It's the decade of technological advances and discovering ways to become more sustainable in business. When it comes to foodservice operations, there isn't a shortage of appliances and controls that are currently available  to make your kitchen more profitable. With various opportunities to follow trends and maintain profitability, you'll find benefits around every corner. One major trend is smart kitchens, also known as connected kitchens, and how they help ease labor issues while ensuring quality service for those waiting consumers.

WHAT IS A SMART KITCHEN?

Known for high tech efficiency, smart kitchens are filled with appliances that help reduce the time spent on maintaining equipment, offset the cost of labor, and often make automated cooking a breeze. Through advanced technology, these appliances allow you to reduce your carbon footprint, are great marketing tools for being transparent with patrons, and many of them take up less kitchen space. Each appliance is built for accuracy.

When it comes to smart equipment, you'll find control and monitoring systems that do things like alert you when a drastic temperature change happens, and then that system will automatically adjust defrost systems in freezers and refrigerators to ensure that the food stays fresh or is stored at the proper temperature. That's pretty amazing, right? Rather than spending time constantly checking to see if there's a specific pattern drop or rise each day, the on-demand systems manage it for you and alert you as necessary. No need to worry or spend extra time checking to see if everything is running smoothly. 

BENEFITS AND EFFICIENCY

The smart kitchen trend is working towards and promising that, with connected kitchens, there will be less room for human error. This provides a more consistent ability to produce and cook while reducing labor costs and lowering energy consumption. You can improve guest services by taking away the need to constantly monitor equipment, thus enabling your staff to focus on your foodservice to consumer relationships more.

Not only will you build trust and long-lasting relationships, but you'll be able to manage things remotely. With a digital connection, all of your appliances will be communicating with each other, making it easy to monitor and adjust your operation's performance as needed. 

Decrease the liability in your operation with a connected kitchen. Remove the paperwork that can be easily lost or misplaced and rely on the analytics from your smart equipment. This helps take the risk of human error away and replaces it with hard recorded documentation. It's also great proof that you're running an operation that meets the standard, while making visits from food and health inspectors easier. 

PROFITS 

Being profitable is, of course, the main priority in any foodservice operation. With Smart equipment, you can trust that you'll become profitable when you're maximizing equipment performance, as well as its operational life, meaning you'll be spending less time focused on maintenance and replacing equipment and more time on productivity. That productivity can allow you to cook and serve more quickly, enabling your business to bring in more consumers.

Additionally, using smart equipment can assist in lowering energy consumption and labor costs. By doing so, foodservice operations will reduce their carbon footprint while increasing the profitable footprint. Saving time, producing more, and putting money back in your pocket.

At RDT, we specialize in providing quality refrigerator systems. Check out our Eco-Cool Series or our Eco-Smart Series for energy-saving refrigeration control. Take advantage of our equipment's monitoring, receive alarms and utilize the reports to help ensure your food stays fresh and is strored at optimal temperatures. Should you have any questions on the best fit for your foodservice operation, contact us today. We'll answer your questions and assist you in determining what equipment will meet your needs and goals the best when it comes to transitioning into a connected kitchen.