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Illinois Foodservice Rebates Face Sheet
Clean energy transition

Foodservice Equipment Rebates Program

Although utility costs are up to 20% of overhead, and one of the top controllable costs, few CFS operations participate in energy and water efficiency programs. CFS is a large, underserved segment for utility efficiency programs and represents substantial net energy savings. Frontier Energy, alongside GTI, designed the Foodservice Equipment Rebates program, which offers up to $3,000 in instant discounts for qualifying commercial foodservice equipment.

Approach

Commercial foodservice (CFS)—restaurants, institutional kitchens, corporate campus cafes, and catering businesses—operate on thin margins. Although utility costs are up to 20% of overhead, and one of the top controllable costs, few CFS operations participate in energy and water efficiency programs. CFS is a large, underserved segment for utility efficiency programs and represents substantial net energy savings. Foodservice Equipment Rebates (FERs) offers up to $3,000 in instant discounts for qualifying commercial foodservice equipment. Entities who wish to purchase equipment must do so through a participating supplier. Suppliers prevent customers from having to complete paperwork or wait for a rebate check, allowing them to benefit from the discount at the point-of-sale.

  • More than 20 participating dealers are enrolled in the program.
  • End-use customers receiving an instant rebate include full-service and fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, school districts, offices, and more.
  • Qualified Products List (QPL) includes 22 separate appliance categories with 1,000s of gas and electric models from 100s of manufacturers.
  • Contacted more than 300 dealers, manufacturers, and manufacturer representatives.
  • Conducted in-person and on-line training for approximately 75 dealer employees.
  • More than 4,200 co-branded customer-focused flyers were provided to participating dealers.
  • Targeted emails to utility commercial customers have reached 7,600 individuals.
  • Program website il-foodservicerebates.com has been viewed more than 1,000 times.
  • Participating dealers are reimbursed in under 2 weeks.

Frontier Energy:

  • Designed the program alongside GTI, including the implementation and operations manuals and QA/QC procedures.
  • Determined eligibility of equipment and defined incentive/rebate levels.
  • Created an on-line portal for enrolling dealers as well as the creating, submitting, and tracking of rebate applications.
  • Designed the marketing plan and customer targeting protocols and created the program marketing collateral.
  • Created a website with information for dealers and customers.
  • Conducted targeted outreach to customers, suppliers, and other industry entities.

Project Team

Nancy Barba
Nancy Barba