Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the restaurant-industry conversation has centered on customer-facing issues. The time has come, however, to turn the conversation toward back of the house, which serves as the very foundation on which any foodservice operation rests.
Take, for example, the concept of social distancing. Earlier this summer when Chicago restaurant Blackbird, a fine-dining institution in the Windy City, closed its doors for good, many chose to focus on the fact that the Michelin-starred operation could only function at 25% of its capacity. What stood out to me, though, was a comment by one of the partners about the challenges to socially distance in a kitchen that measures 14 feet by 9 feet. In combatting the spread of the virus, the concept of social distancing, however, remains no less important in the kitchen than in the dining room. In other words, a restaurant’s environment needs to be equally safe for the customer and culinary team alike.
As such, it’s time to take a step back to reassess every aspect of the back of the house to ensure these easily overlooked spaces provide safe working environments for staff and can support the new front-of-the-house dynamic.
As operators continue to adjust menus, staffing and other aspects of their businesses, they should also look at their back-of-the-house design to ensure it supports these changes. When it comes to social distancing, does it make sense to implement more remote monitoring capabilities to ensure equipment continues to function properly? Being able to check for temperature variances or other signs of malfunction from a smartphone or another device could stave off potential costly repairs while limiting the number of people that need to be in a given area at any one time.
Automation has long been viewed as a potential panacea for a variety of challenges that dog foodservice operators in good times and bad. Concepts such as Coolgreens continue to have some success with automating specific aspects of its operations that allow the chain to move into some nontraditional locations. White Castle represents the latest operator to test the use of back-of-the-house robots. In this instance the robots will flip sliders and dump fries. If this sounds familiar, it should. A few years ago, a robot worked the back of the house at a tech-driven concept called CaliBurger, which later went out of business.
Perhaps automation remains slow to catch on because at its core, the foodservice industry is not a transactional one. Rather, it’s all about hospitality and making a connection. It’s about knowing that your partners value your time and share your passion for the foodservice industry. One person who truly exemplifies excellence in executing hospitality is Bolt Bolton, the FE&S 2020 DSR of the Year. Bolt’s drive and determination is matched only by a willingness to invest in customer relationships and share the lessons learned with colleagues and clients alike. Bolt’s approach may start in the back of the house but that positive energy permeates the entire operation and provides a best-in-class example about how to evolve in good times and bad.
