The Future of Food Service Redefined

Written by Tim Christianson on September 4, 2018

THE CHALLENGES

Foodservice operations today face a growing struggle to serve fresh, fast, and nutritious food while catering to the changes in time of products being served.

Here are some thoughts on why LABOR challenges (both lack of numbers and lack of qualified labor) will continue to force automation at every level of the foodservice process from prep all the way through serving.

I would like to break down some challenges by Market in my eyes:

Healthcare (Hospital) Market

1. Demands of Room service: In the hospital environment the reality of roomservice around the clock is the new standard, however, being able to adequately service this challenging expectation all while serving meals that meet strict nutrition standards and diets as well as having SKILLED labor 24-7 provide the ultimate confluence of challenges to be met with automation. SOLUTION: Provide SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT to use for your back-of-the-house operations to ensure simple preparation and tight guidelines for dietary restrictions are followed as well as portion controls are maintained.
2. Providing a Fresh Salad Bar After Hours: Most hospitals I visit both personally and professionally have beautiful dining rooms, however, after hours most the great options become limited once again because of staffing issues. Salad Bars get broken down and ingredients placed back in holding for the following day. That said, most have “Grab-and-Go” Markets with healthy vending options or Air-Screen Merchandisers. SOLUTION: Provide SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT for after-hours healthy and fresh salad options that are fully-customizable. 
3. Food Waste from Salad Bars: Most operators I talk to discuss how salad bars provide several challenges, but one of the largest challenges revolve around the amount of waste at the end of the day. This coupled with the larger possibility of cross-contamination from patrons and or foreign objects the possibility increases for food-born illnesses and as such the liability of the establishments.SOLUTION: Provide SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT in lieu of “Traditional” Salad Bars to minimize food waste and reduce the liability of a food-born illness.

K-12/Higher Education School Market

1. Increasing the Consumption of Salads: For any adult with a child in grade school (I have a 1st and 4th Grader) we all know the struggles to entice our children to eat healthy options and a large part of this is how the food is not only “presented” to our children, but I also argue how it is “SERVED” is also as ore more crucial. I find we are blessed in the Midwest with schools who have really taken this seriously and as a result the consumption of these healthy options has increased. That said, K-12 operators still note a waste in product and I believe incorporating technology (as it surrounds our kids every day) will #1 increase consumption and #2 reduce waste from valuable food ending up in landfills. SOLUTION: Provide SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT to use in your cafeterias. Have the HRI team walk you through how to create a “from Scratch perception” while operating under the time constraints of a traditional meal period.
2. Providing meals (healthy) After Hours: While some schools around Indiana and Michigan have incorporated dinner (both reimbursable and non-reimbursable) options after school hours, these programs are still not overly prevalent. Most directors discuss how they would like to capture these dollars, however, the ugly “LABOR” word comes up. Finding workers to staff these hours becomes a challenge. SOLUTION: ProvideSALLY THE SALAD ROBOT for after-hours healthy and fresh salad options that do NOT rely on human interface after hours.
3. Portioning Fresh Fruits and Veggies: As mentioned before we are blessed with districts around Indiana and Michigan who have raised the bar on the types of fresh fruits and veggies that are served in our schools. These also include many LOCAL sourcing options. This demand has increased the PREP time to portion all of these veggies and as such the LABOR for the operation. SOLUTION: Provide SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT in lieu of “Traditional” Salad Bars to minimize food waste and reduce the liability of a food-born illness.

THE FUTURE IS NOW – INTRODUCING SALLY THE SALAD ROBOT:

**To Schedule a Hands-On Demonstration at a different time please contact our office at 1-800-987-4122

HRI,INC has Culinary Solutions Centers in both Indianapolis and Detroit for your convenience.

Sincerely,

Tim Christianson – HRI,Inc. Sales Consultant