Smartphones & Smarter Kitchens: the future for foodservice
If someone came up to you in the 90’s and started telling you about ‘ubering’ a personal taxi via an App, editing a photo on Instagram on your smartphone and posting it to your Facebook page, you’d probably have asked if they needed a translator.
Technology hasn’t just changed the way we work and communicate; it’s fundamentally changed our society, from how news is reported to ordering takeaway. For the foodservice industry, technology has made it easier to be found by customers, given customers the ability to be the online reviewer and opened up countless opportunities to share, engage and connect. But for many foodservice operators, this is where the technology stops – before you enter the kitchen, rather than inside it.
Engaging with your customer’s online and understanding technological developments is important for a restaurant; however, the fundamentals of what makes a restaurant great still remain the same- great food, great service and on-trend menu options.
Looking beyond smartphones, smart kitchens means speedier service, improved efficiency, profitability and accuracy, as well as greater menu variety and less environmental impact. Moreover, advanced kitchen technologies are making two way communication possible between the Chef and the equipment, not to mention being able to replace several pieces of equipment with one single unit that saves on energy, labour and waste.
According to the leading food research and consulting firm Technomic, advanced cooking equipment is not a ‘trend’; it’s unequivocally the future for foodservice. By looking at the biggest foodservice trends of recent years (such as smaller portion sizes, Instagram worthy presentation and Asian fusion cuisine), it’s easy to see how advanced cooking technology is integrated and moreover, integral to serving up food that meets the needs of the new age consumer.
INSTA WORTHY PRESENTATION
The new age foodie has several definable traits, one being that they love snapping and sharing a dish that makes them say ‘wow’. Presentation is key, as is smaller sized dishes. But with Instagram worthy presentation comes time and attention to detail.
Advanced kitchen technology such as RATIONAL’s SelfCookingCenter® is truly a chef’s best friend when creating a variety of small dishes with unique presentation. Each tray inside the RATIONAL can be filled with different foods and cooked in different ways all at the same time, meaning small varied dishes can be done simultaneously and with minimal effort. RATIONAL also prides itself on its ability to automatically adjust the temperature according to your desired cooking style. The unit actively communicates with the chef advising on estimated cook times and temperature adjustments. While traditional equipment leaves chefs baking, steaming, grilling and poaching on various pieces of equipment, the RATIONAL turns the work of several chefs into the work of one unit, meaning less labour, greater productivity and more time to spend on presentation that’ll have your customers snapping and sharing their meals.
The RATIONAL is so smart that users cam actually operate the unit via their smartphone. This means chefs are now able to pre-heat their oven or adjust current cooking times when they aren’t even in the kitchen. Learn more about this incredible technology here.
ASIAN FUSION
Asian fusion has dominated the restaurant landscape since 2015, with places like Kong, Supernormal and Lucy Liu leading the way with on-trend menus created with advanced cooking equipment. Good Food Guide’s new restaurant of the year Supernormal defines this merging of traditional cooking equipment with advanced technologies to bring together a menu focused on new age Asian food fused with traditional dishes such as New England lobster rolls. In this space, the VarioCookingCenter® is the star.
“As a production option, VCC has halved the cooking time to slowly braise tripe and produces a fantastic XO sauce in bulk,” says Supernormal Executive Chef Andrew McConnell. “The heat transfer delivers gorgeous even caramelisation in the sauce.”
The VCC range allows chefs to boil, braise, fry and deep fry in one unit, up to 4 times as fast and using 40% less power consumption. Plus in an era of health conscious consumers, the VCC allows you to use up to 90% less oil than traditional fryers, as well as bulk produce and pack a range of sauces, broths and meals to better cater to the growing gluten free market.
Whether you love it, hate it, or are utterly bewildered by it, technology has and will continue to change the restaurant industry. The question is, will you embrace these changes, or fall behind in the already competitive restaurant industry? While traditional cooking equipment still has its place in the kitchen, the growth in advanced kitchen technology cannot and should not be overlooked.
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