The Azzurri Group, one of the UK’s largest hospitality investment platforms, has published its latest Sustainable Dining Report for 2024 to 2025. Across 44 pages of detail covering the group’s People, Planet and Plate sustainability pillars, one result stands out for anyone in the hospitality sector looking at energy reduction: a voltage optimisation project that delivered 7 to 10% energy savings in every site where it was installed.
Powerhub Solutions is proud to have been named in the report as the partner behind this project. Here is why the result matters, what it tells us about energy management in hospitality, and why Azzurri has now committed to rolling voltage optimisation into every new Dave’s Hot Chicken opening in 2026.
The challenge facing hospitality energy bills
The Azzurri Group operates over 245 restaurants and stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland, serving more than 16 million meals a year under brands including Zizzi, ASK Italian, Coco di Mama, Boojum and Dave’s Hot Chicken. That is a significant energy footprint.
In his CEO welcome, Steve Holmes acknowledged that the past year has been “undoubtedly challenging for hospitality,” with increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Insurance contributions requiring tight cost management. In an environment where every operational cost is under scrutiny, energy represents one of the largest controllable overheads for multi site operators.
The report reveals that Azzurri consumed 241,262 gigajoules of energy across the group in FY25. Even small percentage reductions against a number that large translate into meaningful financial and environmental savings.
A layered approach to energy management
What makes Azzurri’s approach noteworthy is that they did not rely on a single initiative. The report outlines a layered strategy combining behavioural change, monitoring technology and automated efficiency measures.
Steve Owens, the Group Energy and Utilities Lead spotlighted in the report, has been instrumental in embedding resource efficiency across all Azzurri brands. His approach combines data, innovation and everyday behaviour change to ensure sustainability is a shared responsibility rather than a side project.
On the behavioural side, ASK Italian’s “Lightbulb Moments” and Zizzi’s “Watts the Plan?” campaigns have been driving energy awareness among team members and encouraging everyday actions that reduce consumption. Zizzi’s “Planet Zizzi” committee, with its network of restaurant based ambassadors, ensures these practices are embedded at site level rather than existing only as head office initiatives.
On the monitoring side, Azzurri has deployed sub meters and the Mindsett asset energy monitoring tool across 17 sites, enabling real time tracking of usage patterns, in depth energy audits and rapid identification of waste. The report notes a specific example at ASK Merry Hill, where the monitoring system identified an air conditioning unit consuming power unnecessarily overnight, a fix that would have been invisible without granular data.
These combined efforts delivered a 2.2% year on year reduction in electricity usage across ASK Italian and Zizzi in 2025, saving 600,000 kWh.
Where voltage optimisation fits in
Voltage optimisation systems were installed across the Fuller’s estate between February and November 2025. Each site was commissioned individually to align with refurbishment schedules and operational requirements.
All performance data presented in this case study has been normalised and recorded as of 1 December 2025. This provides a consistent comparison point across sites, regardless of installation date, and ensures that reported savings reflect verified operational performance to date.
Measured Results and Carbon Reduction
Behavioural change and monitoring are essential, but they have practical limits. Team members cannot manually reduce energy consumption around the clock, and monitoring tools identify problems without solving them automatically. This is where automated energy saving technology fills a critical gap.
As the report states, Azzurri began “working on projects that benefit our efficiency campaigns with automated energy savings.” Voltage optimisation systems were installed by Powerhub Solutions across 5 sites in the Azzurri estate.
The results were clear and consistent: overall energy consumption reduced by between 7 and 10% in each of the 5 sites.
For context, that sits on top of the savings already being achieved through behavioural campaigns and monitoring. Voltage optimisation works at the supply level, automatically regulating the incoming voltage to the optimal level for electrical equipment. Most UK sites receive voltage above what equipment actually needs, and that excess translates directly into wasted energy and accelerated wear on equipment. By bringing voltage to the correct level, consumption drops without any change to operations or any action required from staff.
The decision that validates the technology
Perhaps the most telling indicator of the project’s success is what Azzurri decided to do next. The report confirms that “each Dave’s Hot Chicken site we open in 2026 will have a voltage optimisation system installed before the first day of trade.”
This is a significant commitment. Rather than treating voltage optimisation as a trial to be evaluated further, Azzurri has made it a standard specification for all new openings. The technology has moved from pilot to policy.
For multi site operators, this kind of decision reflects a straightforward calculation: the savings are proven, the technology is passive and requires no ongoing effort from site teams, and the return on investment is clear enough to justify inclusion in every new build specification.
What this means for businesses spending on energy
The Azzurri example illustrates a principle that applies well beyond hospitality. Any business operating across multiple sites, whether in manufacturing, logistics, retail or leisure, faces the same fundamental challenge: electricity costs are rising, margins are under pressure and operational teams have limited capacity to manage energy manually.
Voltage optimisation addresses the part of the problem that behavioural change cannot reach. It works continuously, requires no training or ongoing management, and delivers measurable results from the point of installation.
Powerhub Solutions delivers four proven energy saving solutions entirely in house, handling everything from initial site survey through to installation and performance validation. Voltage optimisation is one of those four solutions, and as the only company in the UK that offers all four under one roof, we give businesses the ability to address multiple areas of energy waste through a single partner.
Reading the full report
The Azzurri Sustainable Dining Report 2024 to 2025 is publicly available and covers the group’s full sustainability strategy across people, planet and plate. The Powerhub feature appears on page 22, within the Energy and Water section.
For any business interested in understanding what voltage optimisation could achieve across their estate, the Azzurri results provide a clear, independently published benchmark: 7 to 10% savings, proven across multiple sites, with enough confidence in the technology to make it standard for every future opening.
To find out how Powerhub Solutions can help your business reduce energy consumption, visit powerhub.solutions or get in touch with our team here.
