HP Sales Northeast

Henny Penny

The Great Resignation: Keeping Your Kitchen Staff

By

3 Tips from Restaurant Industry Experts

After two grueling years, COVID-19 restrictions on indoor dining are lifting and customers are celebrating by returning to their favorite eateries.  That’s great news for restaurant operators, right? Well, yes, but operators are now facing an altogether different challenge. While their customers are coming back, their employees are not, or at least not at pre-pandemic levels and certainly not at what operators say they need to run their restaurants. What’s happened?

It’s a byproduct of a nationwide movement that’s been dubbed the ‘Great Resignation’.  The mass exodus spiked in November 2021, when a record breaking 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs. And, in February 2022, another 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs.  Industries taking the great hit include Accommodation and Food Services, which saw almost 7 percent of America’s food and beverage workforce walk off the job, leaving nearly a million job vacancies and restaurant operators scrambling to recruit new hires.

Navigating the “Big Quit”

Many restaurant workers, who lost their jobs during COVID-19, have chosen to leave the industry all together.  No one knows that better than Chef Gregg Brickman, who’s now Corporate Executive Chef at Henny Penny, a global manufacturer of premium commercial food service equipment.

One study found that 30 percent of former restaurant employees have found office jobs, while another 17 percent are working in education.

“This is something the industry’s never seen before, but it’s been building up for a while. COVID was just the tipping point. People who had dedicated their lives to restaurants, me included, found themselves unemployed when the restaurants they were working for closed. So, out of necessity, they had to pivot, and many found other jobs that were more stable and paid better.”

avatar

Chef Gregg Brickman

Corporate Executive Chef at Henny Penny

So, to say there’s a surge in demand for restaurant workers is an understatement. In fact, in a recent State of the Restaurant Industry report, half of restaurant operators surveyed expect recruiting and retaining workers to be their biggest challenge in 2022. In an effort to rebuild their teams, many employers are offering higher wages and improved benefits. Take McDonalds, for example, which responded to the labor shortage by hiking hourly wages for current employees by 10% and raising entry-level wages between $11 and $17 an hour.

In addition to more competitive wages and benefits, what else can restaurant operators do to recruit and, more importantly, retain staff?

The Little Things Matter – It’s Not Just About the Money

You’ve heard it said that while money matters, being appreciated and recognized do too, and maybe just as much. To attract workers, employers are offering incentives like higher wages, sign-on bonuses, flexible scheduling, and one New York City-based fast-casual restaurant, DIG, is offering its hourly employees something that’s virtually unheard of in the restaurant biz: a four-day workweek. It’s just another example of how the new “normal” for operators will be finding a way to balance the needs of workers with the needs of the restaurant.

Operators are also finding out that workers respond favorably to the little things …perks that make them feel valued and appreciated.

Show Employees You Care

HOA Brands—which is the franchisor of Hooters, the fast-casual brand, Hoots Wings, as well as three virtual brands—admits it’s facing the same challenges as the rest of the industry, but it’s fighting back with strategies aimed at prioritizing workers and making them feel valued. One incentive the company offers is a generous referral program.  Hourly and manager-level team members who recruit new workers receive a referral bonus.  “The key for us has been investing in our people and prioritizing what we can do to help them be successful every day,” said Tim Baum, Vice President of Company Store Operations, HOA Brands. “Take our training, for example. We not only make sure our associates feel confident in what they’re doing; we make sure they have the tools they need to do their job and succeed.”

Say “Bye, Bye” to Difficult, Dirty, & Dangerous

In the restaurant world, there are certainly tasks that could be classified as dirty, difficult and, at times, even dangerous. And, while higher wages and better benefits certainly play a role in hiring and retention, so does making the job as appealing and uncomplicated as possible.

Here are three things operators can do now to better position themselves in the competitive space.

#1: Embrace Easy-to-Operate Equipment

“The difficult, dirty or dangerous jobs are the ones nobody wants to do,” says Josh Frank, Director of Product Strategy at Henny Penny, which has consistently been at the forefront of developing equipment designed to solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges.  “With product development, we’re always focused on innovative equipment solutions that eliminate or greatly reduce the ‘3-D’ tasks.”

