The Foodservice industry in the last ten years has made a number of technological advances. This includes robots to assist cooking, high speed ovens to increase speed, automatic dispensing systems and many more. This leads to safer kitchens, cleaner work environments and greater speed and efficiency. All good returns for investment.
What needs to be remembered is that we are dealing with the Hospitality industry, defined as:
Hospitality
NOUN
The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.
synonyms:
friendliness · hospitableness · welcome · warm reception · helpfulness
ADJECTIVE
relating to or denoting the business of housing or entertaining visitors.
"the hospitality industry"
The Hospitality comes from the interaction of people, well trained friendly people in restaurants and hotels. This must never be forgotten, especially with the shut down of the industry for the last year. Humans require human contact as part of our socialization and our mental health. Going to a restaurant can be speaking to an electronic device, paying by tap and then receiving your food without or at least with minimal human contact. Compare that to the experience of being greeted, seated, entertained and served. That's an experience and that is what the hospitality industry has to offer. We need to support all those fine people that show up for work every day in your favorite eatery.
Going forward the entire industry must remember that people are the primary ingredient for a Hospitable experience. Well trained, properly compensated and enthusiastic staff is the answer to recovery and revitalization of our industry. To misquote Rhett Butler "you need to be feed by someone who knows how".
