Can a few pieces of equipment help ease the Great Resignation? In the right kitchen, yes.

One of the biggest issues we’ve seen in the post-pandemic foodservice industry is labor loss. But as much of a challenge as this has been, the ever-shrinking labour pool gave rise to a more insidious issue within the industry: chef burnout. 

According to a 2021 study by The Limeade Institute , 52% of hospitality and foodservice workers cited burnout as the top reason for quitting their job between late 2020 and early 2021. Among those surveyed, 28% were so dissatisfied with their jobs they left without having another job lined up.

What’s behind the Chef burnout?

Since the pandemic’s recovery, it hasn’t been uncommon for chefs, sous chefs, line cooks, prep cooks, and everyone else in the back of the house to pull double duty, sometimes even triple duty, due to understaffed kitchens and the slow recovery of the foodservice labour force. This has led to an unprecedented rise in industry workers reporting feeling overwhelmed, overworked and burned out.

As foodservice operators continue to look for new and innovative ways to drive success in the post-pandemic world, they’re also beginning to look for out-of-the-box solutions to help ease their team’s workload. One such solution is the EVEREO^® by UNOX, a hot food preserver that can drastically cut prep times, practically eliminate wait times and shrink food waste to a minimum.

Best of all though, the EVEREO^® supports every restaurant’s most valuable resource: its people.

Understaffed Kitchens? Work smarter, not harder.

Anyone who has worked in foodservice is likely familiar with a hot holding cabinet and its purpose. You cook food ahead of time, hold it in the hot box a few hours before service and then when you get slammed by the lunch or dinner rush, you’ve got hot food ready to go. The drawbacks to these commercial holding cabinets are just as well-known. They’re a pain to monitor and maintain, there’s very little control over humidity levels, and let’s be honest…some foods are simply inedible after being held in them for more than an hour.

EVEREO^® thinks outside the hot box. Where traditional restaurant holding cabinets can only hold hot food for a few hours before the food’s quality is compromised, EVEREO^® raises the bar to a whole new level by allowing operators to hold hot food safely for up to 3 days – without sacrificing quality.

Not an ordinary holding cabinet: How Does EVEREO^® Work?

It may sound like science fiction, but EVEREO^®’s power actually makes perfect sense once you understand the technology behind it. Service Temperature Food Preserving is an innovative, patented technology developed by UNOX and the University of Parma that allows the EVEREO^® to function almost like a “hot fridge,” achieving the same goal as cold food preservation, except using a safe level of heat instead of cold.

When used alone, the EVEREO^® can be used to hold hot food in open or unsealed trays for up to eight hours. When used in combination with the UNOX MULTI.Day Hot Vacuum Pump, hot food can be sealed inside special trays and held in the EVEREO^® for up to 72 hours.

EVEREO^® holds food at a temperature above the bacterial growth range, which means food that stays in the EVEREO^® is just as safe, and may be safer, than food held in a refrigerator or freezer and then reheated. This is because rethermalized food must pass through the bacterial “danger zone” not once, but twice: Once when the food is being chilled and again when it is being reheated. With EVEREO^®, the food stays at service temperature until it is served, avoiding risk of bacterial proliferation.

Extremely precise temperature and humidity controls allows the operator to fine-tune the atmosphere in the chamber, and EVEREO^®’s intuitive programming automatically suggests specific settings depending on the type of food and the temperature of the food when it is put inside. These features allow EVEREO^® to hold hot food for extended periods of time without the food losing quality. Organoleptic features such as texture, color, aroma and taste are protected in the EVEREO^®, thanks to the sophisticated controls.

But don’t let the high-tech features intimidate you. EVEREO^®’s user interface is super simple and easy to navigate. The machine does the work; the user simply inputs the information. If additional support is needed, UNOX Corporate Chefs and Service Teams are just a phone call away.

New challenges need new solutions.

Imagine what a machine like this could do for an understaffed restaurant kitchen. Imagine being able to let your head chef prepare large quantities of food ahead of time and quickly finish each dish as it is ordered with less stress and less time.

Imagine the executive chef at a busy hotel being able to batch cook meals for a banquet, wedding or corporate dinner up to three days ahead, allowing them more time to focus on other aspects of the job without worry.

Imagine a piece of foodservice equipment that reduces or even eliminates food waste, saving money and boosting profits. That could mean a redistribution of funds to help hire extra staff, support wage increases or other ways to benefit the kitchen staff’s work-life balance.

Is EVEREO^® Really Safe?

The EVEREO^® hot food preserver, as well as the MULTI.Day Pump, meets all industry food safety standards. In fact, both products recently earned the distinction of being certified by HACCP International, a world-renowned organization specializing in the certification of food safe equipment.

In addition to this impressive distinction, EVEREO^® has also taken home the Kitchen Innovation Award for 2020, the Gold Winner Award for the Commercial Kitchen Show 2019, and several more awards over the last five years.

Ready to Learn More?

The data is in. Burnout is a real threat to the foodservice industry. Now is the time to find solutions that are outside the (hot) box.

Learn more about EVEREO^® and how it could revolutionise your professional kitchen.

Want to find out how EVEREO can help in your business?

Call us on 03 9876 0803

12^th March 2024