Frank says Henny Penny makes sure they’re always part of the solution; not the problem. “We can’t produce equipment that makes the problem worse. Our focus and commitment is to make equipment that’s easy to deal with from an end-user perspective, from an ownership perspective, and from a service perspective.”

Frank also points to Henny Penny’s pressure fryers, including the PFE500 and PFG600 4-head  standard pressure fryers and the Velocity Series 8-head fryers as ideal examples of easy-to-operate equipment.

“So, we have fryers today that will filter automatically after every cook cycle. We have fryers today that can filter at the press of button. We have fryers today that can automatically lift baskets in and out of the oil. And, all of those things reduce the amount of labor it takes to operate that piece of equipment.”

The Easier, The Better!

One of the dirtiest jobs in the industry that no one wants to be tasked with is scrubbing fryer vats.  As a value add for its customers, as well as any restaurant operator looking for a better solution, Henny Penny developed Prime Cleaner, which is a non-caustic degreaser specially formulated to remove tough zero-trans- fat oils, grease, even carbon scorching, all without harsh chemicals or heavy scrubbing.

“It’s kind of like Easy Off, but for a commercial fryer,” says Brickman, who’s scrubbed his fair share of fryer vats. He says that Prime Cleaner is a game changer. “It goes from having to scrub for 45 minutes to an hour, to not having to scrub the fryer at all. If you’ve ever had to do that job, you know how welcome an innovation like this is for kitchen employees.”

Want to see the magic of Prime Cleaner? Click here to read a case study highlighting how Lee’s Famous Recipe keeps their fryers in such immaculate shape. (And seriously, we mean immaculate. They even made a 21-year-old fryer look brand new!)

#2: Prioritize Turnkey Training

Another key to improving the employee experience is to simplify and streamline training. “From a training perspective, whether I’m a franchisee, general manager or store manager, I need to be focused on doing what I can to simplify my employees’ on-the-job experience,” said Pete Krause, Director of Training and Digital Assets, Henny Penny. “We don’t want to frustrate or make life any more complicated for employees than it needs to be, and with many pieces of our equipment, when you make a purchase, we provide startup training on site. So, we’re right there with you and your employees to make sure they understand how to use the equipment.”

But, it doesn’t stop there. Krause knows that turnover can be a challenge for restaurant operators, and that’s why he says Henny Penny has a multi-tiered training approach. In addition to on-site startup training, the company’s fryers and combi ovens come equipped with full-proof prompts built into the controls. “The prompts are going to walk you through step-by-step how to do different tasks.  Say, for example, you’re scrubbing a fryer vat using our Prime Cleaner. You don’t have to remember to add water or remember ‘this is when I need to add my cleaning solution.’ The controls automatically prompt you and then confirm every step is completed before you move on to the next step.”

#3: Trust Tech, BUT Remember: Employees are Still #1

Another consequence of COVID-19 and the subsequent labor shortage is the rapid-fire demand for automated food service equipment. “COVID and mass layoffs really lit a match and accelerated the pace of change everywhere, but especially in the restaurant industry, where we’re seeing significant staffing challenges. It’s like hyper-speed how quickly things are moving and changing,” says Frank.

One significant change that customers may notice, especially in quick-service restaurants (QSRs), is the integration of robotics, which are doing everything from flipping burgers and making tortilla chips, to baking pizzas and serving diners.

Some of Henny Penny’s customers, including some well-known global restaurant chains, are already using the company’s fryers in conjunction with robotic arms. Frank says while robotics is the future, and while Henny Penny certainly welcomes conversations with customers and robotics companies about integration, a lot is still being done on the equipment level that’s helping (and going to continue to help) operators.

“At Henny Penny, we are innovators. It’s in our DNA. Throughout our history, we’ve developed a reputation for solving some of the industry biggest challenges. 65 years ago, when we were founded, it was to help address a throughput problem at a small kitchen in Eaton, Ohio. Ever since then, our company has been solving the challenges that our customers and prospective customers face.”

avatar

Josh Frank

Director of Product Strategy at Henny Penny

The labor challenges that the industry is facing today are something Frank says have been on Henny Penny’s radar for quite some time. He says that’s why the innovative equipment Henny Penny engineers isn’t just designed to last, it’s also designed to reduce the amount of labor it takes to operate that piece of equipment.

