Mark Rossi, CEO and founder of Avanti Restaurant Solutions, a foodservice kitchen design firm, agreed that restaurants may be able to eliminate some equipment as they rationalize their menus to focus on top sellers and items that truly support their brand.
“Is there really a need for one particular piece of equipment that just warms up a cookie, for example?” he said. “Some of those things that you think you might need … can really throw a monkey wrench in the works.”
More operators have also begun to embrace the potential of equipment that has higher upfront costs but allows more flexibility, such as combi ovens, Rossi said. Combi ovens can cook using steam, convection heat or a combination of the two.
