Labor challenges are ongoing for restaurants in all segments. Whether operators are having trouble finding trained employees or are facing difficulty with retention, the outcome is the same—stressed workers in the back of house, restaurants running on a skeleton crew and potential service interruptions as staff is spread too thin. Operators looking for a solution to ongoing labor struggles, however, are in luck. By using equipment that’s intuitive and easy to use, and is designed to streamline kitchen processes and speed up cooking times, restaurant kitchens can increase throughput without sacrificing quality. Saving time and labor can be easy—operators just need a bit of strategy.
Upgraded equipment
Standard kitchen equipment, such as ovens and stoves, can get the job done. But they’re not the most efficient option for most operators. Traditional ovens and stoves have drawbacks—they can only deliver a few types of cooking results, and their capacity is limited. By upgrading to equipment that’s capable of executing several cooking styles, such as a combi oven, operators can increase the amount of food their kitchen can produce in a certain time, as well as expand the number of foods that can be prepared at once. By enhancing the prep/cook processes through more efficient equipment, restaurants can not only ease the burden on the back of house, but also maintain a high level of customer service, ensuring happy diners and repeat visits.
Versatility, efficiency and consistency
RATIONAL’s iCombi Pro is a cooking appliance that operates with both dry heat, like a convection oven, and moist heat, like a steamer. The oven automatically adjusts cooking paths to fit individual conditions and desired results, meaning foods such as vegetables, potatoes, pasta, seafood, baked goods and more can all be prepared in it with delicious outcomes every time.
At e.terra Kitchen—a flexible commercial kitchen with two locations in New York—the iCombi Pro helps support various food brands. Bella Karakis, CEO and co-founder of e.terra Kitchen, said, “What led me to make that conscious decision to bring in iCombi Pros is that it is a transformative piece of equipment that can replace so many other pieces of equipment in a traditional kitchen. RATIONAL has been an amazing addition because it helps chefs to be more efficient, to have less labor costs and save time, and they are eternally grateful for that.”
From European baked goods made by Emily Rodriguez of Emily Made This to Creole Soul Food, owned by Chef Brianna Grinage, the iCombi Pro helps every user in e.terra Kitchen make the food they want to make, when and how they want it made. While Rodriguez uses it to speed up the baking process for pastries, Grinage uses it for grilled salmon, shrimp with char marks, steamed rice and beans and more. “The iCombi is the chef’s kiss. It nails it every single time,” Grinage said.
By streamlining the work necessary to produce great food, the iCombi Pro from RATIONAL is a boon to restaurants’ bottom lines, saving time, labor and of course, money. To learn more about the various models of the iCombi Pro and how they suit different types of restaurants, click here.
This post is sponsored by RATIONAL