Looking ahead, bots or ‘autonomous kitchen assistants’, as they’re called, will likely only continue to become more commonplace in the industry, but most everyone agrees they aren’t replacing workers; they’re helping with specific tasks.

Relating to the overall customer experience in the restaurant industry, Chef Brickman says while robots are here to stay, in the hospitality space, they’ll never replace the human touch, which ranks right up there with great tasting food.

“You’re always going to need workers to ensure quality and consistency, but most importantly, a robot can’t care. They lack the personal touch that diners experience when they walk into their favorite restaurant and are greeted with a warm smile or personal ‘hello’ from a server who remembers them. That’s the personal touch you get with people, and that can’t be replaced.”

– Chef Gregg Brickman

3 Ways Restaurants Are Fighting Inflation

By

How commercial fryers are helping maximize your kitchens performance.

There’s no question about it. Food prices are soaring. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the food index shot up by more than 10 percent in May, making it the largest increase in 40 years.

If there’s a silver lining for restaurant operators, it’s that while menu prices at restaurants and fast-food locations increased 7.4 percent compared to last year, grocery prices rose nearly 12 percent annually, far outpacing the increase at restaurants. It’s a small advantage, but one restaurant operators welcome as they actively explore ways to minimize the impact inflation is having on their business and diners’ wallets.

It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. And restaurants from fine dining, fast casual, and quick service establishments are serving up innovation and cost-cutting measures ranging from slimming down menus and adjusting portion sizes to debuting new value deals and modifying product composition, a practice also known as “menu engineering.”

Harness Your Kitchen’s Workhorse: The Deep Fryer

The commercial fryer is one of the most expensive pieces of commercial kitchen equipment, so it’s no surprise the profit margin associated with fried food products is likewise high.  How high? According to a new report on the commercial fryer market in the U.S., fried foods bring in an average profit margin of 75 percent. Globally, the deep fryer market is expected to surpass $612 million by 2026.

In tough economic times, having the right fryer is important too, especially when you consider that some low-oil volume fryers can deliver up to $5,000 in annual oil savings when compared to other fryers.

If properly maintained and operated, your deep fryer can deliver direct savings associated with using less oil, lower energy costs, and greater throughput, as well as indirect savings associated with ongoing staff training, automatic oil filtration, and routine cleaning, all of which play a vital role in food quality.

So, what can you do to maximize the profit associated with your commercial fryer? We spoke with some leading experts in the restaurant industry, as well as food service operators and asked them to identify their ‘Top 3’ tips. Here’s what they had to say.

 1. Maximize Your Fryer’s Throughput

Your commercial deep fryer may be your most versatile piece of restaurant equipment. Depending on your menu, you may currently use it to fry baskets of crispy French fries and crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the inside chicken. Considering the profit margin associated with fried foods, you may want to explore your options and do more with your fryer.

Consider Catering

Shelley Swartztrauber is the owner of Rob’s Restaurant & Catering in Brookville, Ohio. In business since 1976, Shelley’s customers are loyal and faithfully frequent the restaurant seven days a week, ordering up any number of homemade daily specials or lining up for the restaurant’s always popular buffet.

During the pandemic, like other restaurants, Swartztrauber had to close for a few months. When she was able to reopen, though not for in-person dining, she made a purchase decision that helped keep the restaurant afloat and expand her catering business.

The 4-head pressure fryer it a purchase decision Swartztrauber said was one of her best, and one she’s never regretted.

“We bought a 4-head pressure fryer, manufactured by Henny Penny, which we used to fry up buckets of chicken for our customers who would order online or over the phone and pick up their orders curbside. It truly sustained us during the pandemic and kept our customers happy. And, when we were able to open our doors and restart our catering business, it’s truly been our kitchen’s superstar, frying between 900 and 1,000 pounds of chicken a week.”

avatar

Shelley Swartztrauber

Owner; Rob’s Restaurant and Catering

Or, An Online-only Restaurant

Introducing a virtual brand, operating out of your existing restaurant’s kitchen, is another way to expand and capitalize on your fryer’s throughput.

