Smart energy management and insight into consumption can significantly reduce your business’s energy costs.

Every entrepreneur in food retail or hospitality knows that refrigerators, ovens and lighting are indispensable. Less well known is how this equipment guzzles energy unnoticed – and thus eats away at your profits. In fresh food shops, supermarkets, all-you-can-eat restaurants and fast-service chains, energy consumption is structurally high. For example, an average supermarket consumes no less than 467 kWh of electricity per square meter annually – many times more than an average store. Such companies often work long hours with a lot of equipment on at the same time. The result: skyrocketing basic consumption that you may consider “normal” but in which thousands of euros in inefficiency can be hidden. With a smart approach, up to 15% energy savings are possible, which amounts to thousands to tens of thousands of euros per year in lower costs.

The silent guzzlers: why consumption is so high

Energy is a major cost item for many food entrepreneurs. Equipment such as refrigerators, freezers, stoves, hot plates and cash register systems is often on for hours. The biggest energy guzzlers in the hospitality industry are usually freezers, refrigerators and extraction systems. In a butcher’s shop, for example, the majority of the energy bill is accounted for by refrigeration installations, lighting and food processing equipment. In restaurant kitchens, ovens, grills and frying systems also run at full speed during peak hours, while lighting in both the kitchen and the business is often on all day.

Moreover, energy in these sectors is also used for opposite purposes : refrigerators and freezers have to supply continuous cold, while ovens, warming trays and coffee machines generate heat. This means that your cooling systems, for example, have to work even harder when the environment heats up due to kitchen appliances. Add to that any outdated or poorly maintained appliances – think of refrigerators with worn door seals or extractors with dirty filters – and it’s easy to see why your consumption is so high. Every inefficiency, no matter how small, counts day and night and can mean hundreds of kWh extra per month without being noticed.

Peak load: the hidden cost

In addition to the high basic consumption, many entrepreneurs are struggling with peak loads – times when several large consumers switch on at the same time and cause a short-term power peak. Think of the scenario in which several ovens, grills and coffee machines heat up at the same time early in the morning, while the cooling compressors are also just starting up. Such peaks remain invisible to the eye, but can be financially disastrous. Grid operators and energy suppliers pass on extra costs for companies that cause high peaks. Your energy tariff or capacity tariff is often based on the highest peak in a certain period. So one short-term peak can cause you to pay a higher fixed rate for months.

For many hospitality companies, there is also the fact that they peak at predictable times – for example around lunch and dinner. Research shows that the hospitality industry regularly runs at full capacity, leading to high consumption peaks and unpredictable energy bills. This unpredictability increases the financial pressure on your company. Without proper monitoring, such a peak load often goes unnoticed until the reckoning comes. The danger: you pay for capacity that you may not need 95% of the time, but take a big bite out of your budget.

Why don’t you notice this immediately? Equipment works fine, the power does not go out – but behind the scenes, your energy meter does register those peak moments. Only with targeted measurement and analysis can you discover when such peaks occur and why. And fortunately, with the right strategy, peaks can be tamed.

Smart strategy: measures to control your consumption

How do you prevent energy from emptying your greenhouse unnecessarily? Below are six concrete measures for a smart energy strategy in your supermarket or restaurant:

• Monitor consumption by device or zone: You can only intervene if you know where the energy is going. An energy monitoring system provides insight into your total consumption and shows which large or ‘silent’ consumers are the culprits. By measuring the consumption per cold store, kitchen unit or appliance, you can immediately see where waste occurs. Know what you consume, then you can save energy more consciously. For example, many entrepreneurs discover that one old fridge-freezer combination hardly stores any product overnight but draws continuous power. With that knowledge, you can take targeted actions: eliminate, replace or adapt.

• Analyze peak load: Dive into your load energy profile and find out when and why the peaks occur. You may notice that the highest peak always occurs around 11:00 a.m. when the mise-en-place in the kitchen is in full swing, or immediately after closing time when all the refrigerators are refilled at the same time. Such insights are worth their weight in gold: high peaks can lead to higher energy costs and grid costs. With data analysis (for example via smart meters or IoT sensors) you can determine your peak power and intervene in a targeted manner. Many energy monitoring systems send alerts if the power exceeds a threshold, so that you can immediately make adjustments. This way you make the hidden cost item of peak load visible before it can be charged to you.

• Optimize equipment settings: Often, gains can be made with simple adjustments. Do not set coolers colder than necessary – every degree of extra cold costs an unnecessary amount of energy. Check whether warming equipment can be set to the correct (often lower) setting after rush hour. Use standby modes, timers, and sensors to automatically shut down equipment when possible. “By switching off your systems in a smart and timely manner, you can reduce unnecessary energy consumption.” For example, place a timer on refrigerators that you don’t need at night (such as a beverage cooler at the checkout) – they don’t have to run outside opening hours. Such settings provide immediate savings without costing you turnover.

