PRODUCT EDUCATION
poised to become mainstays in modern kitchens as the industry recovers and operators continue to seek out the most efficient means of delivering quality food at affordable prices.
Automation Te restaurant industry finished 2020 nearly 2.5 million
jobs below the pre-coronavirus level, according to National Restaurant Association. Couple those numbers with the shortage of chefs and line cooks the industry was experiencing before 2020 – a 2019 survey from Toast, a point-of-sale technology provider, found that hiring staff was the largest concern among 51 percent of operators – and already thin kitchens staffs are being stretched even thinner. Tose realities are forcing operators to turn to equipment and technologies to solve their labor challenges, and manufacturers are responding with solutions that help kitchens run more efficiently, with fewer people and less skilled labor.
to grow in the coming years as the capabilities of connected equipment increases. Manufacturers are already finding ways to make the information generated by their equipment more useful by sharing that data to enhance business analytics. Products like Alto-Shaam’s ChefLinc cloud-based remote oven management system can tally how frequently specific dishes are cooked, and then feed that data back into third-party soſtware systems to help operators better understand their sales and make menu adjustments. Others, like Hatco’s connected locker systems, can tap into mobile ordering apps to let customers know the status of their meal and push out notifications once the food is ready for pick up. In either situation, the connected platform is customized to
the operator’s individual needs, enabling the equipment to work within the restaurant’s specific business model. Tis can help with adoption while also allowing operators to select the level of connectivity that fits their budget and requirements. Importantly,
DESPITE DINING ROOMS BEING CLOSED OR OPERATING AT LIMITED CAPACITY, THE DEMAND FOR COMPACT, MOBILE, AND MULTIFUNCTIONAL EQUIPMENT HAS NOT SLOWED.
Advancements in automation have made this possible. Many
new ovens allow an employee to simply insert a dish, select a recipe from a touchscreen preloaded with the operator’s entire menu, and leave the rest to the machine. Te process requires minimal training and interfaces are designed to be user-friendly, oſten replicating the familiar look of a smart phone. Te goal for many manufacturers is to create something so intuitive that a person who has never used the equipment before can walk up to it and successfully cook a dish.
ROBERT HERJAVEC
Connectivity As individual pieces of equipment are becoming smarter and more automated, they’re also communicating more with the outside world. Research firm Gartner has forecasted that there will be 25 billion Internet of Tings (IoT) connected devices worldwide by the end of 2021 – and judging by the new products coming out of the foodservice equipment industry, many of those devices will be found in commercial kitchens. Whether it’s keeping tabs on equipment diagnostics from
INVESTOR AND LEAD SHARK ABC’S SHARK TANK
a central location or pushing out a menu update to all the multicookers in a national chain, operators are becoming more reliant on this kind of connectivity. Such reliance is only expected
20 FEDA News & Views
the flexibility built into these connected systems means that operators are no longer stuck with their initial choice: Soſtware upgrades can be made later on to add new features or increase the level of IoT integration, making them better long-term values.
Space Savings Te move over the past decade toward smaller kitchens may have been driven by some operators’ desire to maximize dining space. But despite dining rooms being closed or operating at limited capacity, the demand for compact, mobile, and multifunctional equipment has not slowed – even many larger kitchens are still looking for ways to save space and improve the workflow. In response, some manufacturers are reducing the size of their equipment to fit it into increasingly smaller footprints, or redesigning it to serve multiple purposes so that kitchens can operate with fewer devices. Take combi ovens, for example: Te basic technology has
been around for decades but they have become increasingly popular in the United States over the past few years because they emulate the work of convection ovens, steamers, smokers, grills, and smokers. Te ability to replace all those cooking devices with a single piece of equipment is why the combi
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