HOA Brands, which is the franchisor of Hooters, as well as the fast-casual brand Hoots Wings, knows all about the profit potential associated with opening virtual restaurants. It has three, including Hootie’s Chicken Tenders, Hootie’s Burger Bar, and Hootie’s Bait and Tackle.

“Everybody has the ability to do a virtual concept […] just think through what you have on your menu and how you can make yourself stand out without creating a lot of complexity for your store. That’s the first step.”

avatar

Marc Butler

Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, HOA Brands

Last, but not Least…Leasing

If the prospect of opening a virtual restaurant or catering business just isn’t for you, allowing your restaurant’s kitchen to be leased out by a reputable home-based food business or food truck operator during off hours is another way to generate a supplemental revenue stream for your restaurant

2. Prioritize Your Fryer’s Profit-producing Potential

While fried chicken isn’t going away anytime soon, you could increase your restaurant’s operating profit by adding more affordable vegetable entrees, appetizers, and side dishes to your menu. And, they don’t have to be boring, just ask Chef Gregg Brickman, our own Corporate Executive Chef.

“More and more restaurants are serving up vegetable dishes like buffalo cauliflower, bang-bang cauliflower, spicy edamame, fried pickles, fried loaded tots, crispy eggplant fries, honey sriracha brussel sprouts, sweet potato fritters and more to their diners who are eating them up, quite literally.”

avatar

Chef Gregg Brickman

Henny Penny’s Corporate Executive Chef

What’s more, Brickman says some of the best chefs in the world at the most renowned restaurants are featuring more vegetable-based and plant-based dishes as their “showstoppers.” One of those is celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

In a recent interview with Yahoo! Finance, Puck conceded that while inflation has forced him to raise some menu prices, especially for his famous steaks, he’s now offering diners more affordable vegetable-centric entrees that taste great.

“Yes, if you want a really good piece of meat, it’s very expensive, but we can give you a good meal without having that meat,”

avatar

Wolfgang Puck

Celebrity Chef and Restaurateur

3. Optimize Your Fryer’s Performance

Finally, if you want your fryer to take care of you and your business, you’ve got to take care of it. And that starts with proper maintenance.

If your deep fryer is your commercial kitchen’s workhorse, a breakdown could translate into thousands of dollars in lost revenue. In addition to quarterly and annual preventative maintenance, routine cleaning is a must and it starts with keeping your fryer’s vats as clean as possible and that’s easier with the right products, equipment and training.  Henny Penny has easy-to-understand operations manuals and videos for each of its fryers.

“For example, with the Evolution Elite Fryer, when you need to clean the fryer’s vats, the display on the unit is going to step you through the process with simple prompts. You don’t have to worry because the control prompts will remind you of the order and step you through the process until the scrub vat process is complete. It’s just that easy,”

avatar

Peter Krause

Director of Training and Digital Assets at Henny Penny

In between cleanings, to help keep your frying oil cleaner longer, consider adding an oil-life extender product like Henny Penny’s Prime Filter Powder, which is designed to make your filtered oil that much cleaner, translating in to fewer change outs, longer oil life, and more money in your wallet.

Finally, as a restaurant operator, while you can’t control the economy, inflation, or whether a recession is on the horizon, you can maximize your fryer’s throughput, prioritize your fryer’s profit-producing potential, and optimize your fryer’s performance. And that’s something that could amount to a lot in the long run.

Originally Posted on HennyPenny.com

3 Ways Our Henny Penny Fryers Maintain Food Quality

By

It’s no surprise that many operators struggle with how to maintain food quality in a restaurant. A lot of it comes down to your fryer oil!

In the restaurant industry, we call a 35 lb. container of bulk cooking oil a “jug-in-box” or “JIB” for short. Not surprisingly, just like everything else restaurants are paying more for these days, JIBs have increased in price too. How much? Depending on what type of cooking oil you purchase, a JIB will now run you as much as four times what you paid in 2019. So, today you’ll pay between $40 and $100 for a JIB of cooking oil and that’s wholesale pricing.

