Digital catering: With IoT to the smart professional kitchen

Lunchtime at the rehab clinic. Numerous patients are waiting with hungry stomachs for the meal service. It's a busy time in the canteen kitchen: tens of portions of lasagne or the vegetable version are served - in the shortest possible time and with consistent quality. This could hardly be achieved with pots and pans alone. That's why the chef relies on professional cooking appliances such as the combi-steamer and the FlexiChef from MKN: These cook entire menus at the same time and with pinpoint accuracy. 

With modern sensor technology, display control and automatic cleaning systems, MKN appliances have been bringing high-tech to professional kitchens for years. Since 2019, however, the company has gone one step further and connected its combi-steamers to the IoT Cloud from Deutsche Telekom. Cookbooks and cooking programmes can be uploaded centrally to the combi-steamers via this IoT platform. For example, the smart solution supports the employees of a large German retail chain: when they press the start button on the networked appliance at the snack counter, bread rolls, pretzels or croissants always arrive in the bag in consistent professional quality.

The Cloud of Things can also be used to automatically store and analyse usage data. This provides MKN's customers with valuable information: What is the electricity and water consumption? When was the last time it was cleaned? Did the combi-steamer maintain the required temperature? This makes it easier for operators to carry out predictive maintenance and to comply with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) concept. "Due to their enormous complexity, processes in the area of food safety can hardly be mapped in analogue form today," says Peter Helm. "With the automated storage of data in the cloud, our customers are 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.”