Local entrepreneur touts green pizza

One local business entrepreneur sees green pizza as appetizing and said keeping a lid on overhead costs also allows him to pass those savings on to consumers.

Rolf Wilkin, owner of the Eureka Pizza chain, figures going green and will save his company between $300 and $500 per month in its Leverett Avenue store in Fayetteville. Those utility savings will come from solar panels that are being installed this week.

Wilkin said the solar panels are expected to reduce the amount of electricity the store has to use off the grid by about 30 to 50%.

There will also be a monitor in the store so that customers can see how much energy is created along with other statistics. The information, available in real time, will also be available on the company’s website,

Wilkin is working with Sun City Solar Edge in Springdale on this project. John Gerrard, owner of Sun City Solar, said the technology has drastically improved over the past five years, which has ramped us uses by small businesses.

The return on investment begins the moment the solar panels are activated, Gerrard said. Those savings, added to rebates and tax incentives make the project increasingly affordable for business owners.

“Businesses have a big advantage to do this,” Wilkin said. “Half of the incentives are because we’re a business. For the price of a used car, you can do the right thing. It makes sense from two sides. Before, businesses had to sacrifice the dollars to do the right thing.

“Now, you can have your pizza and eat it too,” Wilkins quipped. “We’ll see if the sun makes the pizza taste better.”