Wendy’s Largest Franchise, Meritage Hospitality Group, Deploys GridPoint’s Smart Building Platform

GridPoint, a leader in energy and sustainability solutions, today announced the deployment of its technology platform across 345 restaurant locations for one of the largest Wendy’s franchise entities, Meritage Hospitality Group.

GridPoint’s work with Meritage Hospitality Group began in February 2021 with a five-site pilot and a goal to reduce energy use by a minimum of 10% and provide detailed reporting and analytics on energy and equipment operations. The pilot was successful, with one site in Florida achieving 23% energy savings. GridPoint will continue to expand across the remaining 340 locations over the first quarter of 2022.

“During our pilot with GridPoint our locations saw an immediate reduction of energy consumption and we discovered a correctable equipment issue causing excess, avoidable energy costs,” said Greg Corr, Executive Vice President at Meritage Hospitality Group. “They helped us optimize HVAC run-times and electrical demand to make our restaurants more efficient while also ensuring comfort for our customers and employees. Ultimately our partnership with GridPoint results in lower energy and operational costs, more resilient buildings, and more sustainable franchise to support continued growth of the Wendy’s brand.”

GridPoint’s innovative technology platform delivers energy efficiency and resiliency to both businesses and the power grid. The smart building solution provides visibility into where and how energy is being used as well as where other operational inefficiencies and potential savings can be found. Powered by deep data and powerful analytics at the building-level, GridPoint’s platform enables customers to automate and control assets at their sites, making energy and building optimization simple. GridPoint provides additional revenue-generating opportunities by empowering customers to participate in grid-stability by making their sites grid-interactive. Collectively, small energy reductions across commercial buildings can be aggregated and leveraged as an energy resource to support utilities on-demand and ease the energy supply and demand challenges of today.

GridPoint’s technology is installed across many other Wendy’s franchise and corporate locations and GridPoint has been recognized as a key partner of Wendy's global brand in its first Sustainability Report, published in 2020.

“We are thrilled to add Meritage Hospitality Group to our Wendy’s portfolio,” says Mark Danzenbaker, CEO at GridPoint. “Energy-conscious businesses, like Meritage Hospitality Group, are key to establishing energy security today and a more sustainable future.”

About GridPoint

GridPoint’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future by creating a network of grid-interactive buildings. By transforming the way commercial businesses use energy through hardware and AI software, GridPoint unlocks the decarbonization, sustainability, and grid resiliency required for a cleaner, more efficient tomorrow. The technology platform harnesses power and potential within a building to deliver energy, operational, and resiliency benefits. Networked together, these buildings provide reliable, precise, and instantaneous capacity for utilities and grid operators. GridPoint’s network includes Fortune 500 enterprises, utilities, government organizations and industrial complexes.

About Meritage Hospitality Group

Meritage Hospitality Group (OTCQX:MHGU) is one of the nation’s premier restaurant operators, currently with 345 restaurants in operation located in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Meritage is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, operating with a workforce of approximately 11,000 employees. Meritage is comprised of 6 concepts – Wendy’s, Morning Belle, Stan’s Tacos, Twisted Rooster and Freighters Eatery & Taproom. Each concept delivers a distinctive dining experience for its guests, a work environment with opportunity for its team members and optimum results for its shareholders. The Company’s public filings can be viewed at www.otcmarkets.com, under the stock symbol MHGU, or the Company’s website www.meritagehospitality.com.