Digital Catering: Professional Cuisine with the IoT

MKN is well aware of the challenges that modern gastronomy faces. The commercial kitchen equipment manufacturer in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, supplies professional chefs all over the world. Its combi steamers, classical kitchen equipment and modern multifunctional technical solutions are equally at home in canteens, hotels and system catering restaurants. “Professional chefs operate today in a tension field of high expectations, pressure of time, shortage of skilled staff and food hygiene requirements,” says Peter Helm, authorized officer and head of innovation and digitization at MKN. “That is why gastronomy needs reliable technology and efficient operational procedures.”

With sensor technology, display controls and automatic cleaning systems MKN equipment has for years brought high tech into the professional kitchen. Since 2019 the company has taken high tech a step further and connected its Combi Steamer to Deutsche Telekom’s IoT Cloud. Cookery books and cooking programs can be sent centrally to Combi Steamers via the IoT platform, which is a smart solution that assists snack counter employees of a major German retail chain, for example. They just press a button on the connected device and bread rolls, pretzels or croissants of consistently professional quality are ready to bag and sell.

Usage data can also be saved and analyzed automatically via the Cloud of Things. That is how MKN customers receive such useful information as how much waster and electricity they have used, when equipment was last cleaned and whether the Combi Steamer has maintained the constant temperature required. That enables operators both to go for predictive maintenance and to implement the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). “Food safety procedures are so enormously complicated nowadays that they are almost impossible to map in analog form,” says Peter Helm. “Automated data storage in the Cloud leaves our customers on the safe side.”

MKN offers users the IoT platform as a complete end-to-end solution. That is because Telekom provides with the Cloud of Things not only the basic technology but also ensures that users of the smart Combi Steamer do not need to worry about the hardware or LAN, WLAN or cellular connectivity. MKN and T-Systems are now working on connecting the new FlexiChef, a multifunctional device that cooks, roasts and fries, with the Cloud. As a member of SMART Kitchen, a group of companies that want to take forward digitization in the professional kitchen, MKN aims in future to connect MKN products such as gas stoves, fryers and warming trays. The company is also in contact with other manufacturers with a view to offering customers a uniform IoT platform. “Chefs and managers will then have a constant overview of all their equipment, regardless whether or not it is in the kitchen.”