5 ways automation can contribute to back-of-house efficiency
Sponsored content from our partner TransAct Technologies on Mar. 27, 2019Automation is streamlining operations in the back-of-the-house, creating efficiencies in training, enhancing food safety, assisting in the management of third-party delivery orders, reducing time spent on inventory management and providing labeling solutions for grab-and-go foods. Check out these five tips for incorporating automation into back-of-house operations.
Tip #1: Automated training and onboarding increases labor efficiencies
Foodservice is a high-turnover industry, and that often translates into a lot of time spent training and onboarding staff. Automated solutions that allow unlimited viewing of training videos and other materials can help reduce the costs associated with training and onboarding, while ensuring standardization of training protocols across the organization. Using video and graphics also provides an engaging way for employees to learn and making the materials available via computer or mobile device helps operators maintain accurate records about employee training and onboarding.
The BOHA! Terminal from Transact Technologies features a large touch-screen that displays graphics and videos for recipe cards, plating instructions and other training and onboarding materials. The platform makes it easy for an organization to update the videos across the entire organization. The inclusion of digital recipe cards also helps ensure consistency and creates a single, go-to destination for recipe information in every kitchen, eliminating the need for printing recipes and storing them in binders that invariably wear out quickly in the back-of-house environment.
Tip #2: Leverage technology to enhance food safety
Automation is increasingly improving back-of-house food safety, with solutions that include date code labeling to ensure proper rotation of items. With automated labeling solutions, operators can let the system automatically calculate freshness dates and further ensure food safety with accurate, easy-to-read labels that can be used on grab-and-go items, on perishables stored in the back of the house, or anywhere else that “use by” and “use first” information is important.
TransAct Technologies’ BOHA! Labeling software simplifies what otherwise could be an error-prone and labor-intensive process. Temperature monitoring is at the heart of food safety in restaurant kitchens, and automated systems not only streamline the food temperature-taking processes, but also provide alerts to staff and help maintain electronic records for compliance purposes. BOHA! Temp from TransAct Technologies allows operators to take food temperatures using an app that integrates with a Bluetooth probe, and notifies staff of corrective actions if a food temperature is out of range. In addition, TransAct’s BOHA! Sense uses LoRaWan enabled sensors installed inside refrigerators, freezers and walk-ins to monitor temperatures in real time, and send out-of-range temperature alerts to various devices so staff can repair their kitchen equipment before food spoils.
Tip #3: Streamline online order management
As consumers increasingly opt for off-premise dining, and as third-party delivery services proliferate, consider automated solutions that can aggregate these orders and optimize revenues from these valued customers. The ever-evolving landscape of delivery services can be difficult to manage and can result in unnecessary clutter in the back-of-the-house in the form of multiple tablets and printers. In addition, delivery orders can interfere with the workflow in the back-of-house, creating confusion around the timing and prioritization of orders. With the BOHA! Delivery solution from TransAct Technologies, operators can eliminate the need for multiple tablets and printers when using multiple online ordering providers. BOHA! Delivery will aggregate delivery orders and send them to the BOHA! Terminal and allow for printing of work order labels and tamper-proof delivery labels from one system.
#4: Save time and money with accurate inventory management
Managing inventory can be one of the most time-consuming activities for restaurant managers, but automation solutions can help. From conducting inventory counts to managing transfer of product between locations, to managing quality complaints and gaining proper insight into current inventory levels, the analog way of doing things would make this process tedious and prone to mistakes. Automated systems can make these tasks and others much less onerous. The BOHA! Inventory system from TransAct Technologies provides a fast and accurate way to manage inventory in restaurant and foodservice operations. The solution, which works on the BOHA! Handheld device, allows any employee to enter inventory counts by scanning barcodes, tapping through a list or using voice recognition. It also helps automate new food and supply orders by suggesting reorders based on previous usage data. It also simplifies receiving of inventory by automating the process through the connection of invoices with purchase orders.
#5: Master onsite checklists
Managing opening and closing procedures, HACCP compliance tasks, preventative maintenance and audits can be daunting. TransAct’s BOHA! Checklist software allows operators to manage all of this easily. Custom checklists can be tailored to your needs and go beyond simply digitizing a paper process. Operators can be confident that the work is getting done in a timely manner, and that procedures are being followed in compliance with various regulations. Digital checklists also require minimal training, meaning employees feel empowered to tackle their daily duties and contribute to a clean and safe environment for customers. Finally, custom digital checklists offer tangible data that operators can use to glean better oversight of their daily operations. Instead of guessing or assuming who did what task and when, they can simply review a digital record of what occurred.
BOHA! is the first single-vendor solution to combine applications for Inventory Management, Temperature Monitoring of Food and Equipment, Food Safety Labeling, Food Recalls, Checklists & Procedures, Equipment Service Management and Delivery Management in a single platform. Each BOHA! solution combines cloud-based SaaS applications with hardware and accessories to deliver superior results for critical back-of-house operations. BOHA! offers a one-stop solution for restaurants and food service companies to address their current back-of-house operating requirements while providing a future-ready platform capable of addressing back-of-house operations as they continue to evolve.