COVER STORY The flip side Although technology plays a pertinent role in today's chefs’ life, at no point can the equipment wholly satisfy the human touch when it comes to dining. While Khanna feels that these equipment are a musthave for all discerning F&B operators, they have led to deskilling of most cooking operations thereby allowing operators to run their kitchens without skilled chefs and yet achieve better consistency of dishes. Chef Limaye feels that the equipment becomes a liability, “when we start abusing the technology. We can say that
already we have a shortage of skilled manpower, and with the advent of the use of technology, talented chefs will become obsolete.” Chef Mukherjee agrees that a machine cannot be creative as it is programmed to perform in a specific way and gives chefs very little room for improvisation. Also, such equipment is costly and requires regular maintenance needing expensive spare parts and after-sales service which is not easily accessible. Chef Sayyed adds that working with heavy kitchen equipment needs exclusive
training about the machines. “Mishandling can lead to major accidents, waste of products and dissatisfaction of the guests. Also, using these equipment needs constant monitoring as they are not fully automatic and sometimes, can malfunction leading to the wrong product being generated. Furthermore, the maintenance cost of these products may be high if they are not operated or maintained properly,” he cautions. Jain believes that given the variety of options available, it can be a confusing decision. “While moving to environmen-
tally friendly gases is the need of the hour, servicing such products becomes difficult due to infrastructural limitations. Stainless steel is also a trend as it comes with superior durability, resistance to corrosion and high return on investment. However, it tends to be more expensive than other materials and at times is prone to smudging,” he notes. Charanjeet Singh Gujral, DGM - Technical, Fortune Park Hotels too says that kitchen equipment requires special tools and agencies to carry out any repairs. Spares are more expensive and the initial cost of
good equipment is also high. Chef Ganapathy Mallya, director - Culinary Transformation for Novotel Hotels India, Novotel Goa Resorts and Spa and Novotel Goa Candolim Hotel points out certain disadvantages like high cost of equipment, spare parts might be a problem as most of the parts are available out of India, the expense of the machine to justify the F&B revenues, cost of yearly maintenance is much higher than regular equipment; need trained kitchen staff to use the equipment and trained stewarding and technical staff to clean and maintain the equipment.
A sustainable kitchen The commercial kitchen can be made sustainable with the committed design and rightful investment in kitchen equipment while recognising its functionality and compatibility with the project. Chef Mallya feels that there is a huge shift in the way the kitchens are designed nowadays. “Earlier the kitchen would be designed by the kitchen designer without taking inputs from the chef. Now we are seeing a complete 360-degree change. The kitchen is now designed as per the chef and also as per the menu which is a big cultural shift,” he observes. A good commercial kitchen is designed as per the chef to incorporate their easy movement across the operational kitchen, placement of equipment hot as well as cold. “Correct design with perfect equipment is quite integral to make work efficient and to deliver the right kind of experience to both the kitchen team as well as the guests. Moreover, multi-tasking kitchen equipment saves a lot on manpower cost and also the cost to buy additional equipment,” Chef Mallya points out. Interestingly, Chef Satyaseelan notes that a proper kitchen with multi-tasking equipment, drainage system, exhaust, and hood system, can help health and safety, fire safety, comfort, well-being, and can reduce levels of absenteeism and increase productivity.
EXPRESS FOOD & HOSPITALITY
25
November 2019