• Plan energy-intensive processes smartly: See if you can spread peaks by not doing everything at once. Prevent multiple heavy devices from starting up at the same time; Deliberately not starting energy-intensive appliances at the same time can reduce high peak consumption. For example, start oven 1 ten minutes earlier and oven 2 ten minutes later, instead of both at the same time. You can also move certain processes to off-peak hours. Many preparations in the kitchen can be done before the hustle and bustle or just after. Research shows that even behavioural adjustments – such as scheduling warm preparation steps earlier – help to smooth out energy consumption peaks. For example, cool fresh products extra in the late evening (cheaper rate, lower ambient temperature) instead of during the afternoon peak. Such planning keeps your maximum energy consumption lower, which makes a direct difference in costs.

• Train your staff in energy-conscious behaviour: Technology is important, but human behaviour makes all the difference in the workplace. Make energy-efficient working part of the company culture. Inform and instruct your staff on how to adjust their behavior. Include  simple energy-saving actions in the work instructions for appliances. For example: only turn on ovens and chip shops just before use (and don’t let them roar hours in advance), only run the dishwasher when it is full, leave refrigerator doors open for as short a time as possible and turn off lights in rooms that are not in use. Reward alertness – an employee who structurally does not leave the cold store door open or turns off all screens and cash registers after closing time will save you a lot of money. Make it clear that everyone has influence: if twenty employees each save one kilowatt hour per day through small actions, that adds up to ~20 kWh per day, or more than 7,000 kWh per year (!).

• Invest in an Energy Management System (EMS): Consider a smart energy management system that provides real-time insight and guidance . Modern systems with sensors continuously measure your consumption and can control or switch off devices based on demand. IoT sensors provide real-time monitoring, giving you immediate insight into when and where spikes occur. An EMS can also issue alerts in the event of abnormally high consumption (e.g. a cold store that has been open for too long) and automatically arrange for certain equipment to pause to prevent a peak. This investment often pays for itself: you avoid peak loads and constantly discover new optimisations. Some systems even use dynamic tariffs – for example, they control coolers extra during off-peak hours with cheap electricity, and temper during peak tariffs. Such a data-driven approach makes your energy consumption flexible and efficient, without you having to think about it all the time.

COMCAM: your independent expert in energy management

Buying new coolers or solar panels is not the only route to lower energy bills. COMCAM positions itself as an independent expert that helps entrepreneurs to first get a grip on their energy consumption in the operation – not by selling you new devices directly, but by looking at data analysis, behavioral optimization and energy management as a service. In concrete terms, this means that COMCAM guides you through the entire process from insight to savings:

• Intake and measurement: Together with you, we map out the current energy consumption. Where necessary, we place measuring equipment at critical points (from refrigerated counter to cooking line) and analyse your historical consumption data. This gives you clear reports: where does the energy go, when do peaks occur, what are “strange” energy consumers?

• Analysis and advice: Our experts dive into the data and identify quick wins and structural improvement opportunities. Think of reprogramming thermostats, better adjusting cooling installations or setting up a start-up sequence for kitchen appliances. We also look at your contract and tariff structure: are you not unnecessarily paying for too high a contracted capacity due to incidental peaks? Based on the analysis, we recommend practical measures – from technical solutions to training points for your team. Always brand and supplier-independent, purely focused on what your business needs.

• Implementation and optimisation: COMCAM helps to implement the recommended measures. If desired, we can supply an energy management system for real-time monitoring, or integrate your existing systems so that you can see all consumption information in one dashboard. We ensure that employees are involved in the changes – for example with workshops on energy-conscious working in the workplace. We also draw up a peak plan together: agreements and automations to avoid consumption peaks (such as starting ovens in turn, see above).

• Energy monitoring as a service: What is unique is that COMCAM does not disappear after installation. Through our Energy Portfolio Management service, we continue to monitor and adjust your energy performance. You will receive periodic insightful reports and alerts. We identify early on if your consumption is rising again or if a new peak is imminent, and proactively provide adjustment advice. This way you always have a subject matter expert at your side who ensures that the energy savings are not short-lived, but continue every year.

In short, COMCAM helps you to make energy a verifiable success factor instead of an uncertain cost item. And that starts with awareness and insight.

Want to get started right away? You can start today: take a critical look at your business outside opening hours and feel which appliances give off heat or hear which buzzing – are they on unnecessarily? Record the meter readings at the same time every day for a week to get an idea of your consumption profile. Involve your team: agree that from now on, for example, all cold store doors will deliberately close immediately and not remain open unnecessarily. Such steps cost nothing and yield something immediately.

Do you want to go a step further and really save structurally without loss of quality or convenience? Then COMCAM is ready for you. With our independent view and advanced monitoring tools, we discover in no time where your greatest opportunities lie. Together, we prevent energy from destroying your supermarket or restaurant – and ensure that every kilowatt hour you purchase also pays off for your business.

Feel free to contact COMCAM for a no-obligation energy call or quick scan. You will be surprised how much there is often to win. Make your refrigerators, kitchen and cash register work for you, not against you – this is how you keep energy costs in check and your business healthy!