The opening of McDonald’s 1000th Australian restaurant as a sustainability flagship is a significant advance towards sustainability for the company and sets a precedent others should follow, according to project partner Schneider Electric.
McDonald’s partnered with Schneider Electric, the global leader in energy management and automation, to develop an integrated system monitoring and control energy use across the entire restaurant, optimising efficiency and reducing energy consumption.
Restaurant 1000 in Melbourne’s Melton South will be McDonald’s first-ever sustainability flagship for Australia. It marks a pivotal step in the company’s push to reduce its environmental impact and will be used to test, evaluate and implement industry-leading sustainability innovations.
Schneider Electric’s integrated EcoStruxure for Retail system will manage all the restaurant’s energy systems including a microgrid, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and lighting.
Sensors will monitor sunlight and occupancy with automated lighting and air-conditioning actions to conserve energy. On a bright day, the sensors will automatically dim the lights in the dining room, and air-conditioning will adjust in response to the number of customers in the restaurant.
The system provides updates in real time: any anomalies in the air conditioning, lighting and refrigeration system will trigger an alert on a mobile app so they can be rectified immediately.
All Schneider Electric products used to power the Restaurant 1000 have Green Premium certification with a structured lifecycle management process to reduce environmental impact.
An on-site solar system will generate around 42,000kWh per year, and the restaurant will be powered entirely by renewable energy.
In addition, the new restaurant features sustainability initiatives including Happy Meal toy recycling, carbon neutral McDelivery via Uber Eats and Door Dash, an Australian-first PlayPlace made with recycled content and electrical vehicle charging stations.
Gareth O’Reilly, Schneider Electric president Pacific said sustainability is at the core of “who we are and what we do”.
“Through this partnership, we are able to leverage our global expertise and experience supporting Macca’s in other countries to help McDonald’s Australia reach its sustainability goals,” he said.
Diana Grosmann, national director of development, McDonald’s Australia, said that as a sustainability innovation hub, Restaurant 1000 will play a crucial role in enabling the company to continue to design and build commercially practical sustainability solutions into every new Macca’s restaurant in the years to come.
“The opening of our 1000th restaurant is a significant achievement for Macca’s and we are proud to be continuing to find new and innovative ways to help make a positive difference to the communities we operate in,” she said.
“We hope Restaurant 1000 will allow us to learn quickly and expand successful innovation trials, so we can continue to implement practices, equipment and products to improve our environmental impact.”