f a hotel’s food and beverage team had a crystal ball, they might see a kitchen 10 years from now dominated by advanced technology, a smaller culinary staff, 24-hour customer demand for restaurantquality food, higher-caliber sous vide products, and shrinking kitchen footprints.

These predictions are already a reality at some properties, but for others, the key to overcoming the challenge of change lies in understanding how all of those factors fit together to create the hotel kitchen of the future.

1. WALKING IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS
As many operators know, space is money. New-build kitchens, either as an addition to an existing property or part of a new space, will continue to be smaller in coming years.

“There is less and less,” says Glenn Tuckman, senior VP, operations and asset management, HEI Hotels and Resorts. “In some of the projects we’re doing, we have limited space, so we need multi-functional equipment.”

“If we reduce the footprint,” says Alison Cullin- Woodcock, corporate executive chef, Enodis Corporation, “we must offer smarter equipment that delivers more with less space.”

The kitchen of the future will likely rely on smallersized, stackable combi oven technology to fill that limited footprint. “By going vertically rather than horizontally, with that equipment platform, it’s possible to get more into a smaller space,” Cullin-Woodcock says.

2. ANYTIME AT ALL
Another factor driving the kitchen of the future is the idea that high-quality, 24-hour foodservice is no longer a luxury. It’s a standard.

“We’re very time short. We have high expectations that the hotel can accommodate whatever eating needs we have at whatever time of day we happen to get in,” Cullin-Woodcock says.

“I travel a lot, so I know about getting in after the normal times,” says John Vogelmeier, director, food and beverage operations, Select Hotels Group, LLC, a Global Hyatt Affiliate. He says business travelers are the catalysts for higher-end, 24-hour foodservice, since their culinary bar is set consistently high while on the road. Combi oven technology will probably play a major role maintaining that standard around the clock.

“It will allow us to maintain late-night dining and room service with outstanding product and minimal staffing,” Tuckman says.

3. TOO MANY COOKS
Technological advances in any industry usually mean fewer people are needed to do the same amount of work as before.

Cullin-Woodcock says the rise of labor-saving technology is coinciding with a shrinking pool of qualified personnel, which adds up to smaller staffs in the kitchen of the future.

“There are three factors when serving the guest: equipment, food, and people. We’re never going to be able to control the people. If the skill level drops off in hotels, we still must be able to deliver a five-star quality product to the guest,” says Cullin-Woodcock.

“A dwindling number of people want to be in the back of the house,” says Jim Anhut, regional senior VP, brand development, InterContinental Hotels Group.

4. THE NEED FOR SOUS VIDE
Fewer employees and increased kitchen technology mean relying more on sous vide products created offsite and cooked onsite in a pre-programmed combi oven by whoever is on duty.

“We’ve outsourced the chefs, so to speak, and that allows us to have lower labor costs,” Vogelmeier says.

The idea of producing high-level foodservice 24- hours a day with almost nobody in the kitchen would be laughable if the caliber of sous vide products hadn’t improved in recent years.

“The quality you get is much superior to what we got 20 years ago,” Cullin-Woodcock says.

“Imagine somebody making the most wonderful pot roast you’ve ever had, and, basically they take that pot roast, put it into a bag, blast freeze it, and ship it to us. We reheat it and put it on a plate for the guest,” Vogelmeier says.

High-end sous vide could also give the kitchen of the future a reliable banquet option, especially when it comes to food safety.

“The more people you take out of the process, the more control you have over it,” Anhut says.

5. OK COMPUTER
The kitchen of the future will likely have its equipment networked to a PC in the chef’s office. There, anyone can download HACCP statistics from the ovens or upload recipes to the unit.

“If they’re all connected, you could easily send a menu update to all your ovens. You can also diagnose an oven in the system that’s sending an error message,” says James Pool, VP, commercialization engineering, TurboChef.

“Five years ago, people didn’t want to hear about programming,” says John Lanning, director of marketing, Cleveland Range, LLC. “But with more computer-literate people in foodservice, they accept it more openly.”

6. TWO KITCHENS, ONE IDEA
A glimpse of the kitchen of the future might be seen in two hotel brands currently operating what could be called “a kitchen of one.”

Hotel Indigo and Hyatt Place have foodservice models combining a small footprint, and 24-hour meals using sous vide products cooked in combi ovens, and minimal staff.

“Our kitchen is designed for the most part to be a oneperson operation throughout the day,” Vogelmeier says.

“I can serve 40 or 50 covers a night with one person in the kitchen in this concept. And, as a result, we’ve been able to create a profitable food and beverage operation,” Anhut says.

7. BACK TO THE FUTURE
There may be fewer employees in the hotel kitchen of the future, but somebody still has to artfully plate the food for the guest when it comes out of the oven, regardless of whether it originally came in frozen and vacuum sealed. “The skill level is still required, whether it’s in banquets, fine dining, or restaurant work,” Cullin-Woodcock says.