SEOUL, South Korea – The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korea Franchise Association co-hosted the first-ever Seoul Metropolitan Korea Franchise Energy Award ceremony on December 23 at the Seosomun building of the SMG to recognize 49 franchise headquarters and franchise locations for their energy-saving techniques.
The ‘Seoul Metropolitan Korea Franchise Energy Award’ is part of efforts by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korea Franchise Association to help overcome the energy crisis and spread awareness of its energy saving campaign among franchise headquarters and franchise locations.
Newly established just this year, the award offers an incentive of KRW 97.8 million to franchise companies and owners [who have a history of energy saving] to help them accelerate energy saving practices.
In 2015, 27 franchise headquarters and 430 franchise locations were evaluated as they vied for the grand prize of the energy awards. Evaluations for franchise headquarters were based on management for efficiency energy use, while franchises were evaluated based on energy-saving performance and ideas.
Based on the results of the evaluation, the grand prize in the franchise headquarters division was awarded to Coffee Bay of Apple Tree Co., Ltd. Energy assessments found that Coffee Bay not only used coffee machines that consumed less electricity than typically found in coffee shops, but also used energy-saving LED lights both in signboards and in the interior.
Five franchise owners of Coffee Bay were also recognized for their compliance with energy-saving initiatives from head office.
Noodle Tree Restaurant of Happy Bridge Cooperatives followed close behind Coffee Bay in the franchise headquarters division and received the award of excellence. Noodle Tree Restaurants are designed to allow staff to turn off lights in certain areas where the sunlight comes in, greatly reducing energy costs.
Also at the restaurants, LED lights powered by solar energy are used outside, and water is warmed using the heat of the noodle-boiling pot as opposed to an electric water heater. In addition, the restaurant uses rainwater for cleaning as part of its energy-saving efforts.
Gimgane Gimbap of Gimgane was also recognized at the awards ceremony for its use of natural light, and Kkuldak Honey Chicken of Dae Dae FC was recognized for the summertime energy-saving notices it sent to all of its franchises.
The franchise locations division was subdivided into 3 smaller categories based on the level of energy use (①less than 5kW ②6-19kW ③over 20kW). Café Pascucci (Yeoksam branch) was awarded the grand prize in the 20kW category.
Although the franchise location uses five air conditioners in the summer due to its large floor size, the branch was recognized for its energy-saving techniques of instructing customers to sit near air conditioners and operating different parts of its cooling systems/ice-making machines/water heaters based on the number of customers and the day of the week.
The franchise location was also praised for its use of natural light, labeling of light switches, and cutting of standby power. To reach its energy-saving goals, shop owners, shop managers, and staff adopted the slogan “If I were the customer, if the equipment were mine, and if the shop were my house.”
Regardless of business sector, all franchise headquarters and franchise locations that were deemed “energy efficient” employed the following techniques: partial operation of air-conditioning, maintenance of proper indoor temperatures, periodic air-conditioner cleaning, cut off of standby power for electric appliances except for refrigerators running 24/7, replacement of lights with LED, and efficient use of natural lightning.
