With the gradual development of cold chain technology level, consumers’ requirements for the freshness and taste of ingredients are getting higher and higher. The fast-paced lifestyle has given birth to the vigorous development of the pre-made dishes industry. Major well-known companies have joined it. The pre-made dishes have also become a way for some small traditional catering companies and stores to save themselves under the impact of the epidemic. When it comes to pre-made dishes, we have to involve the “central kitchen”.
The central kitchen is a catering distribution center for the production of pre-made dishes. The central kitchen uses a variety of food processing equipment to process the food and distributes it to chain stores for secondary heating or combination to sell to customers. The use of the central kitchen greatly improves the efficiency of food processing and increases the added value of products. This can maximize the profit of the enterprise and ensure the consistency of product quality and hygiene standards.
According to a survey released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, at present, among the large-scale chain catering enterprises in China, 74% have built their own central kitchens. The main reason is that the central kitchen has obvious advantages in improving efficiency and stabilizing product quality. However, the China Chain Store and Franchise Association also mentioned in related surveys that the domestic central kitchen started relatively late, has not yet formed a unified standard, and related supporting industries are still immature. At present, most central kitchens are established by chain catering companies, which is conducive to the extension of their back kitchens. However, due to the relatively small channel access, there are limitations to the later business development. Therefore, entering the prefabricated vegetable track, the central kitchen needs to be transformed and upgraded urgently.
As a processing unit, the central kitchen’s advanced facilities and equipment directly affect the service level of the central kitchen for consumers and chain stores. The central kitchen must introduce advanced processing, packaging, loading and unloading equipment at home and abroad to improve the utilization rate of the equipment, so as to improve the processing capacity in a limited space.
While paying attention to the advanced nature of equipment, the central kitchen should also gradually realize automation, digitalization and intelligent management. Technologies such as the Internet of Things and cloud platforms can be gradually applied. Many central kitchens have introduced MES and ERP systems to implement big data monitoring of food production. Using information technology to match the procurement, processing and distribution of the central kitchen, so as to optimize the efficiency of the central kitchen. The purpose of using the central kitchen to produce pre-made dishes is to improve efficiency and reduce production and labor costs. However, due to the late start of the domestic central kitchen, a unified standard has not yet been formed. And the technology in automation control and other aspects needs to be improved. The realization of automation, digital management and intelligent management in the central kitchen is conducive to improving production efficiency. In addition, it can also achieve unified control over the taste and taste of ingredients.
With the improvement of supervision mechanism, supervision methods and supervision level, some central kitchens in the catering industry will face survival of the fittest. Therefore, enterprises need to accelerate the pace of upgrading of central kitchens to achieve transformation and upgrading.
Post time: Dec-06-2022