The Ranch in Las Colinas, Whiskey Cake in Plano Install EV Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

<strong>Whiskey Cake Kitchen in Plano and The Ranch in Las Colinas, both owned by Front Burner Restaurants, became the first full-service restaurants in Texas to install commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for customer use.

Whiskey Cake and the Ranch consider themselves farm-to-fork concepts, basing their menus around locally sourced ingredients, so an EV charging station dovetails nicely with their concepts.

These commercial charging stations reinforce what Whiskey Cake aims to be as a restaurant: forward-thinking, locally sustainable, eco-friendly, and customer-oriented,” said Randy DeWitt, CEO of Front Burner Restaurants, which operates Whiskey Cake. DeWitt, who owns a Chevy Volt, added, “We’re really proud to offer these stations for our customers’ use.”

According to Judd Fruia of Front Burner, the Blink L2 Pedestal stations were supplied and installed by The EV Project, a $230 million initiative funded by both the U.S. Department of Energy and corporate and private partnerships to jump-start America’s EV-specific infrastructure. The EV Project had already installed thousands of stations in 14 cities in five states before moving its focus to Texas this month.

Blink stations allow EV drivers to charge their vehicles using a variety of payment methods, from standard credit transactions and Blink Membership cards that offer reservation capability and rate discounts to coming key fobs and smartphone apps. Blink Membership cards will be available at Whiskey Cake, though the restaurant won’t charge for station use for the next few weeks.