Smart kitchens help restaurant owners decrease their overhead costs and improve the sustainability of their commercial kitchens. Through a combination of connected equipment, temperature monitoring, mobile connectivity, and data, the smart kitchen concept can be used to improve and streamline the restaurant industry.
Connected Equipment
Smart commercial equipment makes it easier for restaurants to manage their menus and recipes. Ovens and fryers will automatically download recipes and fine-tune their cook time. In a smart kitchen, grills can be tuned to the perfect temperature for a given product — and different menu items can be coded into fryers.
Apart from the actual cooking equipment, systems such as HVAC and lighting can be modified to react to personnel. Rather than lighting and cooling empty hallways, systems can be designed to turn on and off during specific times, to improve overall efficiency, and shut off when not in use. In this way, an entire commercial kitchen can be made to be energy-efficient and sustainable.
Temperature Monitoring, Health, and Safety
When a freezer or refrigerator goes out of temp, a temperature monitoring system can automatically react to it. Today's commercial kitchens require a significant amount of temperature regulation and compliance. Temperature monitoring, health, and safety measures won't just log temperatures consistently, but can also provide vital and necessary alerts when a cold hold or hot hold falls out of temp. This affords a restaurant owner time to mitigate the issue.
IoT and the Labor Impact
Restaurant owners can do a lot with smart technology in terms of labor. Also known as IoT (Internet of Things), smart technology helps streamline many tasks. Employees can leverage IoT devices to do their job more efficiently, looking up recipes on-the-fly, and making adjustments to and checking on inventory.
Employers today can keep employees scheduled and provide for easier, better schedule management through cloud scheduling systems. Overall, this can help restaurant owners mitigate the labor challenges that many of them are facing today.
Mobile Connectivity and Data
Why is IoT becoming so prolific now? With the advancements of 5G and cellular technology, mobile connectivity has become lower latency and faster. Today, a restaurant owner can look at their smartphone and get the system status of their restaurant equipment, look through their inventory, order new inventory items, and even see which employees are on the clock. The benefits of this mobile connectivity are profound.
Going Green With the Ultimate Smart Kitchen
Going green has numerous advantages. Companies can save money, reduce their overhead, and improve their efficiency. Lighting and heating can be automatically managed and maintained. And companies can let their customers and employees know that they're going green, too, which comes with a tremendous marketing advantage. Today, when many restaurants are going farm-to-table and sustainable, a greener kitchen matters.
Companies of all industries are improving their operations and reducing their overhead costs through smart technology. Commercial kitchens are no exception.
Connecting equipment for foodservice and retail, Open Kitchen by Powerhouse Dynamics is a solution to help organize, report, and deliver. With realtime access to equipment and operations, operators are able to see when equipment isn't performing up to speed. Reporting for HACCP is automatic and simple to download. And the ability to schedule things like lights and HVAC can help save money and energy. With Powerhouse Dynamics, managing your commercial kitchen just got a little easier.
Get hands-on experience with smart kitchen equipment in the One Source test kitchen - click below and schedule a time to meet our team and find solutions for foodservice business.
