Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party is an independent British café chain with 21 outlets across the south of England. The business is well known for its ethical values and for its focus on serving the local communities in which it operates by using local suppliers, never compromising on quality and honouring its collective social responsibilities.

The Challenge

The café's ethics are central to its brand and mission. With the opening of the water retail market, there was an opportunity for the business to further enhance its environmental credentials by working with a retailer that would enable it to explore how it uses water to increase efficiency and become more sustainable.

The solution

As part of the solution we will roll out automated meter reading technology (AMR), which uses real time data to track usage as often as every 15 minutes, at cafes to identify gradual or sudden changes in water use. These changes could indicate leaks, inefficient practices or processes, or problems with valves. AMR was installed at the café's two highest consumption outlets to drive water efficiency in these targeted locations.

Through the partnership with water2business, Boston Tea Party has consolidated bills for all of its cafes and no longer has to deal with four different suppliers for billing and site issues. As part of this process, water2business completed bill validation for all of the café's sites, highlighting errors which resulted in unnecessary charges.

The results

Saving Boston Tea Party £440 annually on an ongoing basis

Not only has this work helped save water, but it will also reduce the company's operational costs and having to only work with one company for all water and wastewater needs will make their life a lot easier.

While validating the bills, business account manager Andy Coates identified that one café had a larger meter than it should have and meant the café was paying a standing charge of £480 rather than £40 a year. Andy applied for a notional downsize for the meter which meant that although nothing physically changed, the billing measure was amended, saving Boston Tea Party £440 annually on an ongoing basis.