Professional Kitchen 4.0 – Technology of the Future

Kitchen 4.0

Industry 4.0, kitchen 4.0 – this is how one describes the evolutionary merging of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and information technology to an intelligently linked production, even in large-scale kitchens. Up until now, many processes with the preparation, distribution, and serving meals are decoupled time-wise and spatially. In the kitchen 4.0, they are brought together in order to optimize procedures, take the load off the staff, and reduce costs.

By Dieter Mailander

The Era of Digitalization has begun in professional kitchen too. What is behind this term? Without being able to claim to define this term scientifically correct and comprehensively, one can sum it up in the colloquial: in a narrow context, digitalization is a process in most different economic and social areas, in which information, instructions and the like are transferred into an artificial language which is understood by the programs of computers, technical systems, machines and equipment. In a broader context, it is about linking this equipment with each other in order to optimize procedures, deployment of staff and costs.

Digitalization has been visible in in professional kitchens as well. Combi-steamers, for instance, have a vast number of programs, with which totally different types of cooking processes can be controlled. Whoever would like to control his equipment independently of the actual site, can transfer the relevant data to a so-called “cloud”. Then these will not be saved on one’s own server anymore, but be transferred over the internet to gigantic server parks, which are situated in various places around the world. Companies rent a specific memory capacity there, which they can fill with their data and call it up from anywhere. The US American company “Dropbox”, for instance, is a worldwide active and well-known provider. Being that the US intelligence agencies are known to be able to have access to these memory capacities, European providers like Strato have developed alternative solutions.

Web-Based E – Procurement

The so-called “purchasing platforms” work according to this principle. Their important attribute is that kitchen professionals outsource their shopping activities (web-based e-procurement) to a specialized contractor, and access to their IT structure (software, server, data processing, data memory, and backups). This way, they save expensive investments in hardware and software, but nonetheless are able to have access to their own data without any problem, from any standard computer that has internet access.

Which functions do they offer? One of the most important is that the provider bundles a range of products of several hundred delivery partners on platforms: wholesalers, manufacturers of food and nonfood articles, operations of craft-based food industry, etc. New customers are allowed to be linked to their former suppliers, and therefore don’t have to be limited to the existing providers of the platform. However, the prerequisite is that the company agrees with the providers about the system conditions, which are frequently in the lower single-figure percentile range. Producers, for instance, of deep-frozen foodstuffs, who reach contribution margins of 10 to 15%, often just simply can’t cope with such additional conditions arithmetically, particularly because their sales volume doesn’t rise in the first step. Another important function is that all of the relevant production information (from ingredients, nutritional values up to allergens and additives) are deposited into the system and is updated continually. If one considers all of the parameters together, the entire food flow can be managed. That’s why one also talks about food management. Menus, for instance, can also be generated directly from the system. By way of multi-functional interfaces, they can also be connected with administrative accounting or point of sale systems. Another example for digitalization of kitchen technology is remote maintenance of kitchen technology equipment. Service employees of a manufacturer or dealer can be linked to a piece of equipment in order to carry out the removal of defects or preventative measures for the upkeep.

Augmented Reality means extended or enhanced reality. Large concerns are doing research on data glasses, with which can show its users individually customizable information about their jobs. For example, there is the possibility to send a maintenance worker in the future the blueprints of the piece of kitchen equipment, which has to be repaired, directly in their field of vision. Similarly, Building Integrated Modeling (BIM) is terminology used in project planning. With special software programs, complex projects like the new construction of a large-scale kitchen, can be summarized in single, but very complicated 3D file. In the planning phase, alternatives can be visualized and procedures simulated. Thereby, planning security increases, but at the cost of clearly higher expenses.

A Daring Look into the Future

Let’s imagine that we are in a fantasy kitchen. In it, all of the raw materials and ingredients will be delivered in a storage unit, which is dispensable and will be stored according to the temperature requirements. When the kitchen chef activates a recipe with his computer, the containers release the required amounts and dispense them into the unmanned transport units. These transport them with a special technology to multi-functional hybrid production units, which are operated alternatively with electricity or gas. Parallel to this process, the cooking system activates the appropriate cooking program. The piece of equipment checks whether the recipe components are available, starts the cooking process, controls and ends it. The resource management system controls, among other things, the energy and water consumption of the equipment with regards to the amount and costs; furthermore, it optimizes the pollutant emission. If the food to be cooked should be blast chilled or flash frozen, it will be taken from the mobile cooking insert, forwarded to refrigeration unit and set into the chiller or flash freezer. It also starts the appropriate program independently. If the food to be cooked is supposed to be portioned, it will be steered, for instance by RFID (radio frequency identification) and brought to the appropriate place and placed on the plate with the correct portion, by a fully automatic system. If the meals are served in the restaurant, it will be brought automatically to the counter and served by robot units at the push of a button, for hygienic reasons. If a guest would like a larger portion, he or she pushes the button twice. Each visitor has his personal QR code (quick response), which determines the payment procedure (for instance Paypal, EC, credit card), which allows them to scan it at the payment unit, thus completing the process. Is such a dehumanized kitchen desirable? No! Will it come in this form? Most likely. Will it be implemented in sub-areas? More than likely!