Yahoo Finance What is cloud kitchen, and how is it reforming the way we cook?
Thanks to technological developments, we can store photos, stream movies, and even run businesses on the Cloud these days. All the time, even if we aren't consciously aware of it, we're using words to tell the waiters where to bring our food.
Cloud kitchens - virtual centralised, commercial kitchens in the Cloud
Cloud kitchens are a centrally licensed commercial food production system, which is commonly used in restaurants. In it, the leading equipment and other related resources are stored in the Cloud. It has all the necessary equipment such as heating systems, stoves, extractors, steamers, mixers, cutting tables, cooking surfaces, peelers, choppers, grinders, conveyors, and packing machines. The most important and unique feature of this type of kitchen is that it does not require any licensing, whether for a single server or several servers. This makes it one of the best choices for restaurants.
For a restaurant, the centralisation of operations is significant. The control over different aspects of the production is made centralised, allowing more accurate data to be provided. Aside from this, automation is made possible by controlling the number of employees working in a separate kitchen. This is made possible by the industrialisation of processes that are usually manual such as stock levels, ingredients inventory, ingredient ordering and tracking, and so on. These automation systems are highly efficient and save a lot of time.
The most significant advantage of these kitchens is that they reduce the overall cost of production. For instance, there is no need to buy separate servers for each kitchen, which means it will be cheaper. The centralisation of operations and control of such a kitchen system reduces the total capital cost, which can be quite burdensome for new start-ups, especially those with limited financial resources. Another advantage of having a cloud-based kitchen system is that it allows better and faster communication between the production and sales teams, leading to more efficiency in operations.
The 'Food Corridor' - The cloud kitchen model
In the Cloud Kitchen model, space runs from the back wall of the main office through to the rear wall of the "shop". This space is known as the 'Food Corridor'.
The idea with this model is simple. All the work that needs to be done can be carried out at the counter before being moved to the model home's various departments and business areas. For example, in this corridor, the work order manager will place orders from the supply department and place the orders for ingredients into the conveyor belts. These ingredients then travel through the various chutes and conveyors to the ovens, where they are ready to be cooked into delicious meals.
Cloud Associates devised the Cloud method of management to make the provision of fast service to the various areas of operations of the company whilst reducing the costs of running such a service. The model uses a flexible 'Cheap to Buy' pricing model to provide a competitive service to the market. This helps to achieve greater levels of throughput and efficiency in the model than the traditional restaurant models. Cloud Associates aim to demonstrate how their proprietary software can be adapted to suit the varied requirements of different companies.
The Cloud method was developed initially to demonstrate to clients the model's effectiveness in reducing cycle times and increasing efficiency and productivity. The software was later used as the foundation for the cloud kitchen model, a restaurant application, which is now available to clients across Australia. This application has proven very successful, and many restaurants use this model to provide improved customer service and offer greater convenience to their customers. This model has been adopted by large pizza chains and also by many hotels in the Australian capital. As technology evolves, so does the food retail model. We expect many restaurants and other retail outlets to adopt the Cloud methodology to provide a better service to their customers.
Cloud kitchen business models
With the rise of E-commerce, Cloud-based Kitchen Business models have also evolved along with it. The Cloud-based Kitchen Business models are now used to deliver customised solutions across several devices and platforms.
Cloud services provide a set of standard services like application deployment, data integration, business logic, and rich-client applications that help the end-user get things done faster and more efficiently.
Clients can also use the Cloud for real-time analytics and reporting so that business owners get to see the performance of their brand's sales, services and finances daily.
