Article

The Right Stuff

Assessing the Upsides of New Kitchen Equipment and Technology for Your Concept

Anyone who has walked the floors at the National Restaurant Show is likely able to attest that restaurant equipment and technology advancements were mind-numbing even a decade ago. If you felt FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) over kitchen-gear upgrade decisions back then, today's choices might be overwhelming.

To coin an old phrase "If I had a nickel" for every time successful independent operators uttered that the restaurant business "is not rocket science," I would have more than a few nickels. While I believe the sentiment underestimates the skill it takes to manage a profitable restaurant, I appreciate its practicality and "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset.

For example, the simple spatula is a back-of-the-house (BOH) cost-control tool. It ensures that condiments and sauces are not wasted. Color-coded kitchen supplies are unsung heroes of the guest experience. They prevent cross-contamination that can precipitate food-borne illnesses. These are hardly sexy; however, they are standard restaurant kitchen arsenal. Vacuum sealers were invented in the 1940s and came into commercial kitchen use in the 1960s. They are hardly new technology. For optimal food preservation, a vacuum sealer helps extend the shelf life of ingredients, reducing waste and ensuring freshness.

On the other hand, data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) promise to change restaurant operations. Market competition and the cost of doing business are continually increasing. "Thankfully, the industry has not only embraced IoT and the use of sensors, but it is also looking to evaluate the use of AI or artificial intelligence," says Toby Malbec, managing director at Potomac, Maryland-based ConStrata Consulting, LLC, which provides operations and technology strategy for foodservice, hospitality, and retail businesses.

Says Malbec, "While this will be a longer route and probably be years before it is financially feasible, the idea of leveraging the work being performed in other sectors to assist in making our kitchens more efficient and eventually replacing mundane tasks and labor hours with automation will be an exciting advancement."

Industry experts like Malbec have watched this sea change in restaurant technology for years. Today, POS companies promote their data analytics capabilities. A decade ago, however, Lutz Finger, a data expert in residence at Cornell University's S.C. Johnson School of Business, worked with a team of graduate students to help a small, family-owned restaurant on the Jersey Shore harness its point-of-sale data to make more informed decisions about inventory management.

Circus Drive-In was an iconic concept launched in 1954 with fresh made-to-order burgers, without using a frozen product. The restaurant closed in 2017 after the sale of the business's property to new owners.

With the long-established restaurant's proximity to the seashore, weather often influenced guest traffic. The owners understood that poor weather could hinder sales and fair weather could boost it; however, not with great precision.

In addition, while most people who live at or frequent the Jersey Shore are aware of seasonal weather patterns, to predict the weather week-to-week with any consistency would require deeper analysis of data garnered from archived weather history.

Lutz and his team analyzed historical sales against weather data to predict guest traffic and sales to create a predictive model of weekly purchasing needs. Using this model, the amount of waste was reduced to 700 patties per season preventing 3,100 hamburgers from being discarded. That previously wasted inventory amounted to hard-earned cash in the trash.

"The major technology changes we are seeing in the kitchen are not the actual equipment, but the degree to which it can be connected to a myriad of data sources through access to the Internet," says Malbec, explaining, "IoT is an expression used to describe the connected nature of devices to external data through the Internet. By connecting, appliances like ovens, walk-ins, or blenders can provide huge amounts of culinary, preparation, or even maintenance data. And they can automate preparation or maintenance with less human intervention."

In addition, says Malbec, "More and more devices are being equipped with sensors that can measure the thickness of a steak, or even how long a sauce will need to be blended to achieve the perfect thickness. These additions to existing appliances will improve the overall quality of the product, reduce waste, and improve kitchen maintenance."

If you use ChatGPT, you have insight into AI. If you control your home thermostat or check to see who is standing outside the door from your phone, you are familiar with IoT. If you own an autonomous vacuum cleaner, you know robotics.

A truly comprehensive discussion of all the equipment and technology advances, let alone the number of companies offering them, would be akin to drinking out of a proverbial firehose. Moreover, a list of innovative and quality restaurant equipment and technology companies could fill a catalog.

For this article, let us step back and consider the fundamental issues of evaluating kitchen equipment and technology upgrades:

• Is it right for my concept? The technology that the big chains are clamoring for might not reap the same value in your single- or multi-unit independent concept. Kitchen equipment and technology that is a boon to a fast-casual concept might be out of place in fine dining.
• What is the return? Hospitality finance wonks might enjoy analyzing the net present value of equipment and technology purchases. Fire up your spreadsheet, but trust your instincts. Ask yourself a few questions. Will new gear improve cash flow by reducing food and labor costs? Will it improve staff morale by reducing repetitive labor-intensive tasks? Will it improve the guest experience by increasing product consistency and reducing service wait times? Will it provide data to help me make better decisions and feel in greater control of operations?

