Today's students will be working in the kitchens of the future, so The Caterer held a round table with Rational at Westminster Kingsway College in London to discover what digital and intelligent equipment they and operators BM and Sodexo would like to see
What are the business benefits of using intuitive, intelligent and digital equipment?
Sean Burlinson (SB): A lot of the food industry is driven by people who haven't been trained or by multi-skilled assistants. They put something in an oven and then select a programme to cook it.
Colin Parry (CP): Digitalisation allows standardisation, where a chef's ideas go into a process that can be replicated over and over, making the kitchen more efficient. It can also adapt processes to accommodate factors such as high energy costs, sustainability, times of higher demand or issue prompts. When I was a chef, I wrote my methodologies in a book. Having the technology there is the next generation of that.
Miranda Quantrill (MQ): You can reduce labour with multi-use equipment, which may eventually save you money. But the initial costs may be difficult, technology is expensive, and we have just come out of a lockdown. The students here do specific things in specific ovens – they don't need to know all the bells and whistles, the oven is set for what they are doing.
Pete Redman (PR): When you have five or six chefs knocking out 80 covers at high volume, you have to compromise on oven settings.
SB: Kitchens are getting smaller to accommodate more covers. Multi-functionality is required due to limited space and to deliver a broad menu. Digital control elements should also offset wastage.
Brodie Mordecai (BM): Touchscreen features make equipment easier to use and make a kitchen a safer environment. For orders, front of house printers make it easier to read an order, although there might still be user error.
What are the limits to digital kitchens?
Marli Carter (MC): Technology can save a lot of time, but you have got to be taught how to use it correctly. Jess Erskine (JE): I see a lot of technology advertised at the moment, like a toaster that shows you pictures of how the toast will look. It's getting beyond a joke for simple things like that.
SB: Technology in the kitchen is a natural progression, like the mobile phone. There will be things that fall by the wayside with over-digitalisation, but stuff that sticks.
MQ: I think there's a lot of digital equipment that is not used to capacity. You can't just have a smart kitchen, you have to have a back-up if something goes wrong and you have an hour to go to service.
What are the benefits of connected digital kitchen equipment?
PR: Energy optimisation and efficiency is a big issue. Connectivity gives data to understand power demands and helps in work towards carbon targets.
SB: You can look at information for each oven to allow the optimisation of a piece of equipment – that's a powerful way to improve the efficiency of the kitchen.
CP: You can see the asset management of your equipment. Most equipment will give data if it's left on in down time. Some will give Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point data. We can share menus, recipes and ideas across units.
What is your approach to servicing and maintaining equipment in the kitchen?
PR: We have a lot of service contracts to minimise occasions when equipment goes wrong. We take the approach you would to a car.
Different factors cause problems with equipment, such as surges of power, but often it is misuse: staff leave the ovens on and burn seals out, or people are heavy-handed or drop things.
SB: Poor cleaning is a big issue, maybe through lack of staff training. You need to treat equipment like it's your own. In a chain I worked at in the past we put stickers on the equipment with its price, such as £20,000 for an oven, so that people knew the worth of the equipment they were working on.
JE: As students, we have seven to 10 Kitchen-Aids in the pastry kitchen, and they are worth £500 to £1,000 each. Some of us realise you need to respect your equipment and wipe it down afterwards, but others don't.
MQ: The college had a budget for equipment, but not for servicing and maintenance in the past. This year we are trying to fit in a three-year servicing plan. I think this is an issue across the industry – you might be using kit that has not been maintained.
CP: Asset management and preventative maintenance will give a return on your investment. A lot of customers value the self-cleaning feature on our pro and classic iCombi ranges. Self-cleaning was not a part of the classic range originally, but people were asking for it. It's a big benefit to put your equipment on at the end of the shift and have it clean itself.
What do you think the commercial kitchen will be like in 10 years' time?
Malachai Semere (MS): You won't have as many humans in the kitchen in future. Kitchens will be very automated, with simple things such as cooking rice being done automatically. A chef's place will be to be creative and plate up fine dining.
