Nobody screams in a cyber-kitchen
Chili's
adds computers to better coordinate its food service
By
KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS Staff Writer
Published
February 22, 2004
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There's a lot less yelling these days in
the kitchens of Chili's Bar & Grill.
The new quiescence is due in large part to a $6.9 million
computer system. Software helps time when cooks prepare each item so
that a Caesar salad doesn't wilt while waiting for the steaks to be
grilled.
"This is a great way to organize the chaos of a restaurant
with all these food items," said Doug H. Brooks, president and chief
executive of Brinker International Inc., the parent of Chili's. Mr.
Brooks met last week with reporters and editors of The Dallas
Morning News.
"At the end of the day, the cold food comes out cold, and the
hot food comes out hot," he said.
With the kitchen display system, or KDS, food quality is
better, patrons are happier and servers are less inclined to shout
at the chefs, say officials at the chain.
"It's a lot better coordinated than the printer system" the
company used before, said Leon DeWet, vice president of business
development for Dallas-based Brinker. "It's made the kitchens a lot
quieter."
The KDS program involves installing up to six computer
monitors in various cooking and serving stations in each of the 735
company-owned Chili's restaurants. About a dozen franchised
restaurants have similar systems.
When a server enters an order for a table, the computer
calculates how long each item should take to cook.
The cook with the item that takes the longest to prepare -
say the griller of a 20-minute steak - receives that order first.
Remaining items are shown to the cooks in descending order of
cooking time.
"In the old days, three years ago, when the order was sent to
the kitchen, all stations started cooking at the same time," said
Bob Murphy, vice president of nontraditional development for
Chili's. "So the nachos, which take about five minutes, would have
been ready for 15 minutes," waiting for the steak.
"The single biggest benefit of this system is that it
significantly increases the quality of the food," said Mr. Murphy,
who helped develop the system.
With the new system, the items typically finish within two
minutes of each other, Mr. DeWet said.
In addition, with a series of color codes, the manager can
see which items are taking unusually long to prepare.
"If a manager sees something flashing red, he knows he's in
the weeds," Mr. DeWet said.
Mr. Murphy stumbled upon the technology in early 2001 while
finding equipment to ramp up the chain's to-go business. The company
selected a system developed by Louisville-based Q SR Automations
Inc. (Q SR is trade lingo for quick-service restaurant.)
Similar technology was already being used at some fast-food
restaurants. Together, Mr. Murphy and Q SR officials worked on
honing the devices to work in a casual dining kitchen.
The company began testing the system in early 2001 at a
Chili's in Carrollton. The systemwide rollout began in June 2002 and
was complete by May - more than 4,400 computer monitors and many,
many yards of cable later.
Currently, Chili's is the only Brinker brand to use the
system, although others are looking into it.
"The managers will tell you that they get a lot fewer
complaints about the food quality with the new system," said Mr.
Murphy.
E-mail krobinson@dallasnews.com
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