By Jessica Mason, Contributor
Are you looking for ways to streamline your kitchen processes and improve customer service at your restaurant? Smart appliances can save you time and money, as well as providing a better working environment. There is so much going on at any time in the kitchen. It's challenging to manage everything amid the chaos of a lunch or dinner rush.
Smart appliances offer you plenty of utility in the kitchen. They assist with efficiently managing tasks, providing set-and-forget technology, and improving cooking times. The result is your staff get to focus on other tasks while they wait for the blender or combi oven to finish.
This post unpacks four popular smart appliances that save your kitchen time and money.
#1 Kitchen Display System
A kitchen display system (KDS) revolutionizes your duties. There are plenty of advantages to adding a KDS to your kitchen.
Track Fulfilment Times Automatically
Time is money in the food industry, and you need your kitchen running like a fine-tuned machine. A KDS helps managers track employee meal fulfilment times.
By analyzing the data, you can see which employees are completing duties efficiently, and who needs more training to improve their performance.
Learn which processes take the most time and resources away from your team, and which times of day give you the highest traffic in the restaurant. A smart kitchen display system gives you the data you need to streamline your processes and improve your margins.
Streamline Your Cooking Processes
Chefs prefer doing one order of 48 jalapeno poppers than preparing 12 separate orders. A KDS eliminates the old paper ticketing system in your kitchen.
You get all orders conveniently displayed on a screen, with tasks allocated to chefs upon ordering. Managers can easily track who is doing what in the kitchen. Avoid costly mistakes and reduce your expenses while improving profit margins.
Optimize the Efficiency of Your Kitchen
Some kitchens have difficulty prioritizing orders when things get busy during peak rush periods like lunch and dinner. A kitchen display system allows managers to route orders to specific workstations around the kitchen, improving order efficiency.
Your KDS allows you to color-code your order tickets, showing the urgency of the current order status. Your staff gets a visual guide to show them which orders need handling first.
Cut Down on Your Food Waste & Kitchen Consumables
Food waste is costly and irresponsible. With a KDS, you not only cut down on your food waste, but you also reduce consumables you would normally purchase for your outdated paper ticketing system.
#2 Food Safety Management System
Food safety is a critical part of any kitchen. The last thing you want is to ruin your reputation by getting a customer sick. If a health inspector arrives at your restaurant, you need to show them your processes.
With a Food Safety Management System (FSMS), you get an end-to-end process management system for your kitchen, covering every aspect of how you receive, store, handle, cook, and deliver food to your customers.
Develop Procedures that Meet Regulations
Food Safety Management systems ensure the kitchen staff completes all tasks in a disciplined and timely manner. The system reduces organizational risk to customers and employees, ensuring staff comply with standards of excellence in the workplace.
When you have processes running your kitchen, there is less chance of things going wrong. Meeting standards and regulations around food safety are critical, especially in today's economic and social climate.
Develop Objectives & Goals for Your Kitchen
A food safety management system lets you capture data for your kitchen, allowing you to set your business goals and objectives. The food safety management system unpacks every aspect of managing your kitchen duties, allowing you to cut costs and improve staff performance.
Build a Strong Training Program
If you have new team members arrive in your kitchen, the food safety management system helps them with their training. Your system includes all the processes and procedures your trainees need to integrate efficiently into your team.
#3 Smart Combi Oven
Having a smart combi over in your kitchen streamlines your cooking processes, replacing many appliances.
With a smart combi oven, you get a higher yield, shorter cooking times, and food cooked to perfection. Smart functionality on these machines ensures that your staff can use them without making any mistakes.
Simple Operation
Smart combi ovens come with one-button operation. Slip the food into the oven, hit a button, and the system alerts you when it is ready.
Your staff can complete other tasks while the food cooks instead of keeping their eye on the broiler or fryer. The result is improved kitchen efficacies and faster order fulfilment times. With high capacity cooking, a smart combi can help you cook up to 30 meals during peak times.
Versatile Use
A combi oven is suitable for cooking 90% of the meals you're serving from your kitchen. More than 120-million meals reach customers around the world each day, served from combi ovens. A smart combi oven gives you versatile cooking operation. Use it as a grill, broiler, or a stove.
Replace Outdated Legacy Systems
The smart integrations in this appliance allow you to set-and-forget meals, leaving the appliance to do the work while managing other aspects of meal preparation.
#4 Smart Commercial Blender
How many times has someone burned out a blender in your kitchen or bar? We bet it probably happened more than a few times this year. While commercial blenders come built to last, they don't stand up to severe abuse. If someone starts the blender and walks away, chances are it's going to burn out.
A smart commercial blender is a great way to avoid burnout. These appliances feature smart functionality, including timers and sensors that shut down the appliance after achieving your desired food processing needs.
Pre-programmed Tasks
Smart blenders come with multi-functional task programming, with pre-set timers and blade speeds to match specific applications.
Advanced Microchip Technology
Choose the preferred setting for blending smoothies, milkshakes, juices, soup, and hot drinks. The smart technology in the blender ensures a perfect outcome every time.
Powerful Motor
Your blender comes with a powerful, multi-speed motor. Thanks to the advanced microchip technology, the appliance automatically chooses the right blade speed and power required for your blending task.
In Closing – Improve Your Restaurant’s Kitchen & Your Business with Smart Appliances
By implementing these four smart appliances in your kitchen, you'll revolutionize your kitchen's efficiency and profitability. Let technology supercharge your business and your kitchen. Try these solutions out and watch your bottom line grow.
About the Author
Jessica Mason is a Clinical Dietitian and Owner of Kitchen Habit who also has a strong passion for cooking. She regularly writes for various food and beverage publications and enjoys staying up to date with industry news.
