As a chef, there never seems to be enough time to get all your prep and cooking done in a timely manner. Unfortunately, it’s looking like it may get even harder to employ someone to help out—the foreign worker quota in the services sector will be cut to 35% by 2021, making the F&B manpower shortage even more severe.
To manage these challenges, chefs and restaurant owners will have to adjust how they work and run the restaurant. Cutting budgets is just a stop-gap solution; but making sure your menu, kitchen and restaurant are optimised is the way to keep those profits coming in.
Here at Unilever Food Solutions, we decided to hold a Maximising Efficiency Masterclass—including presentations and demos—and invite fellow chefs and operators to learn how to be better equipped in dealing with these latest changes in the market.
Watch the Maximising Efficiency Masterclass highlights video
Improving efficiency with the right equipment and ingredients
To address these issues, we teamed up with Merrychef to show how the right ingredients and equipment can help! Chef Vincent Ling, Application Chef from Welbilt Asia Pacific Private Limited, carried out demos showing how UFS ingredients, when used with Merrychef ovens, can make prep and cooking time immensely faster! Brandade with Cod and Spinach, made with Knorr Potato Flakes done in less than 25 mins, pizzas baked in just 90 seconds and half a dozen of other dishes were all whipped up in a matter of minutes.
Attendees were given a taste, and many were impressed at how delicious they were. During a blind test conducted, attendees actually overwhelmingly voted for the dish that was prepared using the speed oven versus a conventional oven suggesting that no compromise in taste was made with better efficiency.
Other ways to optimise your restaurant’s expenses
Apart from the food demo, Business Advisors from SME Centre@SMF shared how chefs and restaurant owners have access to government programmes and grants for product and equipment purchases, as well as hiring. There was also a booth set up for attendees to check out Food Pulse, the latest app from UFS, where you can see what your diners are saying about you, get tips on how to improve and stay updated on the latest culinary trends.
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