Schlotzsky’s will save almost $9,000 per store in equipment and energy costs by installing a makeup table that handles both sandwich and pizza preparation, and a double-stack convection oven to bake both.

By the time Ivey was ready to open his third store, he had vowed to become more energy efficient.

Current Virginia Barbeque stores take up 1,500 square feet, at the most. While the menu is about 60 percent scratch, cooking equipment is kept to a minimum. And what’s there is hardly high tech. Instead, Ivey is on the vanguard of a new way of thinking about restaurant equipment and its energy implications. High-tech equipment is great for chains that can find it and afford it; for others, smart use of widely available pieces is an energy-smart alternative.

Virginia Barbeque’s kitchens, for instance, sport a closed-system, vent-free fryer for french fries, and an induction cooktop to heat canned collard greens and green beans and boil water for macaroni and cheese.

“Between safety and savings, we just don’t need a big six-burner stove,” says Ivey, president and founder of the Beaverdam, Va.-based chain.

Barbecue meat is smoked at a commissary in Siler City, N.C., and delivered to the chain’s distributor, which in turn delivers it to the 11 restaurants in the system. The meat is rethermalized in an electric convection oven. That, Ivey says, might be the biggest energy savings, as an in-house smoker in each store would require substantial, and costly, ventilation.

All told, energy costs are half what they were at the first location, Ivey says.

He’s looking for ways to further cut energy bills. One alternative might be a combination microwave/convection oven for reheating barbecue. “If you can retherm with the touch of a button—that’s the future,” Ivey says.

Schlotzsky’s chose to work smarter in a new prototype rolled out in 2006. The chain reorganized its kitchen to eliminate a makeup table and a conveyor oven.

Foster’s Grille saves energy cost by using disposables and forgoing a dishwasher. The chain is currently searching for disposable tableware to make the business model a little “greener.”

The new prototype uses a single makeup table for both sandwiches and pizza, and cooks both in a double-stack conveyor oven, with each level of the oven set at different speeds and temperatures to accommodate the different products. The new arrangement saves each store $941.57 in yearly energy costs, plus $7,857 in equipment costs.

The single table/double oven arrangement will be put into new Schlotzsky’s restaurants; franchisees are also converting to the new system when conveyor ovens need replacing, says Brian Kendrick, senior director of store development for Atlanta-based Focus Brands, which owns 365-unit Schlotzsky’s as well as Cinnabon, Carvel, Seattle’s Best Coffee Intl. and Moe’s Southwest Grill.

Kendrick is reviewing the equipment in use at all the concepts to decide what can be replaced with more energy-efficient models. “For corporate responsibility, it’s a really nice thing, and it helps franchisees from a financial standpoint,” he says.

However, Kendrick does not dismiss technologically advanced equipment. Both Carvel and Cinnabon use Energy Star-rated refrigerators and freezers. “It’s easier to find…you can go to the Energy Star Web site and pull up spreadsheets,” he says.

Buying more efficient equipment or doubling up on uses is one energy-saving tactic. Shawn Foster, founder of Foster’s Grille, a Haymarket, Va.-based chain of 21 burger restaurants, found another. He decided not to install dish machines at the restaurants, opting for disposable tableware and flatware instead.

Virginia Barbecue meats are smoked at a commissary. That, founder Rick Ivey says, might be the biggest energy savings, as an in-house smoker would require substantial, and costly, ventilation.

Foster estimates that the absence of dish machines results in savings of 2 percent to 3 percent of each store’s average gross, which runs from $759,000 to $1 million a year.

Ecological friendliness isn’t a big part of Foster’s business model. He admits that his dish-machine-free kitchen isn’t exactly green because the disposables contribute to the solid waste stream. Still, Foster says a “fair amount” of the chain’s paper goods are recyclable. He’s currently looking for biodegradable cups and lids, straws, to-go containers and flatware.

By eliminating the dish machine, Foster is on the right track; not buying superfluous equipment is one step toward an energy-efficient kitchen, says Mark Godward, president of SRE, a Miami-based foodservice design firm that is a unit of Columbus, Ohio-based WD Partners.

Eliminating unnecessary equipment provides the most savings, because with each unneeded piece also goes ancillary equipment such as hoods and venting. “It’s a double whammy,” Godward says.

Another step is redoing the menu to eliminate equipment that’s used sparingly. For instance, if french fries, prepared in a deep fryer, are served with only one dish, he suggests modifying the recipe so the fries can be made in another piece of equipment or substituting a similar dish such as oven-roasted wedges.

Naturally efficient equipment, which contributes little or no ambient heat to the kitchen and which cooks product quickly, also should be considered—if not for the lower energy bill, then for a more smoothly running operation.

“Energy cannot be the only thing you think about,” Godward says. “If you can attach other things, like a cut in labor costs or a smaller building footprint, then suddenly you have a compelling situation.”