Two McDonald’s franchisees are looking to raise awareness of their commitment to earth-friendly facilities by schooling visitors with interactive multimedia educational displays in their restaurants.
Ric Richards of eight-unit Richards Advantage Inc. in Cary, N.C., and Tom and Candace Spiel of nine-unit, Riverside, Calif.-based McSpi Inc. are employing so-called Energy Efficiency Education Dashboards to enlighten customers about the environmentally beneficial design features of their “green” units.
Like the McDonald’s franchisees, whose companies both own one eco-friendly location, restaurant operators across the country are finding that heightened environmental awareness can be a good thing for business. The National Restaurant Association said four out of 10 surveyed consumers say they take a restaurant’s conservation efforts into consideration when choosing where to dine.
“Our customers are interested, and the typical response is, ‘Wow! Look at this!’” Candace Spiel said of comments she hears about the education dashboard, the contents of which can be viewed online at www.greenmcdonalds.com.
The operators are on the frontline of McDonald’s green design efforts. Richards opened the third McDonald’s restaurant built to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Gold standard in Cary in 2009, while the Spiels opened the fourth location in Riverside in 2010.
Richards and the Spiels worked with QA Graphics of Ankeny, Iowa, along with their architects and interior-design companies, to develop content for the 42-inch touch-screen-LCD devices. The dashboards provide virtual tours of the restaurants explaining what makes them green, share information about local mass transit options and feature topical quizzes.
Targeting LEED
A number of restaurant organizations in recent years have set their sights on achieving LEED standards certification at the Silver, Gold or Platinum level. Other than McDonald’s, those that have achieved such certification for one or more locations include Arby’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Fusion, Olive Garden, Starbucks Coffee and Subway.
While Richards’ restaurant has since received its LEED Gold certification, the Spiels’ certification request is being processed.
The Green Building Council-inspired McDonald’s restaurants incorporate a number of green touches, including:
• Energy-efficient cooking and ventilation equipment, LED lighting, and natural-light scavenging roof tubes
• Low-flow kitchen and bathroom fixtures for reduced water consumption
• Native, drought-tolerant plants and porous pavers that allow rainwater to percolate into the ground as opposed to running into storm drains
• Recycled denim for insulation
• Table and decor surfaces made from such rapidly renewable resources as bamboo and sunflower-seed board.
During virtual tours of the Riverside business, Candace Spiel said, dashboard users can select different icons to drill down for additional information on the restaurant’s conservation, such as real-time reports about the amount of energy being produced by solar panels that double as parking-space sun shades.
Richards’ restaurant annually hosts Earth Day activities and is planning cross promotions with local dealers that offer electric cars, highlighting the charging stations in his parking lot. In addition, he said the digital dashboard, wall-mounted storyboards, and diagrams and fliers in his store help educate students, their parents and others about conserving resources when they take part in McTeachers Night fundraisers or tour the restaurant, which may host from 65 to 75 such group visits this year.
Proud to be green
When meeting new people, the restaurateur said he regularly is greeted with the question, “You own the green McDonald’s?”
“They have obviously heard about it and are glad it is in their community, and that tells me we did a good job with messaging,” Richards said. He added that employees, too, “all like the green store,” and “the fact that they are working in a first-of-a-kind [business] makes them proud.”
Richards estimated that developing his green restaurant cost 5 percent to 6 percent more than a similarly sized restaurant he opened at about the same time as the Cary unit. He calculated that the refurbished Cary restaurant may save as much as 10 percent on utility bills compared with its more-conventional sibling.
Given the falling prices of some technologies, such as LED lighting, and with the move into the mainstream of some previous fringe materials or building techniques, the next-generation green restaurant might cost no more than a traditional store, the operator speculated.
“I feel I’m getting a return on my investment,” Richards said. “People feel better about eating in an environmentally friendly building. Hopefully, I’m selling more hamburgers; I believe I am.”
“While it is too early to evaluate return on investment on the various components, I can tell you our energy usage and costs have been significantly reduced,” Candace Spiel said. “A major contributor to our reduced energy costs is our solar photovoltaic system. With 294 solar panels, it is generating considerable energy to [help] power our restaurant daily.”
Developing and operating the informative dashboards helped the restaurateurs satisfy green education requirements associated with the LEED certification process, according to QA Graphics’ Sarah Erdman.
Richards said the dashboard and its content cost him about $15,000. The devices come with content management systems, enabling users to update the information themselves should they choose to not work through a vendor for message refreshing.
The dashboard quizzes appear to be succeeding in their mission to spur guest interaction, as Richards noted, “It is amazing how often I walk into the restaurant, and that’s what’s up and the kids are using it.”
The Spiels are glad they included the dashboard in their lobby design, Candace said, “as it appeals to all ages” and is a fun way for people to learn about the restaurant and “how they can positively impact our environment with small changes in their daily lives.”
She added that appreciation for McSpi’s efforts to tread more lightly on the environment are evident in such guest comments as, “I heard about this ‘green’ McDonald’s and had to come see it,” or, “I feel good about coming to this restaurant more often because of what it is.”
Contact Alan J. Liddle at alan.liddle@penton.com.
