FSR magazine April 2018

Trending on The menu // Chef Tools
RoboT Coupe
Though knife skills aRe
sTill CRiTiCal, a food
pRoCessoR Can help
ReduCe kiTChen sTRain.
cessors help reduce prep time and create
more consistent menu items, says
Kevin Keith, national project manager at
Robot Coupe. “Never lose focus on basic
knife skills, but do understand there are
so many options with food processors to
make a kitchen run even more efficiently
and save both time and labor,” he says.
“By performing time-consuming tasks,
such as food prep, for them, the chefs
are now able to become more creative
and focus on other restaurant functions.”
Though it may not seem as glamorous
as high-tech equipment, storage systems
can be generate valuable cost savings.
“Storing and the smart handling of
food products to extend their shelf life
is one way to control costs,” says Patricia
Guerrero, a senior marketing manager
at Cambro. “This point is particularly
important for facilities that work
with a lot of fresh produce and other perishable
products. Making fresh produce
last for an additional two or three days
could help save hundreds or even thousands
of dollars per month.”
Even for restaurants that aren’t ready
to in large systems right away, starting
with a single new tool can still offer big
benefits, Guerrero says. “Implementing
use of just one type of product, a commercial-grade
storage container or food
pan with a sealing cover, is enough to
produce savings by itself, but combining
several creative solutions will always
have the most significant impact,” she
says. “Consistency, efficiency, and management
in every step of the operator
process, from ordering items to storing
and preserving them to preparing and
serving them, are the details that produce
successful businesses despite the
variables involved in food service.”
The Kitchen of the Future
Over the last decade, the speed of technological
growth has revolutionized life
outside the kitchen, and in the last few
years, it has been doing the same inside.
This speed of change, however, is only
growing, and restaurants can expect to
find new tools in their kitchens soon.
With the tremendous growth of
mobile technology, for example, it is
no surprise that it has already started
to cross into the realm of guest experience
and inventory control. “Connectivity
is becoming a key element in the
equipment space,” Shave says. “We have
seen over the past couple of years how
ordering has changed in this space with
mobile ordering now commonplace.”
But as these mobile technology
advances, it is also crossing into the
kitchen. “Integrating the equipment into
the ordering system to stage and streamline
the cooking process is the next step,”
Shave says. Additionally, he notes that
the new ability for equipment to alert
management when service is required
means that equipment has more up time
and can generate more sales.
Much like mobile, as new technology
revolutionizes other industries,
restaurants can expect these hightech
solutions to enter kitchens soon,
too. Datassential reports that 81 percent
of consumers believe science can
have a positive impact on food, and
research shows that many consumers
are interested in trying food prepared
with advanced techniques. For example,
33 percent of Gen Z and 31 percent
of millennial diners are interested in 3-D
printed foods, which could help further
reduce kitchen strain.
Machine learning is another way
technology may soon enter kitchens.
This technology could help chefs choose
new ideas, dishes, and ingredients to
explore and help them plan for shifts in
consumer demand and industry changes.
Datassential is already launching a new
machine-learning engine called Haiku
this year. This will help the company predict
food trends four years in advance
with 99.3 percent accuracy. These
resources are already available to chefs,
and as machine learning grows, these
kinds of tools could soon find their way
into individual kitchens.
Food and labor costs, customer
demands, and other pressures will keep
influencing the restaurant industry, and
as it shifts, kitchens will have to adapt to
new techniques and technologies to keep
up. By investing in the right tools, chefs
and their kitchens can become more efficient
and spend more time on the things
that matter most—serving good food.
66 ApRil 2018 | SPonSored ConTenT FOODNEWSFEED.cOm