A practical energy-use review for cafés and restaurants

Start an energy-use review with measured consumption, operating hours and a clear list of equipment and routines. Choose one safe change, assign responsibility and compare like-for-like periods. Keep it only if the evidence supports it and food safety, service and equipment operation remain sound.

This guide helps café and restaurant managers organise an operational review. It is not an engineering audit, a tariff recommendation or permission to alter electrical, gas, refrigeration or ventilation systems. Use qualified advisers and licensed trades where required, and follow manufacturer instructions and the venue's food-safety controls.

Decide what you are trying to understand

An energy bill combines consumption with prices and other charges. A lower bill does not necessarily mean the venue used less energy, and lower consumption does not always produce the same percentage reduction in cost.

Choose the question first. You might want to understand use outside trading hours, compare similar service weeks or see whether an approved routine changed consumption. Do not begin with a promised saving or a list of equipment to switch off.

Define the review boundary: one tenancy, one meter or the whole venue. If a meter also supplies another business or shared building services, document that before interpreting the figures. Ask the landlord or provider to clarify uncertain arrangements.

Gather a reliable baseline

Collect bills covering enough time to see ordinary operation and relevant seasonal differences. Record the meter or account identifier, start and end dates, number of billing days, electricity consumption in kilowatt-hours and gas consumption in the bill's stated unit.

Keep electricity and gas separate unless an adviser has established a consistent conversion method. Record whether readings are actual or estimated. A later correction to an estimated bill can look like a dramatic operational change when it is simply a measurement adjustment.

Add opening days, operating hours, customer or order volumes, unusual events, closures and significant equipment changes. Use a consistent definition of operating hours: staff preparation and cleaning can use energy outside customer trading hours.

Where interval data is available through your provider, ask what it measures and how the timestamps work. Data without a clear meter boundary or time convention can lead to the wrong conclusion about overnight use.

Separate consumption from the bill total

Create two views. The consumption view shows energy units over time. The cost view shows the applicable usage charges, fixed charges and other components of the actual bill. Your retailer or energy adviser can explain unfamiliar tariff terms.

Do not compare two bill totals without checking billing days, rates and adjustments. A six-week bill is not directly comparable with a four-week bill. Likewise, a change in contract price can conceal a reduction in consumption.

The NSW Government's small-business energy guidance provides a useful starting point for understanding energy management and possible improvements. Use the current information relevant to your location and equipment; do not assume an advertised program or offer applies to your venue.

Map equipment to the working day

List the major equipment groups: refrigeration, cooking, coffee equipment, warewashing, hot water, lighting, ventilation and heating or cooling. Note the usual start-up, operating, standby and shutdown routines where those states are permitted.

Ask staff what actually happens. A written closing checklist may differ from practice because the next shift expects equipment ready, a control is poorly labelled or a previous fault changed the routine. Record the reason before deciding the routine is wasteful.

For each item, identify the person authorised to change settings or procedures. Separate ordinary operator actions from technical work. Managers should not ask staff to open panels, defeat controls, alter gas equipment or change refrigeration settings as an informal experiment.

Keep the equipment maintenance and fault-reporting process as the route for faults and servicing. The energy review uses its evidence; it does not replace it.

Identify non-negotiable operating constraints

Before selecting a change, write down what must remain protected. Include safe food storage, required cleaning and sanitising, ventilation, emergency systems, manufacturer requirements and any essential overnight operation.

Avoid blanket instructions to switch off refrigerators, reduce hot-water temperatures or shut down extraction at a particular time. Whether an action is suitable depends on equipment, food processes and technical requirements. Ask the relevant adviser when uncertain.

Keep food-temperature records separate from energy targets. A lower electricity reading is not a successful outcome if food controls have deteriorated. Use the food-temperature log guide to organise checks and corrective action under the venue's established system.

Make the stop condition explicit. If a trial creates a safety concern, equipment alarm or unacceptable service effect, staff should stop the trial and escalate through the approved process. They should not keep it running to complete the measurement period.

Choose one manageable change

Select a change that staff can describe, carry out safely and verify. It might involve keeping an agreed lighting zone off when an area is unused, correcting a routine that leaves an approved appliance running unnecessarily or restoring manufacturer-specified operator care through the existing maintenance process.

