Guest Pen: Targeting the productive kitchen

Reflections on food production processes and improving labor productivity in professional kitchens

The importance of public-commercial professional kitchens and mass catering has increased. Efficient and safe food production processes play an increasingly important role in the food supply and food chain. 

At the same time, the food service and food maintenance functions of professional kitchens have become more diversified. Large-scale catering units in welfare areas and municipalities have become ecosystemic service centres. The success of restaurant chains, on the other hand, is an ongoing struggle of brand visibility, store locations and performance.

The universities of applied sciences of Haaga-Helia, Turku and South-East Finland have taken up the study of professional kitchen work. They managed to get two projects through to analyze kitchen production and ergonomics. The KeproK project, funded by the Occupational Health and Safety Fund, analyses the physically critical and ergonomic points of food production in professional kitchens. In another EU-funded project, researcher-teachers and their partners – including experts from Metos – will study the processes, tasks and workloads in different professional kitchens' food production. Among other things, they will ask what factors influence the overall workload. How physically, mentally and cognitively demanding is food service production? 

Our aim is to describe and anticipate a productive and intelligent kitchen. 

The starting point is that managing the food production and service portfolio requires total management of the entire value, supply and quality chain, as well as profitability and productivity. 

Learning on the job at the heart of a productive kitchen

Professional kitchens have a wide range of staff responsibilities. These tasks are influenced by the mission of the professional kitchen, production methods, recipes, the size of the kitchen, the number of staff and their skills. In small kitchens, the same employee can have a wide variety of tasks at different stages of the food production and service process. In larger professional kitchens, on the other hand, the tasks may be somewhat more limited because of the larger number of staff.

In concept kitchens, such as fast food restaurants, the work processes are described in the manuals in a very detailed way, while in many private lunch restaurants the work steps are not described at all. These practices come partly from the culture and work experience. This has been done before and 'results' have emerged. 

The poor labor productivity performance of our industry is partly due to the inherent culture of professional kitchens. Work is still craft-intensive. Service and production processes are diverse, despite the use of conceptual formulas, recipes and intelligent equipment. In addition, it remains difficult to anticipate meal demand, production and therefore business, despite strong working knowledge and AI software.

The inherent dynamism of kitchen work is part of its DNA

Professional kitchens are constantly balancing supply and demand pressures. The machine speeds up as mealtime approaches. Employees know that the 'run' happens, when the order book, tables and patient beds are full. Work is done according to the daily, weekly and annual rhythms of customers and staff. Trying to manage between the predictable and the unpredictable. In a state of order and disorder. 

Variations in client and staff numbers, orders, diets and sick leave vary the productivity of work. Efficiencies are shaped by work and space planning, the condition of workspaces and equipment stock. You learn the pace of work, correct work practices and the use of equipment by doing and by having an instructor walk alongside you and give you a demonstration. Rarely in mini lectures and on a padded bench at school! 

Every now and then, the visiting researcher-consultants in the kitchen must carry the process through step by step, explaining how the nature of the work is erratic; the rhythm picks up towards the food transport and serving stages. Working hours and breaks vary and are very irregular, especially in restaurants. Kitchen staff do not rest during their shifts. They meet, have coffee and study while they work.

Business and innovation pressures put a strain on restaurateurs, while draining resources and slowing down innovation. The economic and inflationary consequences of the interest rate pandemic have not yet been overcome. Customer and consumer behaviour changed - perhaps permanently. The culture of working, eating and meeting changed. Food delivery companies and retailers increased competition for narrow margins. In addition, aggressive customer and price competition drained entrepreneurs' energy. 

So what can help?

To improve the profitability and productivity of professional kitchens, we need to take the old tools and apply them to the present: 

1. Analyzing, breaking down, documenting and qualifying work steps
2. Identifying critical points in the production, service, distribution, maintenance and cleaning processes 
3. Identifying and optimizing micro-tasks in production and service
4. Identifying productivity barriers
5. Measuring workload and improving work ergonomics

Whatever the kitchen concept, it combines logistical, production, distribution, service and cleaning processes. These processes run in parallel and interleaved. Performance comes from streamlining and managing these processes. 

Our joint project has already demonstrated the interest of an action research approach. For the researcher-teachers, kitchens appear as an interesting, living and transforming production and service laboratory. Lunch time is like a unique and multi-role play that is difficult to leave entirely to robots. 

In the research we will figure out how to improve production and service processes. How does careful induction and training for the job affect the design and development of processes? How does the overall workload relate to production methods and volumes. How does staffing levels affect workload? How to develop staff skills amid the workload?

Writer: V.A. Heikkinen, Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Accommodation and Food Service Innovation, Haaga-Helia