I know bar operators who envision doing cooking in front of their customers, and having their customers being able to lay a glass on the same surface. Operators love having the ability to do rapid cooking while working on a surface that's cool to the touch. From a liability standpoint, there's less cases of someone being burnt. Technology also can be used to cool food in a hurry. To deter bacterial growth, the Food and Drug Administration's Food Code requires that hot foods be cooled from 140 degrees Fahrenheit to 70 degrees Fahrenheit within two hours and then to 41 degrees Fahrenheit in another four hours.
Blast chillers do the trick.
With the industry facing a labor shortage that's projected to get worse, some operators are looking for automated equipment that can relieve their labor pangs. That is why it is important for restaurateurs to update employee training to keep pace with technological side of the operation. Whether robots per se will become common in restaurant kitchens is questionable. Instead of training people, we're training equipment so that it knows what to do. A model by manufacturer Henny Penny, based in Eaton, Ohio, is programmable for up to 99 nine-step cooking programs.