Increasing costs associated with fry oil and inflation in general are important reasons to make sure you’re prioritizing keeping your commercial fryer in tiptop condition.  Doing so will not only ensure you continue to dish up quality menu items that delight your customers, but it will also help manage costs and prioritize profits.

To help, I’ve identified three tips that will keep your commercial deep fryer operating in peak condition.

1. Resist the Temptation to Cut Corners

With cooking oil prices spiking, some operators may be tempted to keep their fry oil longer than they should. They may rationalize, asking themselves, “What’s another day or two, or even a week going to hurt?” Well, that’s a bad idea and for a few reasons.

Not only will your food not taste as good, oftentimes taking on a burnt flavor and smell, reusing old oil can open the door to bacterial buildup and well, that’s not good for your customers’ health or your restaurant’s reputation. But, there’s a solution.

Filter, Filter, Filter

Routine filtering of your vats is the single most important thing you can do to ensure the quality, taste, and consistency of your food. That means the first person that you serve gets the same great tasting meal as the last person you serve.

Some commercial fryers are equipped with built-in oil filtration systems, like Henny Penny’s, which come standard on every open and pressure fryer. Not only does the automatic system reduce the manual effort associated with filtering, but it extends oil life, translating into thousands of dollars in annual savings.

How often you should be filtering is dependent on what you’re frying, how much you’re frying, and how old your oil is. This free Filter Frequency Calculator will help you determine the ideal filtration frequency for your restaurant.

Because time is money in the restaurant business, when you’re filtering your vats, you’re not frying product in them. Luckily, some fryers on the market like the Evolution Elite allow for filtering by individual vats, so you can filter one vat while frying in others.  And, because it’s a low-volume oil fryer, it filters completely in less than 4 minutes, so you’re able to get back to frying even faster.

2. Clean Up Your Act (or, at least your fryer’s)

I don’t need to list all the reasons and benefits associated with routinely cleaning your commercial fryer, but I can tell you what could happen if you don’t. I read a news article recently about a restaurant fire and the investigation determined the fire started in a deep fryer-vent due to lack of cleaning of the commercial cooking equipment.

No operator expects this will happen at their restaurant and it likely won’t if they adhere to a daily cleaning regimen and a deep cleaning schedule every few weeks.

Commercial Fryer Cleaners – Choose Wisely

When it comes to choosing a commercial fryer cleaner, it’s important to remember they’re not all equal. No one knows that better than Bill Sparks, VP of Operations and Franchise Sales for Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken who agreed to ask his franchise owners to test Henny Penny’s Prime Cleaner against their current product.

The side-by-side tests were planned for one month, but within a week, Bill said he started getting feedback from owners, commenting that the difference was like night and day.  Sparks said the following:

“Our owners have 21-year-old fry pots looking like they’re brand new. Plus, they’re saving time on each clean-out, since you don’t need to neutralize with a vinegar solution.”

avatar

Bill Sparks

VP of Operations and Franchise Sales

You can learn more about the franchise’s experience and plans to equip every new store with Henny Penny fryers by clicking here.

3. Work Smarter. Not Harder

Another way your commercial fryer can help maintain food quality is by ensuring recipe consistency.  The digital age we live in comes with advantages and one of those is some commercial fryers are now equipped with advanced controls that allow operators to choose from a selection of preprogrammed recipes or simply program in their own recipes.

In my job, I spend a lot of time working with restaurant brands, getting their programs just right for their proprietary processes. With Henny Penny fryers, we have the ability to change cooking perimeters.

For example, a restaurant might have a recipe program that starts at 330 degrees and for the second stage, the temperature goes down to 320 degrees, and then, up to 340 degrees. What they’re doing is creating a product that you can only get from them. They’re creating a texture and taste at the end of the cooking cycle that nobody else can copy or repeat.

Want some tips on how to refine your frying program? This free download includes the top five frying mistakes and what you can do about them.

Your Fryer’s Best Friend – A Heated Holding Cabinet

Finally, want to know the “secret” to keeping your food fry-fresh for hours after it leaves the fryer?  Using a heated holding cabinet in conjunction with your fryer can extend food life without sacrificing quality. Think about it.