Do not introduce several changes at once if you want to understand which one affected the result. A simultaneous menu change, new oven and revised opening hours will make a simple before-and-after comparison difficult to interpret.

Write a trial card: action, equipment or area, authorising person, start date, responsible shift role, measurement and stop conditions. Include any specialist confirmation required before starting. Keep the previous approved routine available in case the trial needs to be reversed.

Measure comparable periods

Compare consumption over periods with similar operating conditions where possible. Note differences rather than pretending they do not exist. Weather, trading hours, customer numbers, preparation volume and equipment faults can all affect the comparison.

A simple measure is energy use per operating hour. Another is use per order or cover, if the count is reliable and the menu is comparable. Neither measure proves that a particular change caused a saving, and neither should become a staff target that encourages unsafe shortcuts.

Use several indicators together. Total consumption shows the overall demand, while a normalised measure can explain why it changed. Keep the raw figures so another reviewer can reproduce the calculation.

Work through a baseline example

These figures are hypothetical, not benchmarks for Australian cafés. In one week, a venue uses 1,400 kWh over 70 recorded operating hours. That is 20 kWh per operating hour.

In the following week, it uses 1,260 kWh over 63 operating hours. Total use has fallen by 140 kWh, or 10%, but use per operating hour is still 20 kWh. On those figures alone, the shorter operating period explains the apparent improvement; the example does not demonstrate better efficiency.

In a later comparable 70-hour week, use is 1,330 kWh, equivalent to 19 kWh per operating hour. That is lower than the first week's measure, but the manager still checks weather, volume, menu and equipment conditions before attributing the difference to the trial.

If the relevant variable electricity rate were an illustrative $0.30 per kWh, a 70 kWh reduction would correspond to $21 in that usage charge. It would not mean the entire bill fell by $21: fixed charges, tariff structure and other components need separate consideration.

Check service and safety alongside the numbers

Ask the opening team whether equipment is ready when needed. Ask the kitchen and floor teams whether the change causes delays, discomfort or extra handling. Review food-safety and equipment records for any adverse effect.

Do not rely on the person running the trial as the only reviewer. A different shift may experience the consequences. For example, an earlier shutdown could make closing easier while creating an unworkable start-up period the next morning.

Record extra labour or maintenance associated with the change. A modest reduction in energy cost may not be worthwhile if it creates significant work, reduces service quality or conflicts with equipment instructions. The decision should consider the whole operating effect.

Turn a useful result into a routine

If the evidence supports keeping the change, update the relevant approved procedure and train affected staff. State who performs the action, when it happens and what to do if conditions differ. Avoid vague reminders to “save power”.

Use the opening and closing checklist guide to incorporate the confirmed routine. Remove outdated instructions so staff are not choosing between conflicting versions.

Set a follow-up review after the new routine has operated across normal shifts. A trial can work while a manager watches closely and then fade when responsibility is unclear. Check whether the action is still happening and whether the result remains useful.

Keep technical projects separate

The review may identify a need for professional assessment, repair or equipment replacement. Record the evidence and refer the decision to the appropriate adviser. Do not turn a consumption observation into a do-it-yourself repair instruction.

For a proposed investment, obtain suitable specifications and quotes, then assess installation, downtime, maintenance and financing as well as expected energy use. This guide does not recommend equipment purchases, solar systems or particular grants.

If the building is leased, clarify the landlord's approval and responsibility before commissioning work. If the meter includes shared services, resolve measurement and allocation questions before claiming savings for your own tenancy.

Your next action

Collect the last few bills and create a baseline with billing days, energy units, operating hours and unusual events. Choose one question the data can answer. Only then select a safe, authorised trial with a named owner and review date.

The Café Operations Pack includes opening, closing and maintenance records that can support an approved routine. It does not include an energy audit or energy calculator. The free Venue Opening Checklist is a general starting point for shift preparation.

References

• Energy saving tips for small businesses — NSW Climate and Energy Action.
• Standard 3.2.2A: food safety management tools — FSANZ. Confirm which tools apply to the venue's activities.

Source review date: 5 September 2026. Examples are illustrative. Confirm technical changes with qualified advisers and retain all applicable food-safety and manufacturer controls.