As casual dining brands continue to host virtual brands in their kitchens — and simultaneously face a tight employee market — some operators are increasingly looking to technological innovations to make their kitchens faster and more efficient.
Chili’s Grill & Bar, the 1,592-unit division of Dallas-based Brinker International, is backing away from early trials of customer-facing technology like robot servers and drone deliveries to focus on new kitchen appliances. And Baton Rouge, La.-based Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, which has 70 locations in 14 states, installed a new Kitchen Display System to connect the front of the house with the kitchen staff for more efficiency.
In about 50 of its units, Chili’s is looking to create the Kitchen of the Future Three with grills and ovens that are enhanced with technology to speed up cooking and increase consistency. The trial was launched in earnest in November, a spokeswoman said.
Joe Taylor, Brinker’s chief financial officer, said in a November earnings call that the new equipment will automate some back-of-house functions.
Test equipment includes a programmable TurboChef triple-deck oven for items like pizza, ribs and quesadillas and a two-surface griddle that can cook both sides of burgers, steaks, chicken and salmon with one – touch button. The oven can cook items about 50% faster than the traditional conveyor-belt version.
Kevin Hochman, CEO and president of Brinker, said in an earnings call in August that the company is working to increase margins, and the new buildings may not include as much in-store space as the -anan but will be optimized for off-site sales. That will include optimizing the kitchen, he said.
“We will try to facilitate what we call the Kitchen of the Future Three, which is the equipment that will make it easier, faster and more consistent, and significantly reduce the cooking times of most of the things in our menu,” Hochman said. “We believe that increasing the speed of service through that equipment will lead to turning tables faster and higher sales. That is why we are aggressively looking at technology as a way to improve the margins of restaurant and productivity.
Removing friction for team members and guests is the goal, Hochman said.
“For team members, there is a clear opportunity in our heart of the house, or in our back of the house in our kitchen display systems that improve the flow of the order and the place to go, which is now 35% of our business,” Hochman said.
“There are also many tasks that we think guests would like to do for themselves using the right technology, if we can deploy it properly in restaurants, such as seating, ordering and paying,” he added. “This will make it easier for guests and reduce how much time our team members need to perform tasks for our guests today.”
Chili is not alone.
Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux announced in January that it was investing in technology as it celebrated its 20th anniversary and working to improve the customer experience.
The award-winning brand implemented a systemwide aggregator to consolidate third-party orders, partnered with Lunchbox to upgrade its online-ordering and guest-loyalty program and introduced a partnership with Toast, the cloud-based platform, to improve its point. -Sale and Kitchen Display System technology.
“An investment in your tools is an investment in your employees, guests and franchisees,” said Jared Hinshaw, Walk-On’s vice president of technology, in a statement. “Technological advancement is the wave of the future for every business.”
Walk-On’s is set to launch a new loyalty program and smartphone app, designed by Lunchbox, early this year, improving the interface and back-end integration.
“The online guest experience is non-negotiable for restaurants,” said Nabeel Alamgir, Lunchbox CEO and cofounder. “Not only is Walk-On a leader in the space, investing in the look and feel of their guests’ digital ordering experience, but they are also scaling every edge of their technology and marketing.”
In addition to the upgraded Toast point-of-sale system, Walk-On’s installed the Toast Kitchen Display System, which connects the front of the house with the kitchen staff for kitchen efficiency, and launched Toast Go 2 mobile handheld POS devices for desk and curb side use. current and future locations.
Toast Go 2 sends orders directly to the Kitchen Display System, which improves service speed and allows staff to serve more guests than previous platforms, the company said.
The new technology is planned as a phased rollout in existing locations throughout the year and will be installed in all new restaurants, the company said.
Both operators and customers cotton to technology, according to a recent survey of the commerce platform Lightspeed. It surveyed 1,100 restaurateurs and 7,000 consumers in September and October 2022, finding that 57% of respondents agreed that new technology adoption in the past two years was critical to sustaining their business.
And of the restaurateurs surveyed by Lightspeed, 43% said they were operating with less staff than in the past.
About one-third, or 30% of respondents, limit the number of days or hours of operation, especially in slow months, to help offset costs due to inflation and preserve their understaffing.
China Bistro in Scottsdale, Ariz. based at PF Chang, which has 200 local locations and more than 300 system-wide, is tapping into a new kitchen inventory management system to save time and reduce waste.
PF Chang’s has deployed Crunchtime, its inventory and operations management platform, to help manage profitability. “We have reduced the theoretical difference to the actual cost of food,” a spokesman said.
The Asian-inspired concept also implements Zenput to enhance team execution in each restaurant.
“This streamlines operating procedures and focuses on food safety,” a spokesperson said. “It has the ability to assign tasks per restaurant and target areas for improvement. It helps with menu training and is a resource for restaurant leaders to strategically address the optimizations they want to make .
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
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