Portugal’s Bandora expands to the US

Bandora, a pioneering Portuguese company in the digital transformation of buildings using artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that enhance energy efficiency, has expanded its operations to the United States with a pilot project in New Jersey.

The project will run at the fast food chains Dave’s Hot Chicken and Dunkin’ Donuts with Lufrankton LLC, a franchising group that manages 57 restaurants on the East coast of the US.

The operation began in December 2024 with a focus on two strategic diners because of the high footfall at Dunkin’ Donuts and Dave’s Hot Chicken.

Over several months the energy consumption of the diners’ air conditioning systems was measured and compared with benchmark consumption indicators.

The results reflected the success of the operation given that an immediate reduction in energy consumption of between 30-50% respectively in the buildings was registered in the first month and an average of around 50% from the second month.

In the specific case of Dave’s Hot Chicken, the initial reduction was 30%.

“Working with these chains gave us the opportunity to prove the effectiveness of our technology in demanding environments that have a large footfall of customers and in many different locations”, said Márcia Pereira, CEO of Bandora.

She said that the results stood out not only because of the value of the technology developed by the company, but also the confidence of the new partners to integrate innovative new energy efficiency solutions with a focus on meeting demand.

The stores involved in the project receive between 28,000 and 57,000 customers daily, making the impact of energy savings particularly relevant.

These reductions were reflected in a reduction in the environmental footprint and significant savings on operational costs.

Given the success of the pilot project, Bandora is now preparing to expand the partnership to new locations in the US, namely in the states of Massachusetts and Florida. In addition to the restaurant sector, the company intends to extend its operations to the retail sector.

In addition to Portugal, Bandora is already present in Spain, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, with plans to enter the Dominican Republic and Colombia. This internationalisation process reinforces the company’s position as a global reference in smart building technology.

The expansion to the US was financed by an €100,000 investment from HearstLab, the investment arm of the Hearst Corporation, one of the largest media and news groups in the world, and present in 40 countries.

The first round of investment to support the company’s next phase of expansion is expected for the last quarter of 2025.