Labor Savings with Foodservice Automation
How foodservice operators are saving time and money with automation.
In the restaurant world, labor is always a challenge. Whether you are actively trying to hire employees or dealing with constant turnover, Middleby is here to help with a full automation solution. There has never been a better time to utilize technology and automation in your operation. After all, more advancement in manufacturing means more options for your concept. Automation means less laborers and more consistency equaling a higher return on investment and ultimately, a successful business.
Middleby’s automation solutions include robotics, IoT, recipe programming, frozen food dispensers, rethermalizers and much more. Learn how to rethink cooking and lower your labor costs with automated solutions.
Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the foodservice industry experienced massive layoffs and then a severe hiring shortage as restaurants and foodservice operations began to reopen. Never before have we seen these two extremes in such a short period of time. For operators, it’s important to understand the trends and what they mean before digging into the solutions to those challenges.
Automation is one of the top buzzwords in the foodservice industry, and it isn’t going away any time soon. By analyzing processes in the kitchen, operators can then develop patterns to streamline those operations using a wide and growing range of tech-driven solutions. Automation saves time, reduces labor costs, enhances productivity, creates consistency, and most importantly, delivers a fast return on investment.
In addition to automation, “smart kitchens” or “connected kitchens” are an effective way to use technology to deliver better results. A smart kitchen essentially allows operators to connect all aspects in the back-of-the-house, monitor the usage of foodservice equipment across multiple locations, receive real-time reporting and notifications on that usage, and then implement the knowledge learned from this data to streamline operations.
The ultimate goal of technology is to make life easier for staff. On one hand, when you increase speed and performance in the kitchen using cooking automation, you reduce the burden on labor, enabling operators to essentially do more with less. When you reduce the burden on labor, you also make it easier for staff to complete their jobs, which makes it easier to retain that staff. Cooking automation can have a wide range of positive impacts.
Cafeteria-style foodservice was one of the most impacted operations by the recent Covid pandemic. In many cases, cafeterias were shut down all together as offices and schools were vacated. Now as the workplace and the classroom are opening back up again, foodservice directors and operators are finding it difficult to maintain quality levels of service with a smaller and less-trained workforce. Foodservice automation can help alleviate these challenges.
