According to the Environmental Protection Agency, restaurants consume more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings and are typically lit 16 – 20 hours every day. That’s a lot of energy to be consuming with inefficient incandescent and halogen bulbs. Over the last two years, three nationally known restaurant chains have installed LED lighting and saved thousands, if not millions of dollars! In 2009, Red Robin, a casual dining restaurant known for its gourmet burgers, replaced roughly 12,000 incandescent and halogen lamps with 7-watt General Electric LED lamps. The new LEDs consume 77% less energy and last six times longer than their previous lights, saving Red Robin $120,000 annually. Red Robin also said the LEDs deliver “perfect lighting for a restaurant setting.”

In 2010, Chili’s, an informal Tex-Mex cuisine restaurant, replaced 125,000 of its indoor and outdoor lights with LEDs. At the time, it was the “largest U.S. roll-out of LED lamp technology to date,” said Eco-Story. Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s, said the new lighting will save each restaurant $87 per week for a combined total of $3.7 million each year from its 827 restaurants! Brinker has also said the warm white LED light has also helped with the look and atmosphere of the restaurants.

In the beginning of 2011, Denny’s, a restaurant chain known for being open 24-7 and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day long has installed Cree LR6 LED downlights in all of its new and renovated restaurants. Denny’s in Colorado Springs, Colorado, installed 400 LED lights in the dining rooms in five of its restaurants. These five Denny’s restaurants saved $15,500 annually on energy, with one of the restaurants consuming 6,000 kWh less each month. A LEED-certified Denny’s in Joliet, Illinois, uses LEDs and natural lighting for its restaurant and has reduced energy costs by 83%.

Restaurants, make the switch to LEDs to save and improve customer experience while helping the environment!