Professional chefs know that the digitalisation of commercial kitchens is now inevitable. So it is time to ask which system can effectively support kitchen processes setting new standards in terms of product quality, safety, automation and service. RATIONAL relies on ConnectedCooking, a free, cloud-based system that breathes new life into the cooperation between chef and cooking system while keeping the key task of cooking with ingenuity at the forefront.
"When developing ConnectedCooking, we always keep one question in mind: Which tasks require a lot of attention but could be taken off the chef’s hands?" says Michael Hoffmann, Digital Product Manager at RATIONAL, describing the thinking behind the connected kitchen. As an example, he cites a caterer in the industry catering sector who is responsible for 800 meals a day across three kitchens. Normally, this is a balancing act: different kitchen equipment, varying levels of experience amongst kitchen staff, and different cooking habits. And everyone can tell when the quality fluctuates. ConnectedCooking can help with all of this and contribute to raising standards, particularly in industry catering. Reason enough for us to see the future clearly in the connected kitchen, which works with a smartphone, tablet or PC. Whether there is one, two or more kitchens – with ConnectedCooking, all RATIONAL cooking systems access identical cooking programs; the chef can access their units with a single click and can monitor cooking processes, even remotely. For example, using push notifications, the platform helps to monitor capacity utilisation and vacancies and to adjust production processes accordingly. The automatic service call is also designed to improve efficiency: In the event of an issue, the service partner receives an automatic notification, can gain an initial insight via remote maintenance, and can thus respond quickly on site.
Hoffmann mentions another important point: “One challenge facing every kitchen is ensuring compliance with hygiene standards. That is why we have incorporated automatic HACCP documentation into ConnectedCooking." All relevant data is recorded and stored for a specified period, as a chef’s key task lies in creativity, not in documenting temperatures.
