Golden Brown had experienced increasing electricity consumption as both café demand and wholesale sandwich production grew. While some of this increase reflected genuine business growth, the business also operated several older pieces of equipment, including a 10-year-old Victoria Arduino VA 358 White Eagle coffee machine and a higher-consuming Unifrost GDF-400N freezer. Golden Brown wanted to establish which equipment was responsible for the greatest energy demand so that future capital investment could be prioritised effectively. Electricity consumption totalled 28,453 kWh, with 67% consumed during the day, 27% at night and 6% during peak-rate hours. The assessment also identified transport as a significant environmental impact because the business operates two delivery vans serving customers throughout Dublin. The organisational carbon footprint reinforced the importance of looking beyond electricity alone. Using ClimateToolkit4Business, Golden Brown’s total footprint was calculated at 20.24 tonnes CO₂e, comprising 13.86 tonnes from Scope 1 transport emissions and 6.38 tonnes from Scope 2 electricity consumption. This showed that while energy-efficient equipment represented an important opportunity, delivery activity was actually the larger contributor to the business’s measured carbon footprint.

Using the Green for Business programme, Jigsaw Better Business completed a resource consumption analysis using electricity and transport information supplied by Golden Brown. This was followed by an equipment assessment examining the specifications and estimated operating hours of the main refrigeration and café equipment. The analysis found that the listed equipment consumed approximately 11,321 kWh annually, with the Victoria Arduino coffee machine alone accounting for around 57.4% of the measured equipment load at 6,500 kWh per year. The Unifrost GDF-400N freezer was the next priority at 1,930 kWh per year, while the newer refrigeration equipment demonstrated comparatively good efficiency.

The resulting action plan prioritised replacing the Unifrost freezer with a more efficient Polar U-Series 650-litre model, providing an estimated saving of 974 kWh per year, a 50.5% reduction in that equipment’s electricity use, and approximately 0.22 tonnes CO₂e annually. Upgrading of the older coffee machine with an Arduino Eagle One or equivalent two-group machine was estimated in the report to save a further 2,100 kWh and 0.47 tonnes CO₂e per year. Golden Brown was also advised to introduce a route optimising software for its two delivery vans. The report estimated that a 13% reduction in fuel consumption could save approximately 676 litres of diesel, €1,168 annually and 1.8 tonnes CO₂e, with an indicative payback of just 0.45 years. The programme also provided guidance on the Energy Efficiency Grant and other supports to help Golden Brown implement these improvements as the business continues to expand.