Whenever you’re using your fryer by itself, you have to wait 10 to 12 minutes before you can place more chicken in there. But if you’re taking that same chicken and cooking it ahead of time for 6 minutes and then putting it in the heated holding cabinet at 185 degrees with 15 percent humidity, you’re able to hold that product for 2 hours!

Then all you have to do is flash it inside the fryer for a minute or minute and a half, and you’ll have a product that’s crispy on the inside yet juicier on the inside because it wasn’t cooked in the fryer for 10-12 minutes.

Originally posted by Chef Gregg from www.HennyPenny.com

So You Want to Sell Fried Chicken?

By

Let’s take a look at the equipment you would need to get your commercial kitchen pumping out great fried chicken.

It’s no secret that there are plenty of advantages to serving fried chicken. Chicken is the world’s most popular protein, it can be fried in batches and held for hours, and it’s an incredibly profitable menu item. Plus, according to a recent Technomic report, chicken menu category sales have increased at an average rate of 12% since 2019.

Are you ready to get in the fried chicken game? Here’s a quick summary of the commercial kitchen equipment you’ll need to consider for your foodservice operation:

Frying; The Star of the Show

When it comes to commercial deep fryers, operators have two main choices: open fryer or pressure fryer.

Pressure Fryers

If you’re serving bone-in fried chicken, you’ll probably want to invest in a pressure fryer. Pressure fryers consistently produce flavorful, tender, and juicy fried chicken every time. Not only that, but pressure frying is faster than any other method when cooking in high volumes.

When exploring pressure fryer options, it’s important to consider how much product you’ll need to be frying and what advanced features you might need.

Henny Penny offers several pressure fryer models to fit the needs of different commercial kitchens. We have standard pressure fryers for normal volume kitchens, 8-head pressure fryers for added capacity, and Velocity Series pressure fryers for high-volume kitchens looking to save on oil, labor, and time.

Open Fryers

If you’re serving a variety of fried food times, including fried chicken, an open fryer might be perfect for your operation. Open fryers produce a crispier product, increase overall throughput, and allow plenty of freedom for customization. When looking at open fryers for your commercial kitchen, there are a few things to consider.

  1. Are your menu items freezer-to-fryer or freshly breaded?
  2. Will your kitchen be frying in large quantities?
  3. Are you looking for an all-purpose “workhorse” fryer to handle all your menu needs?
  4. Do you want something more advanced to improve operations, maintain consistent food quality, and save money?

Henny Penny offers a wide range of open fryers, so there are plenty of options for every unique kitchen.

No matter what fryer you go with, all Henny Penny fryers include built-in oil filtration as a standard feature. This means oil filtration is no longer a chore and can be completed in just a few minutes at the touch of a button.

Keep in mind that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ best commercial fryer for fried chicken. Still struggling to decide between open and pressure frying? Check out this in-depth blog covering the differences and similarities between the two frying methods.

Heated Holding Cabinets

When you’re serving fried chicken, a holding cabinet is one of the most valuable pieces of kitchen equipment you can invest in.

Since diners are embracing off-premises channels at an unprecedented rate, peak order times and volumes have fluctuated. At the same time, operators are struggling to keep their kitchens staffed with enough employees to handle the rush.

The answer to these challenges? Cooking in large batches and holding product until it’s ready to serve.

Today’s holding cabinets are much more than stainless steel hot boxes – they can keep fried chicken fresh for long periods without sacrificing product quality. This way, the chicken will still be moist on the inside with a golden crunch on the outside. The customer won’t even be able to tell that it’s not fresh out of the fryer!

At Henny Penny, we offer two main options for holding cabinets: our standard cabinet, and the more advanced SmartHold model.

Our standard heated holding cabinet includes temperature control to keep fried chicken ready to serve (the recommended holding temperature for fried chicken is between 175- and 185-degrees Fahrenheit). A simple water pan allows the cabinet to create steam and help maintain the chicken’s moisture.

Our SmartHold cabinets feature something a bit more advanced – precise humidity control. This is ideal for naturally moist products like fried chicken. SmartHold allows operators to hold fried chicken and almost any other food for up to 200% longer than most other holding cabinets.

