Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1037828
Summer 2018 79 The future is now for QSRs and other large chains working to connect with consumers already accustomed to the speed and conve- nience that digital technology provides. That's the message that Welbilt wanted to drive home at this year's NRA Show when it debuted its new digital solutions platform KitchenConnect® for its independent foodservice customers. Packaged as an all-encompassing managing and monitoring system developed to help restaurateurs optimize operations, the digital services platform gives any- one in a foodservice operation—chefs, restaurant managers, multiunit operators—the ability to man- age their equipment and processes via a suite of applications on a dashboard. Chefs can simulta- neously update menus in multiple locations from a mobile device. Franchisees can access store equipment information remotely or receive alerts when it's time to clean or service a machine. Using the Report Management module, one large QSR burger chain documented a $4,000 per year savings in oil from adherence to proper oil management through KitchenConnect equipment data analysis, Welbilt reported. "I think seeing the leaps we've taken surprised many of our general market customers," says for- mer CEO Hubertus Muehlhaeuser, credited with leading the rebranding of the foodservice E&S business after its spinoff from The Manitowoc Co. "When you talk KitchenConnect with general mar- ket partners, usually they equate it with a solution that's four or five years away," he adds, "but we showed them that an operator can save anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a thousand dollars, per appliance, if they're connected—today—not somewhere down the road." QSRs, on the other hand, are already feeling the effects of change brought on by mobile-app use and the popularity of delivery. Pioneers like Taco Bell and Panera Bread have been the aggressors in working to connect the dots by investing in digi- tal and automated ordering platforms, POS tech- nologies and tabletop tablets. On the E&S side, Welbilt has been equally proactive on multiple lev- els—integrating easyTouch® technology across multiple lines, featuring an intuitive touch screen, self-diagnostics, and lots of recipe storage; part- nering with visionary Zume Pizza to revolutionize the delivery model by putting kitchens in trucks. It's all part of the Tampa, Fla.-based, manufactur- er's strategy to transition from selling appliances to selling entire kitchen solutions. HUBERTUS MUEHLHAEUSER Welbilt "QSRs want their systems to speak to our equipment. ...This is their reality today." By Stacy Ward, Editor in Chief stacy@feda.com