Commentary

Operational needs and consumer trends: Does your cooking equipment cover both?

Equipment that shortens cooking times, while still providing a quality product, can help enhance a customer's dining experience.

Photo: https://depositphotos.com

July 6, 2017 by Steve Obermeier — Director of Sales, Antunes

The chance to create delicious and unique menu items. The flexibility to take your restaurant on the road. The opportunity to meet patrons at a variety of events and locations and build a following.

These are just a few of the perks of owning a food truck. But in order to keep operations running smoothly and be able to enjoy these advantages, operators need equipment that is up to the task.

The right equipment not only enables food truck kitchens to work efficiently and keep up with demand, but also allows them to meet customer expectations and trends.

Equipment that addresses both operational and consumer needs offers the following benefits, which food truck operators should consider when selecting products.

Speed of operation

Customers have the expectation that their food will be served quickly, especially when visiting food trucks. Equipment that shortens cooking times, while still providing a quality product, can help enhance a customer's dining experience.

Steamers cook food quickly and are easy to use.

For operations looking to eliminate long waits for preparing hot food items, steamers are a viable option for menu items ranging from a full, portion-controlled meal to heating pre-cooked pasta to melting cheese on a fresh sandwich. Steamers cook food quickly and easily, eliminating the need for time-consuming methods that require constant attention.

Quality food

Foodservice trends show that as people become more aware of the quality of the food they put into their bodies, they are looking increasingly for freshly prepared food. Related to trends toward choosing fresh over frozen and selecting establishments that offer clean label ingredients, the preparation of the food is also taken into account.

In consumers' minds, "fresh" means it was prepared recently ― if not made to order. For food trucks offering breakfast sandwiches or eggs on burgers or other sandwiches, egg stations with dual zone offer a convenient way to serve freshly cooked eggs, avoiding the food degradation that can occur when an item is pre-cooked and held too long.

Dual zone egg stations are convenient.

Simplicity for the operator

Equipment shouldn't require a lengthy training process or complicated instructions. And because food trucks typically have small staff — due to both truck size and budget limitations — operators want to ensure that any employee can move quickly between pieces of equipment to keep up with demand. Toasters that have moving dual belts and the option of having up to five different toasting lanes allow operations to serve menu items on properly toasted buns without sacrificing ticket times.

Toasters are highly efficient on food trucks.

Energy efficiency

With energy costs on the rise — not to mention the significant impact of increasing labor and food costs — food truck operators have to place greater emphasis on driving down the amount of energy their kitchens require to operate. Keeping operational costs down, in turn, can benefit the bottom line, keep prices steady for customers and free up dollars to focus on acquiring new patrons.

Operators should think long term about energy efficiency. With new, customized equipment that is more energy efficient, the initial purchase cost may be higher, but the ROI over time is greater.

As operators seek to reduce costs through energy efficient equipment, they should also consider the impact on the entire operation. For example, equipment that gives off a lot of heat wastes energy and makes cooling systems work harder, but efficient equipment can result in overall operational savings.

Food truck operators can work with equipment manufacturers to make sure they are getting the best equipment for their kitchen – equipment that allows them to keep their operation running smoothly, letting them focus on the reasons they started a food truck in the first place.

(Photos courtesy of Antunes.)