According to our corporate executive chef Gregg Brickman, either of these cabinets will make a major difference in your commercial kitchen. He says that holding cabinets can relieve as much pressure for today’s kitchens as adding another employee or sous chef.

Breadings and Seasonings

Aside from your kitchen equipment, you’ll also want breadings and seasonings to bring your fried chicken menu to life with flavor and texture.

Henny Penny offers an extensive collection of breading and seasoning formulations. There are options for every taste, menu, and health concern. Click here to explore flavor profiles and menu suggestions for each of our exclusive breadings and seasonings.

In Conclusion…

Clearly there is a lot to consider regarding fried chicken restaurant equipment. And beyond the equipment itself, there is even more to think about.

How will the kitchen process flow? Where will you source frying oil and other product? How will you get customer service once the equipment has been installed?

Answer all these questions and more by downloading From Sourcing to Serving, a comprehensive guide from our chicken experts. It’s packed with 22 pages covering everything you need to know about adding chicken to your menu!

Why Your Commercial Kitchen Needs A Pressure Fryer And Heated Holding Cabinet

By

If you’re serving a chicken-heavy menu featuring items like bone-in wings or juicy tenders, you’ll love having a pressure fryer and a heated holding cabinet in your kitchen. (And if you’re not serving chicken, we’ve got four reasons you should be!)

Combining a fryer and a full-size holding cabinet allows operators to implement batch cooking. This means the product is fried in large batches before the rush and served fresh out of a holding cabinet.

Together, pressure fryers and heated holding cabinets create an ideal ‘system’ for commercial kitchens, specifically fried chicken concepts. Here’s why:

#1: Fried Chicken Holds Well

Pressure fryers are arguably the best commercial fryers for fried chicken. Why? Pressure frying maintains the chicken’s moisture and flavor while sealing out excess cooking oil. Retaining that moisture helps maintain quality when the chicken is transferred to a holding cabinet.

Holding cabinets allow food life to be increased without sacrificing food quality. Fans that circulate hot moist air evenly throughout the cabinet help maintain safe temperatures and a quality product.

Premium holding cabinets with precise humidity control can keep chicken fresh and ready-to-serve for anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours.

#2: Less Staff in the Kitchen

With batch cooking, there are significantly less staff members needed in the kitchen. Today’s labor shortages make this is a huge win for operators.

Our own Corporate Executive Chef, Gregg Brickman, says that holding cabinets offer extensive relief for restaurants. “Henny Penny holding cabinets allow restaurants to serve consistent, quality items while also easing pressure on the kitchen. And, when you don’t have as many staff members in the kitchen due to staffing levels or pandemic restrictions, the cabinets can actually relieve as much pressure as adding another employee or sous chef.”

Read more about how kitchens can handle peak order volume without adding staff: click here.

#3: Increase Throughput Significantly

Batch cooking allows for increased throughput by prepping orders in advance, meaning no stress during peak order volumes.

Dedicate the hour before rush time to filling the holding cabinet. After that, simply manage the cabinet instead of the fryer. Establish a point that the cabinet should be refilled once a certain amount of product has been depleted. You’ll never run out of chicken this way, and your ticket times will be quicker than ever!

Increased throughput capabilities mean that kitchens can balance dine-in, carryout, and delivery orders with ease. With the increase in off-premise demand, many restaurants have struggled to keep up – some have had to restrict delivery hours on 3rd party apps or decline carryout orders altogether. Batch cooking can eliminate this issue!

When implementing batch cooking, it’s also important to consider your fryer’s total load capacity. Our Velocity Series is perfect for this application because it can cook an entire 8-head of chicken in just one load.

#4: Decrease Food Waste

A lot less food gets thrown away when you’re cooking in large batches and have a holding cabinet on hand. For high volume kitchens, batch cooking is a proven way to decrease food waste.

The concept of batch cooking isn’t new – in 2016, Foodservice Director Magazine published an article about how Franklin College was able to significantly reduce food waste in it’s dining halls. After implementing batch cooking, their food waste costs plummeted from over $250 a month to around $30.

Frying under pressure at lower temperatures also reduces wasted frying oil and helps extend its useful life. This added benefit of pressure frying is especially important given today’s inflated oil prices.

