36 CASESTUDY
RESTAURANT CHAIN “
Before…the chefs spent half their time checking tickets to see what to do. Now they just glance at their screen and can get on with what they’re great at – creating wonderful quick dishes with amazing Mexican fl avours…
restaurant chain’s business. It’s a bold claim, the more so since the Wahaca concept was founded on food quality, excellence and MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers’ passion for fl avour. All fi ve Wahaca sites now use the ConnectSmart Kitchen (CSK) system from QSR Automations, supplied and serviced by Edgware-based Call Systems Technology (CST). “We serve a really wide selection of authentic Mexican street foods – alongside the familiar taco and burrito are queso fundido, huarache and esquites, for example,” explained Mark Selby, managing director of Wahaca. “That variety means a pretty complicated kitchen structure – one table’s order could be placed over seven different tickets. “The CSK means every chef knows exactly what to prepare, in what order. Before we got it, the chefs spent half their time checking tickets to see what to do. Now they just glance at their screen and can get on with what they’re great at – creating wonderful quick dishes with amazing Mexican fl avours.” Each chef station in the kitchen has its own screen, showing the individual chef what they need to be
I
t makes us better.” That’s how Wahaca group development chef Gavin Healy describes the impact of kitchen automation on the Mexican
DELIVERS ‘HI-TECH MEX’ Wahaca’s kitchen automation investment is paying dividends for the ambitious London-based Mexican restaurant group
cooking next. “CSK has totally simplifi ed our kitchen workfl ow,” continued Selby. “It coordinates everything, organising every kitchen shift much more productively. It also saves time and allows us to produce food more quickly and, in our situation, that’s vital.” The new Wahaca at Stratford Westfi eld shopping
Mall, London exemplifi es the issue they face. During the week it can be quiet, especially at lunch times, which makes it all the more important that when the site is busy (and it can get very, very busy) it can maximise business.
“CSK has speeded up foodservice signifi cantly,”
Selby added. “So much so that we can guarantee to have people in, fed and back out in 20 minutes, if that’s what they want. It also means we can serve a lot more customers when we’re busy. And, because the chefs are only cooking, and don’t have to worry about organising things, their jobs are simpler,” said Wahaca’s managing director. “They can focus on their passion and put it into each dish. CSK gives us much better control of the food that goes to the table.” A CSK expediter screen also highlights any problem areas, such as delays, so that workloads can be reorganised to remedy the situation. There’s also the issue of food waste. “The nature of Mexican street food is a bit chaotic – plates go to the table as soon as they are ready, to be super-fresh. With a ticket system, that can be an issue especially if you’re busy and things pile up, when orders might go to the wrong table, or be duplicated, or come out too late. That sometimes led to waste and, worse, unhappy customers. The CSK sorts it all out, automatically,” Selby explained. Healy added: “There’s no way our chefs would go back to a ticketed system.” Chefs can use the CSK screens to call up spec sheets of each dish on the menu as they need them. “Obviously they are great for training,” he added, “and they’re much more kitchen-friendly than printed sheets. But they also let kitchen staff check easily for diet allergies and the like, which can be very useful.” Wahaca is expanding – ultimately the chain would
like up to 15 sites in London and more around the UK. The brand offers a mix of Mexican street food that’s fresh, fast, tasty and good value – but there’s plenty of competition in the Mexican restaurant sector, especially in London. This, says Mark Selby, is where kitchen automation comes in: “CSK helps us do it quicker, and better.”
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012
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