MC: A robot can't take some jobs away. With chocolate, for example, you still need human skill to do the delicate creative side.
SB: Chefs didn't come into the industry to do a stock take. I see equipment of the future freeing the chef up to focus on their skills. The day-to-day elements can be automated.
CP: We are going to see kitchens becoming smaller, with more multi-functional equipment, and on the back of drives to reduce energy and improve sustainability. Chefs can concentrate on the creative side with the equipment working away in the background.
BM: It will have to be a balance. If you are eating at a restaurant and you see machines being used, it's not the same experience. And if the chef isn't doing what they love, they won't be happy. Getting hands-on making the dough and so on is the fun part.
CP: Demand in convenience is driving the market, and for that you need automation. When you want a nice meal you can go to the creative restaurants.
SB: Just look at the apps to see the direction we are heading, people can access food at their fingertips, wherever and whenever. To be a successful business you have to go with the majority, follow the data.
MQ: I think we are going to see new recyclable fuels coming in. There will be changes in the way we cook. People want standardisation, and customisation, such as vegan options. But we have to tackle sustainability issues too: how is an UberEats order of one bag of food for one person sustainable? We are going to see different pressures from government in what we can serve.
PR: Energy optimisation is a big issue, connecting data from the kitchen to carbon reduction targets. My biggest fear is that technology takes the skills base away, leaving chefs who don't know the basics. Today's commis chef who loses his skill to technology is going to be a head chef one day.
What are the staffing challenges of the future?
CP: Having an environment where you want to work will help the industry with staff retention and sustainability. You haven't always seen that in the kitchen.
BM: As an employee you want the fun part of work, the friendship. If kitchens are not enjoyable to work in, you are more likely to leave the industry. Maybe a business can't pay more, but working practices can make staff want to stay. Technology helps here. Not having to clean the oven before you get to go home makes it easier.
MQ: Invest in training and people will stay. We should all be treated equally, regardless of gender, and everyone should be given flexibility. Skills levels are going to change drastically. The new T levels coming up don't gear young people to stay in the industry.
How do you train chefs in a working kitchen?
PR: We have moved a lot of training online. On the culinary side, we do three or four masterclasses a month, with handouts and follow-ups. I base training on getting involved. We train on equipment too and suppliers will come in.
SB: There is a challenge of consistency across multiple sites. There is an opportunity to use technology, maybe through training videos that sit behind a digitised recipe book in the kitchen. The churn in kitchens is the biggest challenge. If a rival is offering 50p an hour more, everybody's out. We have to invest in people to make them want to stay, let them see a career progression.
BM: Chefs are very hands-on. I was given a manual at work, but you only learn what you need to know. Don't overload someone with information. In the kitchen, demos are the best way to learn.
MS: A lot of people can't process all information in one go. On the job is the best way to learn, using common sense.
CP: We do a lot of training, working with companies. I see the Rational kit as an integral part of the kitchen of the future – at the moment people don't always go into its intelligence. We are doing more videos on the back of our training, a catalogue for a business to refer to. Technology lets you do so much, but you need to be able to tailor it to the challenges in your kitchen.
About Rational
Rational was founded in 1973 with the mission to provide customers with the best tool for cooking and reduce challenges within a commercial kitchen operation.
It is the leading provider of hot food preparation equipment. With just two cooking systems, the iCombi Pro combi steamer and the iVario multifunctional cooking system, a professional kitchen can prepare everything that a modern menu demands. By combining both Rational appliances, 95% of all conventional cooking applications can be achieved, at the same time achieving space savings of up to 40%.
Rational's ConnectedCooking technology connects the cooking systems to the internet, giving chefs the ability to monitor and control their Rational remotely. They can change recipe programs, monitor cooking processes and download free software.
Rational is supported by a national network of dealers and accredited service partners that deliver the highest possible standards of service.
To find out more about our free Rational 10-minute online webinars, visit www.rational-online.com