Is it Right for My Concept?

We certainly encounter this question when considering front-of-the-house (FOH) technology. Consider the ubiquitous handheld POS terminal. It speeds up transactions and improves server efficiency. It might not be right for an upscale concept that believes an old-school billfold check presenter is more elegant and not likely to make the guest feel rushed.

In the heart of the house, combination (combi) ovens have been around for decades. Programmable models were introduced in the 1990s. The concept of "kitchen robotics" is tossed around these days. Robotics is a form of automation, and a programmable combi oven falls under that category.

A hospital food service chef once told me that when the first programmable combi oven was brought into his kitchen "it was like driving a pickup truck for years and then getting behind the wheel of a Porsche." The demands of an on-site food service kitchen differ from independent operations that mostly cook to order. An independent concept with significant banquet and catering services might find a programmable combi invaluable.

Kitchen display systems replace paper tickets and kitchen printers. They are integrated with the POS system and can help keep the kitchen staff organized and avoid mistakes that drag down order time and guest satisfaction. Many operators swear by them. I recall the owner of a Houston seafood concept who waxed poetic about his restaurant's adoption of an earlier model. He became a restaurateur after a career in total quality management. Digitizing the order process appealed to him, as someone whose previous career focused on streamlining systems. Moreover, given his restaurant's fast-casual fried seafood menu, he found the systems to be a boon to speed and guest satisfaction.

Mike Montgomery owns and operates the popular Abbey Road Grille units in North Carolina's Research Triangle. He recalls taking over a space with overhead kitchen displays. His concern was the staff looking at terminals rather than the food they were preparing. He believed the system risked dragging down food quality. For him, a good expeditor was the key to a successful service. Keep the cooks focused on efficient and quality food preparation with the expeditor managing tickets and ensuring nothing leaves the kitchen until it is right.

Conflicting opinions on these subjects abound. "For versatile cooking and unparalleled efficiency, a combi oven is a must," says Omar Pereney, chef consultant and principal founder of Houston-based Culinary Matters. A combi oven allows you to cook with steam, convection, or a combination. He is a fan of programmable models. With one of these, you will not need to use a separate steamer or convection oven, as a combi can replace both appliances to save you money and space in your kitchen. And like other types of technology, they have become more affordable over time. He also notes advances in blenders that cook, scale, and stir, making them an all-in-one tool for a busy kitchen.

You need to consider all the costs, including utilities and maintenance. You also need to consider the potential disruption to service if a piece of tech-enabled equipment, upon which your concept relies, breaks down during a shift. Can your kitchen crew quickly shift to manual preparation methods if equipment goes down?

"The problems with a lot of the newer tech-enabled equipment are the expense and that there are more things to break," says Stephani Robson, professor emerita at Cornell and a restaurant design and operations consultant. "I'm a big advocate of keeping things simple in the back of the house: minimal electronics, no bells and whistles. Take combis, for example: sure, they're flexible but they aren't that helpful for a la minute cooking [i.e., food made to order, rather than prepared in advance] and many of them have had real trouble with motherboard failures. These are better suited to operations that do a lot of catering or banquets."

Robson adds, "Big chains might like web-enabled equipment that can be monitored and controlled centrally, but it doesn't make much sense for an independent operator, except perhaps for monitoring refrigeration. "Instead, spend your money on solidly built equipment that is simple to use and repair. There is a reason that used deck ovens and used gas ranges are popular with startups. If you keep them clean, they'll run forever."

Determining what equipment and technology is right for your concept often requires analyzing how they can improve the guest experience, which includes consistent menu execution. Your kitchen staff are not robots. What equipment and technology will help them reduce variation in quality and portioning?

If you grew up watching pizza makers rolling and tossing dough, you might appreciate Todd Stern, owner and operator of southwest Florida-based Detroit Pizza Joint. Stern is a pizza traditionalist who prefers to prep pizzas by hand. With the popularity of his concept's thin-crust pizza increasing, he plans to invest in a commercial dough sheeter. A dough sheet uses rollers to flatten the dough to a consistent thickness. The process presses out gases, developing gluten (in dough that has gluten) and toughening the dough. One of the top benefits of a dough sheeter is consistency – the results will be uniform, so every cut of the same size takes the same amount of time to bake.

