Wendy’s Franchise Deploys GridPoint’s Smart Building Platform

GridPoint, a provider of energy and sustainability solutions, has deployed its technology platform across 345 restaurant locations for one of the largest Wendy’s franchise entities, Meritage Hospitality Group.

GridPoint’s work with Meritage Hospitality Group began in February 2021 with a five-site pilot and a goal to reduce energy use by a minimum of 10% and provide detailed reporting and analytics on energy and equipment operations. The pilot was successful, with one site in Florida achieving 23% energy savings. 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. “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.”

Sustainability for the Planet

The Wendy's franchise move comes as other restaurants are looking to sustainability to boost their bottom lines and reduce their environmental impact. Starbucks and McDonald's cut their use of "problematic plastic" by 57% between 2018 and 2020. Other brands are touting their sustainability moves. Chipotle aims to reduce its carbon emissions 50% by 2030. Also leading the charge is Panera Bread, which has a goal to become climate positive by 2050. 

Sustainability will continue to influence menus and how restaurants make decisions in 2022, according to the National Restaurant Association’s annual What’s Hot Culinary Forecast.

GridPoint’s technology platform delivers energy efficiency and resiliency to both businesses and the power grid. The smart building solution provides visibility into where and how energy is being used as well as where other operational inefficiencies and potential savings can be found. Powered by deep data and powerful analytics at the building-level, GridPoint’s platform enables customers to automate and control assets at their sites, making energy and building optimization simple. GridPoint provides additional revenue-generating opportunities by empowering customers to participate in grid-stability by making their sites grid-interactive. Collectively, small energy reductions across commercial buildings can be aggregated and leveraged as an energy resource to support utilities on-demand and ease the energy supply and demand challenges of today.

GridPoint’s technology is installed across many 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.

GridPoint’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future by creating a network of grid-interactive buildings. By transforming the way commercial businesses use energy through hardware and AI software, GridPoint unlocks the decarbonization, sustainability, and grid resiliency required for a cleaner, more efficient tomorrow.