#5: Built to Work Together

As mentioned earlier, fried foods like chicken retain more moisture when cooked under pressure. A humidified holding cabinet is the perfect companion for a pressure fryer because it can keep the product moist and juicy for an extended period.

At Henny Penny, our pressure fryers and holding cabinets are built to work together as a system. When transferring product from our 8-head fryers to our holding cabinets, there is no re-racking required. Crew members simply slip a sheet pan under a lip on the fryer that allows for a seamless transition into the holding cabinet.

No re-racking means more consistent food quality, increased food safety, and a less time-consuming process for the back-of-house crew.

Our global network of exclusive distributors can work with you to develop set points for everything from your fryer’s cook cycle to your holding cabinet’s ideal temperature, humidity level, and maximum hold time. Click here to request more information from your local distributor.

The popularity, versatility, and profitability of chicken make it a no-brainer for any menu. Download this free ebook from our experts and start serving chicken like the pros.

Keep Reading

Check out our Fried Chicken Restaurant Equipment Guide to read more about the equipment you’ll need to start dishing out golden-fried goodness.

Originally posted on HennyPenny.com

How Kitchens Can Handle Peak Order Volume Without Adding Staff

By

Amid pandemic-related difficulties, new technology offers relief to labor- and time-strapped restaurants.

Though the restaurant industry has faced many major changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest shifts has been in guest traffic patterns. Not only have diners embraced off-premises channels at an unprecedented rate, but changing commutes among the move toward remote work and the rise of flexible work hours have caused peak order times and volumes to fluctuate. Yet while restaurants have attempted to continue offering the same speed of service and consistency and quality of product they are known for in the midst of these challenges, smaller crews and staffing shortages have exacerbated the issue.

“In the past, restaurants were more focused on the in-house dining experience than they were on delivery and quick service” says Gregg Brickman, corporate executive chef at Henny Penny, “but, unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the way consumers and restaurants must operate has changed.”

Before the pandemic, Brickman says, restaurants knew when they could prepare for a rush and plan to staff five cooks to execute the orders. However, now, surviving a peak service time often involves more planning ahead. Rather than cooking to order, he says restaurants can more aggressively set pars and prep orders in advance than they might have prior to COVID-19, and thanks to advanced holding cabinet technology, those meals can still be served as fresh as if they were going straight from fryer to plate.

“Henny Penny holding cabinets allow restaurants to serve consistent, quality items while also easing pressure on the kitchen,” Brickman says. “And, when you don’t have as many staff members in the kitchen due to staffing levels or pandemic restrictions, the cabinets can actually relieve as much pressure as adding another employee or sous chef.”

While he notes older style holding cabinets might have previously dried out or hardened food, Brickman says the secret to holding food successfully, is Henny Penny’s newer technology, which offers precise temperature and moisture controls that extend the life of food without any discernible difference in quality.

Additionally, the Henny Penny team will work with each brand to test the appropriate temperature and humidity levels for their products in the Henny Penny test kitchen or inside the restaurant’s facilities. Then, Brickman and the Henny Penny team precisely program each cabinet’s settings to ensure quick-service brands will serve high-quality meals to customers regardless of the hold time.

“A lot of people we’ve worked with from major brands have been shocked to see the results that can be achieved with our holding cabinets,” Brickman says. “They don’t expect the product to be as consistent and flavorful as it is even after batch cooking and holding, but the quality is so good, they know customers will still think their orders are being served right out of the fryer.”

Best of all, Henny Penny offers a wide range of cooking and holding equipment, so restaurants can find the best equipment for their staffing, layout, and cooking needs, and the company prides itself on helping each brand tailor its approach to these challenging volume situations.

“Not every piece of equipment is built for every customer,” Brickman says. “When we work with a new customer or concept, my culinary team and food scientists help analyze their situation and narrow down the specs so each restaurant can get the most out of each warming cabinet, fryer, or combi oven. Then we not only customize that equipment for the brand or store, but we also follow up over time to make sure it’s still working for them. We want to build long-term relationships so we can help each restaurant achieve the results they are looking for no matter what challenges they face.”

To learn how holding cabinets can help your restaurant, visit the click here.

This article was originally featured in QSR Magazine.