The Ninety Nine Restaurants
HQ: Woburn, Mass.
No. of Units: 115
To promote its electric car charging stations, Ninety Nine Restaurants has a specially marked parking space.The 61-year-old family-focused restaurant chain, part of O'Charley's Inc., and with locations throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic States, installed a series of car-charging stations in April 2012 as part of a larger goal to reduce the company's carbon footprint and offer customers a way to do the same.
"We are proud to be a part of a program to help consumers embrace electric vehicles as an emerging form of transportation," said John Grady, president of Ninety Nine Restaurants. "Our guests can now enjoy our food and drink while embracing a convenient service that also helps to protect the environment. It's a win-win."
To source and install the parking lot charging stations, Ninety Nine Restaurants enlisted a program that is supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to provide the stations at no cost to participating cities. Utility company National Grid funds the installation costs.
The stations automatically notify the provider during instances of misuse or vandalism and feature security systems that only allow users to charge when safe to do so. Accompanying software allows the restaurant or business installing the units to choose flexible energy-billing programs based on weekly, daily or monthly use.
In Massachusetts, Ninety Nine Restaurant locations using the car-charging stations include units in Auburn, Billerica, Easton, Foxboro, Marlborough, Milford, North Andover, Revere, Tewksbury, Westford and Weymouth.
By downloading an app on their smartphones, Massachusetts customers can locate the nearest station, including the participating Ninety Nine locations. They can also reserve car-charging time and receive mobile notifications when their car is fully charged.
- The Hardware: 30 planned car-charging stations total, 1 each at select restaurants.
- No. Restaurants Featuring the Stations: 11
- No. Car-Charging Stations per Restaurant: 1
- Additional Car-Charging Stations Planned: 9
- Cost to Install: None
- Charge to Guests: Free; Ninety Nine Restaurants funds the cost of power to charge the vehicles.