they said,'' he said.
For Hart, the timing was serendipitous.
“When we signed up, we needed a new HVAC system at one of our Sonics. It was pretty awesome because they put it in and they paid for it. They handled the installation, and they will maintain it as well. They saved me tens of thousands of dollars in terms of CapEx that I would have had to spend.”
An added bonus: Budderfly installed an efficient HVAC unit that has boosted additional energy and costs savings.
Getting Started
The process started with Budderfly “measuring everything. They put in a lot of sensors to figure out where we were using energy, and not surprisingly, its HVAC. The cooler and the freezer are the two biggest things,” Hart explained.
Budderfly installed smart sensors that empower Hart to control the HVAC remotely. “We can set it so that we're not unnecessarily heating or cooling the restaurants [especially] on days when we're not open. We can adjust it, and we can make sure that there's not some rogue employee who's making it too cold in the summertime or too warm in the winter.”
The temperature can be changed at the store level if needed. Budderfly doesn't “put any restrictions on what we can do. So if I want to cool the place down to 62 degrees I can do that,” he added.
For Hart, he’s racked up about 3-5% per month in energy savings. “I spend on average probably over $5,000 per month per store, about $300,000 a year. Each percent I save is $3,000 so that's meaningful,” he said.
Hart is now working with Budderfly to add solar panels on his four Sonics. Best of all, “I don't have to do anything. They're taking care of it all. They're paying for it all and then I'll share in the savings created from it.”
In the future, Hart would like to add EV chargers, an area where Budderfly currently doesn’t work. “I told them I'd love to be their Guinea pig in whatever they do.”
