Food waste, countless hours spent taking inventory, complicated employee onboarding processes—and even worse, sick customers due to food safety issues—they’re nightmares for any dedicated restaurant manager.
With rising food and labor costs—in addition to increased supply chain accountability and safety standards that can devastate a brand’s image if violated—restaurants and foodservice companies simply cannot continue to risk the costs of inefficiencies and inaccuracies of the current system. Improvements in back-of-house technology can help restaurants be more cost-conscious while remaining competitive. Read on to learn three ways upgrading your BOH technology can benefit your foodservice operation.
1. Elevate Food Safety Measures
Have you ever struggled to read a smudged or unclear “use by” date written on a container of prepped ingredients? Are you sure every dish that leaves your kitchen line is up to temperature? Do you trust that your employees always perform critical safety tasks on time, every time?
In the midst of a rush, back-of-house duties can sometimes be overlooked or delayed—and if employees are rushed, under pressure, inexperienced or dishonest, they may say they performed certain tasks when they didn’t. Automating processes such as labeling, temperature taking, and automatic sensing for walk-in coolers, freezers and dry storage areas not only leaves less margin for human error, it can help improve food safety scores. Win-win.
2. Streamline and Improve Operations
Minimum wage increases in many states have caused restaurant labor costs to spiral in recent years. As the industry becomes more cutthroat—and more outside factors such as meal delivery services and corporate profit margins eat into the bottom line—restaurants must use every available method to be cost-conscious, while remaining competitive.
Automating processes such as checklists, inventory, equipment servicing, and food prep can dramatically streamline operations, saving operators millions. For example, one major U.S.-based quick-serve concept that instituted a comprehensive BOH automation system reduced average inventory time from four hours to less than one. Multiplied by 20,000+ locations, the inventory tracking system saved the concept more than 3 million hours in labor costs. In addition, managers were able to offload the task to hourly employees, which freed up their time for other work.
3. Simplify Employee Onboarding
Let’s be honest: the foodservice industry has a depressingly high turnover rate. In fact, 59 percent of restaurant operators say staffing is their number one operational challenge. When operators invest heavily in an employee’s training only to see him or her leave for another opportunity a short time later, it creates a frustrating cycle of new, inexperienced employees and wasted capital.
While implementing BOH technology can’t guarantee your employees will stick around for the long haul, it can simplify the onboarding process. Onboarding with digital applications is easier and takes less time than manual processes. Using intuitive tools, employees can get up to speed quickly and remain on the same page from day one.
Restaurants and foodservice companies who focus on adding automation and reducing administrative tasks in the back-of-house can expect to see increased safety standards, higher efficiency, and lower costs. And since most restaurants are still using outdated and inefficient practices like “red books,” those who take the leap and invest in BOH automation now are poised to lead the pack in terms of operational success.
How could your restaurant or foodservice operation benefit—and how much money could you save—from implementing just one aspect of BOH technology?