Boston, MA–Smith and Wollensky recently opened their new flagship Boston Long Warf location illuminated 100% by Clarté Lighting sustainable energy efficient LED lighting. The restaurant boast more than 9,000 square feet of dinning space and has more than 100 employees. It was officially opened to the public September, 2011.
The restaurant is completely outfitted with sustainable lighting, including more than 200 fixtures featuring Clarté Series 824 two-lamp and 825 three-lamp LED Logic 5™ multiple recessed adjustable PAR16 sized LED fixtures, as well as matching 4-inch 793 LED PAR16 Logic5™ adjustable directional LED fixtures. Whitehead Energy Solutions and Regency Lighting worked together to plan and design the lighting solutions implemented in the new construction of the restaurant.

Because the restaurant serves both lunch and dinner and features picture windows bringing in a lot of ambient daylight the lighting solution had to remain flexible, highlighting dining tables and artwork at any time of the day without sacrificing the sophisticated warmth achieved in a Smith & Wollensky dining experience.

To this end, the Clarté LEDs, because of the proprietary optical assembly and color filters used, can be dimmed to mimic the look of traditionally warmer halogen solutions. Most LED products when dimmed do not change color. Clarté LED solutions offer simple mechanics and interchangeable modular solutions that precisely affect the directionality and quality of light to achieve the exacting needs of this project.
Richard Greene, National Account Sales Manager at Whitehead Energy Solutions agrees that the quality of light was a major part of the process. “Aside from being affordable and energy efficient, the LED technology available to us today means we can achieve any kind of aesthetic look and feel. This is a major benefit to restaurants and other retail establishments that, in the past, put style before function to keep customers happy. Now, there is no reason that can’t have both style and efficiency.

“Lighting is paramount to the comfort of the guests in a restaurant. Part of Smith & Wollensky’s brand promise is its ability to create a comfortable, high-end dining experience. You want to highlight the food and warm atmosphere while making the space consistent with other Smith & Wollensky restaurants,” he explains.

The return on investment at this location is expected at 10 months, but due to an offset by utility rebates, the payback was reduced to only four months. And each fixture has an expected life of 100,000 hours, or more.

Merrill S. Johnson, vice president of development at Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, is pleased with the results. “Whitehead Energy Solutions and Regency Lighting provided fixture and manufacturer options for all LED lighting while maintaining the quality of light experienced in Smith & Wollensky’s traditionally lit locations. We are able to reduce energy consumption by about 75 percent versus a typical location through utilization of high efficient equipment and energy management tools like LED lighting.”
Greene also points out, “Something that is often overlooked in new construction projects is the maintenance and air conditioning savings, since heat loads are drastically reduced and lamp replacement cost eliminated with LED lighting. Using LED solutions significantly reduces the amount of money spent on maintenance over time and also on cooling spaces with traditional incandescent/halogen solutions which are like small heaters.”
Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group also recently relocated its headquarters to the Boston financial district, near the new restaurant which overlooks Fort Point Channel and the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. Smith & Wollensky’s Boston is on its way to becoming one of the city’s best restaurants, led by Executive Chef Matt King and General Manager David Doyle.