Equipment and technology advances

Nation's Restaurant News, April 17, 1995

Restaurant equipment is getting smaller and smarter.

And that means operators can save on space an labor - two capital gains from convenience.

At the back-of-the-house, manufacturers are producing equipment that is faster and easier to use.

These advances span from new infrared ovens that cook foods in a fraction of the time of their conventional counterparts - pizzas in three minutes, for example - to convection ovens that vent rearward rather than from the top, freeing up valuable storage space in cramped kitchens.

At both the front and back-of-the-house, computers are providing operators with great strides in labor savings. Examples are hand-held terminals for check order entry, and electronic credit-card systems which-speed up service, enabling you to turn tables more quickly.

In addition to providing better reports and systems in the back-of-the-house, computer touch screens at the front-of-the-house reduce training costs.

In the take out/delivery arena, computers speed order and delivery by telling the order taker your customers' last choices and repeat orders.

Taco Bell, as a leader in technology, has tested an in-store self-ordering system, where customers use the touch screens themselves, bypassing an order-taking employee. "The most important issue for our customers is speed of service, so this gives customers better ordering capability," said a Taco Bell executive. It also allows labor savings and all other expenses related to employment. It can be a financial win for operators and patrons alike.

Mike Pappas says in his newsletter, Foodservice Computers and You "Just with the most rudimentary systems for inventory control, payroll and point of sales, we are talking about a 2-percent to 3-percent drop in operating costs immediately."

Point-of-sale systems are becoming highly sophisticated and can be tied into inventory control and ordering systems.

David Holben, general manager and executive chef at Mediterraneo in Dallas, said he investigated four point-of-sale systems before opening his fine dining restaurant. Careful research before making the sizable investment can pay big dividends.

"We had them bring in all four and set them up to see exactly what they could do, how waiter-friendly they are, what reports they could produce in the back of the house, what the potential for expansion was," he said.

"Technology gives restaurants an edge," Holben says.

"It's getting harder to make a profit nowadays, because prices are going up and labor is going up and customers don't want to pay more. In fact menu prices are coming down," he adds, "so control has to be tighter."

As well as saving space, labor and training, today's advanced equipment also provides important, up-to-date information that, in the words of one consultant, "provide tools today for tomorrow's decisions."