Whether you call it robotics or automation, says Malbec, "There are many robots in use in kitchens today, from those that make and flip burgers to those that can top a pizza; the use of robotics is still in its infancy and requires precise setup and instrumentation to work successfully. We have seen robotic table cleaners and other in-restaurant services, but most require significant mapping and configuration. Future kitchen robots will be capable of greater 'randomness' of floor plans, table setups, restaurant traffic, and other dynamic issues.

Look at how devices like robotic vacuums that are available for industrial use have evolved, and we will see a similar evolution in our industry robotics and in their capability to do more with less human intervention.

What is the Return?

No one understands the first rule of economics better than a restaurant owner: "There is no such thing as a free lunch." The expense of new equipment and technology must be justified. When contemplating cost control, the first thing that comes to mind for most operators is prime cost – the total direct production costs, including raw materials and labor.

With the cost of goods and labor ever increasing, any innovation that promises to reduce these costs is bound to get your attention. Low-tech gear includes spatulas and portioning tools. More elaborate solutions include inventory and order management systems and equipment to preserve inventory shelf-life.

Whether you call it robotics or automation, the quest to optimize – if not replace – labor is nothing new. A concern across occupations and professions is the potential for technology to replace human labor. Again, nothing new. Technological advancements have long driven frictional unemployment, a fancy term for job loss resulting from workers searching for new employment or transitioning from their old jobs to new ones. The classic example is the buggy whip maker in the wake of society's transition from horses to automobiles. Restaurateurs are best served to view labor-saving technology as labor optimization technology.

Around the time McDonald's introduced touch-screen order kiosks, Chip Klose, a New Jersey-based restaurant consultant astutely identified their real value during a presentation at the New York Restaurant Show. While much of the industry focused on whether customers would happily adopt this technology, Klose noted kiosks reduced reliance on staff for purely transactional tasks, such as taking orders and processing payments. The benefit to the unit and its guests was that staff could perform roles best served by humans – hospitality.

Stern applies this thinking to his staff regarding the dough sheeter. "I will not eliminate staff," he says. "It will free up key kitchen staff to handle more important prep than rolling out dough balls all day. The cost savings come from those team members being in other needed areas of the kitchen and helping with our catering business."

Technology can reduce your labor costs by eliminating certain jobs. More importantly, it can help you improve the productivity of your best employees. Very few concepts are staffed by all-stars. We have team members who are dedicated and enjoy their jobs and we have team members who are simply looking for a paycheck – the so-called "warm bodies" to fill roles.

We tend to see the employment process as sourcing (finding promising applicant pools), recruiting (convincing applicants to apply for jobs), and hiring (selecting the best applicants). A critical part of the process, however, is deployment – assigning hires to jobs that are the best fit for their interests, talents, and value to the concept. Equipment and technology that reduces reliance on staff to assume repetitive tasks frees the business to hire employees interested in working in a restaurant in creative and guest-facing roles. This is where the technology boosts not only productivity but also morale. It can automate labor-intensive and stressful tasks.

"If you are going to invest in BOH tech, focus on order management systems," says Robson. "Lots of POS systems have this built-in, or you can get one from a third-party vendor if it smoothly integrates with your POS. An order management system helps you stay on top of kitchen flow that improves guest satisfaction and cost control."

Adds Robson, "It can also help you spot where you need more training or need to fine tune your menu or production system to get food out faster. Make sure that the order management system you use is first and foremost easy to use and has a great interface – without these two features, your staff won't use it and you'll have wasted your money. These systems tend to be faster and easier to set up than inventory management systems and take less time to keep up to date. Be sure to decide what you need before you go out looking for a system and don't be swayed by all kinds of cool features you don't require."

Pereney echoes Robson's advice and emphasizes the value of invoice automation and inventory management systems. "Managing inventory accurately is crucial for controlling costs. With systems, food purchases are seamlessly tracked, and inventory valuations remain accurate, which helps operators stay on top of their spending."

Pereney also believes recipe management software is essential for scaling recipes up or down and ensuring the entire team stays aligned with any updates. It also helps with tracking menu item costs. He is also a fan of food labeling systems and team management software. "A streamlined system for labeling food with critical details – like who made it, when, and expiration dates – boosts food safety and accountability. Pairing this with a team management app ensures organized routines and transparent performance tracking."

One Size Does Not Fit All

National quick-service chains notwithstanding, restaurant concepts have varying equipment and technology needs to optimize operations. While one operator might regale the value of a certain solution, you might not reap the same return for your concept's needs. None of us can afford to be a Luddite. None of us can afford not to become familiar with restaurant equipment and technology innovation, the pace of which only promises to quicken. Nevertheless, every business owner should ask an equipment or technology sales representative "How will this improve my restaurant?"