FEDA News & Views

50 FEDA News & Views OPERATIONS Restaurants Today and Tomorrow All these ongoing changes have profound implications for how both the front of the house and back of the house are designed and equipped. "We're getting away from the Chipotle-type made-for- you experience," notes Lawson. " e physical design of the restaurant is changing. ere will be a huge impact on established QSRs going into smaller footprints and a more utilitarian back of house." Even the number and distribution of restaurants is up for grabs, he says, with operators downsizing existing units (and letting some of the staff go) in order to open nearby pickup and delivery-only branches that maximize customer convenience. As restaurant kitchens shrink, "operators are continuing to take advantage of space savings, and there's a lot more kitchen automation going on," Kurdle adds. No longer constrained by how many people will wait in line, operators can serve more customers—but when food continues to be made to order, ramping up production leads to new challenges. POS providers like Gusto are working with operators to help them deal with the implications. "Consumers who are pre-ordering their meal want to come in, pick it up, be organized, and get out as fast as possible," Kurdle says. "If you're taking orders online and someone orders 100 pizzas, the next person trying to order shouldn't be promised a pizza in 15 minutes—maybe he needs to be told his pizza will be ready in an hour." For Kurdle, a rotating high-capacity pizza oven is a perfect example of an equipment upgrade that can increase production signifi cantly while decreasing the need for kitchen labor (because pizzas cook as they revolve and automatically return to the staff member for removal when they're done). Here are a few others: Multiples of the same piece of high-volume equipment (i.e., two or three rotating pizza ovens) Smaller pieces of equipment that can be stacked for use in compact kitchens (such as a refrigerated base topped with a griddle) High-speed cooking equipment such as induction cooktops High-production equipment like conveyor ovens, chain broilers and double-sided griddles High-effi ciency labor-saving equipment—like fryers with built-in fi ltration and portioning baskets, self-cleaning rotisserie ovens, conveyor dishwashers that prompt staff on optimizing loading patterns Ventless cooking equipment that can be moved around the kitchen or front counter as needed, without the requirement for a fi xed hood Versatile equipment that can do a number of diff erent jobs, like a combi oven that bakes, roasts and steams Automated recipe programs for cooking equipment that can be executed without human intervention at the various steps More refrigeration, warming and holding equipment More reliable equipment to minimize downtime and production bottlenecks RESTAURANT TECH THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION SURVEYED MORE THAN 500 TECHNOLOGY THEY WERE USING AS WELL AS THEIR PLANS FOR FUTURE

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