Those who take to the kitchen will know that whipping up delicious meals is a labour of love where the preparation of ingredients usually takes longer than the actual cooking process. For food and beverage businesses, this can be a strain on manpower and operational efficiency as staff race against time to prepare the raw ingredients and sauces for the dishes that will be cooked for customers.
Leveraging Technology
To improve productivity and operational efficiency in supporting its various retail outlets, NTUC Foodfare recently opened a new central kitchen in Senoko Way.
The 17,400 square feet central kitchen makes use of high tech machines like blast freezers, ovens and packaging machines to produce a range of products across three categories: bakery, sauces and pastes, and ready-to-eat meals. These items will then be delivered to Foodfare retail outlets such as Rice Garden stalls and Wang Café outlets. The ready-to-eat meals will be retailed at NTUC FairPrice supermarkets.
Besides helping to save precious man hours through the use of technology, bulk purchase of raw ingredients will also help Foodfare’s retail outlets save money. At the same time, the consolidated preparation of food in the central kitchen will also help reduce food wastage.
As an example of just how technology has helped boost productivity, Foodfare’s Food Manufacturing Division Director Dicky Seow shared the example of the sauce and paste section. Machines and more efficient production processes let five staff produce 1,000 kg of output in a typical eight-hour shift, a significant improvement compared to previously when seven staff were only able to produce 500 kg of output in the same period.
