Business Energy for Fast Food

Monitored UK commercial kitchens used between 1.52 and 3.32 kWh of electricity per meal served, averaging 294.4 kWh a day per kitchen. The range matters more than the average: the worst kitchen used 118% more per meal than the best, which is a gap worth closing before you negotiate anything.

Refrigeration, which catches most operators out. Monitoring of fourteen UK commercial kitchens found refrigeration took 41% of kitchen electricity, more than any single piece of cooking equipment, because it runs every hour of the year while cooking happens in bursts. Cooking took the other 59%, led by fryers at 14%, combination ovens at 12% and grills at 12%.

It is a bigger share than most operators credit. Holding equipment at temperature is what makes fast service possible, but it means the appliance draws power whether or not anything is cooking. Bain maries came to 9% of kitchen electricity in monitoring and heat lamps a further 7%, and almost all of that is holding rather than cooking.

If peak demand reaches 100kW it is a legal requirement. Plenty of kitchens get there once you add refrigeration, cooking and extraction together. It is worth having rather than merely tolerating: half-hourly data lets a supplier price the load you actually have instead of an assumed profile.

20%, in almost every case, plus the Climate Change Levy, because this is business premises. The reduced 5% rate applies only at very low consumption, which a working kitchen will exceed comfortably. We confirm your position as part of the comparison rather than leaving you to find out from the first bill.

Fixing makes a volatile input predictable, which matters when menu prices are set centrally and well ahead. Flexible purchasing can pay at scale in a falling market but carries risk that needs managing actively rather than hoped away. We give a recommendation rather than a price list.

Yes. Multiple sites can move onto one supplier with a single renewal date, even where the current contracts all expire at different times. It cuts the admin and the combined volume usually sharpens the rate.

Yes. Renewable tariffs backed by REGO certificates are widely available and now often priced in line with standard ones, so the premium that used to rule them out has largely gone.

Around four to six weeks from agreement to go-live, with no interruption to supply and nothing to change in the kitchen.