Industry Voices

— By Jeff Kiesel — Serving up fresh, automated oil solutions to replace stale, deep-fried thinking. Oil management has historically been a struggle for restaurants and commercial kitchens. While oil plays a crucial role in food preparation, traditional oil handling can result in unsafe and dirty kitchens, frustrated staff, lower food quality and unnecessary waste. Now, new automated cooking oil management tools are allowing restaurants to embrace digital transformation and provide improved control of kitchen chaos. For those who get JIBs (joint interest billing) of oil delivered and grease removal …

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— By Jay Fiske — IoT & S3: How connected equipment improves restaurant safety, service and sustainability. Every restaurant facility manager is acutely aware of how critical their back-of-house equipment (cooking, refrigeration, HVAC, etc.) is as the lifeline of their operations. When these machines go down, or an issue arises, the result is often costly health or safety concerns that can force facility closures, negatively impact customer satisfaction, and harm brand perception. In addition, back-of-house equipment also drives the bulk of the very heavy energy use in restaurants — driving …

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— By Les Tomlin — How automated vending machines are churning out QSR solutions. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are embracing artificial intelligence platforms to boost productivity, increase security and make operations more user-friendly. On paper, things should be getting easier for restaurant owners; however, in the face of rampant labor shortages, skyrocketing minimum wage laws and exorbitant real estate costs, restaurant owners and managers have an uphill battle to face in getting a new business off the ground. Since the nineteenth century, vending machines have provided an autonomous alternative to full-service …

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— By David Gabbai — How restaurant tenants can be built to save. Due to challenges like high interest rates and construction costs, the price of owning, building, remodeling and leasing restaurant space has gone through the roof. It can be a difficult time to own and maintain a restaurant business and restaurant space. However, forward-thinking restaurant tenants and retail landlords are finding creative ways to make things work. We are seeing these imaginative solutions play out in lease terms and structures, which can be done in a way that …

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— By Alec Zaballero — A conversation with TPG Architecture about trends in retail design — and how digital-first brands can successfully move into brick-and-mortar. R&R: Thank you so much for your time! Before diving in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what trends you are seeing in the retail industry? Alec Zaballero: In my role as managing executive at TPG Architecture, I oversee the firm’s retail, hospitality, restaurant, and entertainment design practices, with a keen focus on …

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— By Frank Mataipule and Megan Freckelton — Elevated, upscale dining experiences are moving to more suburban markets. In the past couple years, the restaurant sector has seen a strong movement in bringing what was once an urban, downtown experience into a more suburban market. As designers focused on restaurants and hospitality, our strategies have also shifted. Whereas we once focused primarily on urban, downtown concepts, we are now working with several restaurant groups looking to move their work into suburban locations as these sites create more revenue, have added …

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— By Jeremy Johnson — The case for solar-powered signage in parking lots. In today’s competitive retail and hospitality landscape, every aspect of a business must be optimized to create a positive and memorable customer experience. Although the parking lot usually represents the first interaction a customer has with an organization, it is often overlooked, and one crucial element is signage. Retailers, restaurants and property managers can significantly improve their parking lots by incorporating signage that is solar-powered, reaping a multitude of benefits that extend beyond mere aesthetics. In this …

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— By Ty Johnson — Tubular daylighting solutions for modular restaurants. The concept of modularity is not new in the building construction industry. However, in the wake of post-pandemic economies and increasing concerns about climate change, there is a shift in how we approach the built environment. Modular structures offer numerous advantages that are reshaping the landscape of restaurant construction. When combined with advanced daylighting strategies, they can achieve unparalleled benefits in terms of efficiency and sustainability. What is Modular Construction? Modular construction involves the prefabrication of building components or …

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— By Jim Rechtin, Jr. — Stay ahead & save big with routine preventative maintenance for building exteriors. All matter breaks down over time. The structures that surround us today are no exception to that law of physics. Some building materials are more durable than others, like stone and steel, but unfortunately the days of structures surviving thousands of years, like the Egyptian pyramids and Roman cathedrals, are over. Most structures erected today have a life expectancy of less than 100 years, with each building component designed to work for …

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— By Clint Williams — Diving into what’s going on with the labor market and how to attract and retain good restaurant workers. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), over 80% of restaurants were hiring in 2023 and the same goes for 2024. That is, if they can find good, qualified workers — workers they can pay and workers who will stay. From servers on the front lines to cleaners in the back of house, the hiring landscape can be a tough, uphill climb. To cope with sub-septimal staffing …

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