Sponsored by RATIONAL USA
From automation to updating kitchen equipment, there are a number of ways that restaurants can lower costs without sacrificing food quality, service, turnover time or customer experience.
Equipment upgrades in particular can help with not only operational costs, but can also foster a better work environment for staff, which can boost job satisfaction and help reduce turnover. And in a time when both hiring and retaining workers has proven difficult, reducing turnover is crucial. By upgrading equipment, operators stand to benefit in many areas.
Boosted labor efficiency
In the back of house, efficiency is king. Trimming down the amount of labor necessary to prepare a dish—as well as the amount of time to do so—can not only help to optimize labor, but it can also ease staff stress and speed up order turnaround times, which increases customer satisfaction. With conventional kitchen equipment, such as a convection oven and stove, restaurants rely solely on employees’ cooking skills and their variable consistency. But during rushes or when newer employees that have less kitchen training are on the clock, mistakes can be made and meals may need to be remade.
To ensure efficiency and allow for fewer mistakes, operators can make the switch to a combi oven. Combi ovens, such as the iCombi Pro from RATIONAL, simplify the cooking processes and ensure great results every time. Employees simply load food into the combi, select the cooking mode and time, and with the touch of a button the food is on its way to being perfectly prepared—no worries about burned food, undercooked food or other undesirable results.
Billy Buck, Vice President of Culinary at RATIONAL USA, said, “For example, if we’re doing breaded chicken on the combi, we would simply select the poultry setting. We’d go to the breaded setting and say ‘I want this to be 165 degrees internal temperature, and I want it to be golden brown and delicious on the outside.’ The intelligent combi oven will monitor that cooking process.”
Other intelligent equipment, including RATIONAL’s iVario Pro, an intelligent tilt skillet, helps streamline labor processes for other types of foods—including soups and sauces. Buck said, “If [a worker] is preparing soup in our intelligent tilt skillet, it will help to monitor and guide them through the cooking steps.” The iVario Pro guides users, via touchscreen, through the process of first sweating or sautéing vegetables, then adding the liquid and letting the soup cook for a designated time. By removing the guesswork, intelligent equipment helps streamline the labor process and ease stress on the back of house.
Consistent food outcomes and lowered food costs
In busy kitchens, it’s important to be able to deliver meals not only in a reasonable amount of time to keep diners happy, but also to be able to churn out an array of different dishes to execute the entire menu. With a convection oven and stove, functionality is somewhat limited. With the iCombi Pro and iVario Pro, however, workers have access to an array of different functions all in one spot—including roasting, frying, grilling, sautéing, steaming, baking, poaching, smoking, dehydrating and more.
Standard cooking equipment can lead to issues with over- or undercooked foods, which can contribute to customer dissatisfaction and may even cause foodborne illness. But with updated, intelligent equipment, those worries are gone. HACCP data is tracked internally. Food comes out perfectly every time, customers are happy and dishes rarely have to be remade—lowering food costs.
Buck said, “The multifunctionality really allows people to streamline things in their kitchen. On the tilt skillet side of things, having cooking intelligence in your kitchen can assist to make sure that you’re having consistent food quality time and again.”
By upgrading to intelligent kitchen equipment, restaurants can be confident the food they’re cooking comes out just right every time, ensuring a delicious—and safe—experience for diners.
Reduced operational costs and a comfortable, safe work environment
Equipment upgrades can help with even more than labor and food costs. They also help restaurants save on operational costs, including electricity and gas, as well as the costs associated with a kitchen’s climate control system. Because combi ovens operate more efficiently than convection ovens and stoves, they don’t contribute as much to heating up the environment surrounding them. In other words, the kitchen stays cooler when using combi ovens versus when using standard ovens. As a result, restaurants HVAC costs can be reduced because the system won’t have to work as hard to keep the kitchen cool.
Upgrading to intelligent equipment
Intelligent cooking equipment, including RATIONAL’s iCombi Pro and iVario Pro models, is a boon to the bottom line for any commercial kitchen. Because the brand focuses solely on innovation in cooking, they are able to strategize for maximum customer satisfaction. Buck said, “We have seven different-sized iCombis and four different-sized iVarios, and that allows us to focus and provide support to our customers in their kitchens to make sure they’re getting the most benefit out of the equipment they purchased.”
RATIONAL is dedicated to working with its customers to ensure that equipment is performing optimally, so that restaurants get the most out of their upgraded equipment. They back this with a 24/7 ChefLine and a robust service call center where operators can ask questions about product cooking methods or troubleshoot issues, respectively.
To learn more about the iCombi Pro and the iVario Pro, click here.
