At Westlife FoodWorld and McDonald’s India, we are not only looking at how best we can offer happy spaces, delicious food, and value for experiences but also working towards sustainable ways to make all of these happen. We are constantly exploring how we can conserve resources and use them diligently. We care for our Earth, and our communities, which means taking care of every aspect that is a part of everyday living.
14th December is National Energy Conservation Day. While we are deploying ways to keep our commitment to sustainability going through the year, here’s a day where we’d like to share it with you. A little reminder for each one out there to do their bit, as we do ours, in ways like using eco-friendly packaging, using energy generated through solar panels, and more. It makes us very happy, and we are sure it would make you feel the same!
From actions like ensuring that over 95% of our inputs are sourced sustainably with 100% traceability of ingredients back to the farm to eliminating single-use consumer-facing plastic packaging (yes, we use sustainable food packaging) across all our operations, when it comes to energy conservation, over 90% of our restaurants are equipped with Energy Management Systems (EMS) (we will tell you more about this in a bit), enabling us to improve operational functions and reduce energy consumption. We are happy to share that according to the Westlife FoodWorld Annual Report 23-24, we have reduced a considerable amount of emission intensity, helping in reducing our carbon footprint. Yaaay all the way! 😊
What would the numbers look like you ask, here they are:
- 49,394 GJ energy saved
- 10,229 tCO2 emissions reduced
- 90% EMS coverage across restaurants
- 17% increase in renewable energy use YoY.
- Corporate Office: LEED-certified, embodying sustainability
- Powering stores with solar energy: 0.11 mn units generated
- 13+ million units of electricity saved through smart energy solutions
Utilising the 4 powerful R’s: Replace > Recycle > Reuse> Reduce we aim to achieve our net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goals while achieving long-term cost efficiency. To reduce our carbon footprint and achieve operational efficiency, we have implemented the following measures:
⦁ Energy management systems (EMS): More than 90% of our total restaurants are now equipped with EMS, which means there is real-time monitoring and control of energy usage.
⦁ Enhancing equipment efficiency: Keeping a check on energy consumption and operating costs by upgrading to energy-efficient appliances or rightsizing the underutilised equipment.
⦁ Clean energy: To promote clean energy, we have transitioned to renewable energy by installing solar panels, which generated 0.11 mn units of electricity in our stores. We also shifted to an environment-friendly Piped Natural Gas (PNG) reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
All of this goes hand-in-hand with technological advancements, like:
⦁ Temperature controls: We have installed air conditioning systems with remote auto on/off and
temperature cloud controllers. These systems optimise energy use by automatically adjusting
the air conditioning based on real-time conditions, reducing unnecessary energy consumption.
⦁ Energy management inside kitchen: To address the high energy consumption of kitchen equipment, we have installed auto on/off controllers across the highest energy-consuming
kitchen appliances. This ensures that equipment is only running, when necessary, significantly
reducing energy wastage.
⦁ Energy-efficient systems:
− Implementation of evaporative air-cooling systems and economisers in our kitchens
to provide an energy-efficient alternative to traditional air conditioning.
− Replacement of traditional lighting with energy-efficient LED bulbs and order assembly
table sets.
− Installation of motion sensors to minimise lighting consumption and reduce wastage in
store back areas.
While we incorporate different ways to reduce energy utilisation and improve efficiency, we are keeping a close tab on the effects. We run regular internal energy audits to assess and improve energy efficiency across our operations. This helps us understand and identify areas for further energy savings, ensure compliance with energy management practices, and drive continuous improvement in our energy conservation efforts.
This is not it; energy efficiency helps in more ways than one. Using energy conservation measures, our new stores are much more cost-efficient compared to traditional ones, demonstrating significant cost savings and improved operational efficiency. Now, if you are thinking all about the McDonald’s India goodness, and let’s admit, are tempted a teeny bit to order in and celebrate the goodness, our McDelivery website and McDelivery app, are both right here! And yes, it’s single eco friendly food packaging (single-use plastic that you’ll find).
