Art and science go arm in arm since time immemorial. One cannot produce something artistic till he has a technical hand to do it. As much as a chef is required in a kitchen to make a food tasteful and presentable, a food-techie is essential to ensure that all this artistic work is being done in a safe way and using a cost effective and latest technology.
To understand the role of a techie in a kitchen, it’s important to understand the knowledge they possess and how it can serve you best. A food Technologist goes through a curriculum to study food science which covers varied aspects of processing, preservation, packaging and last but not the least, the safety of the food which is inherent to other three aspects. Their curriculum covers the study and innovation of the ideas and breakthrough technologies that can help you improve the items you already have in your menu.
A food technologist with a strong processing edge can help you get new ideas to bake a cake, marinate a meat product or even help in bringing down/reducing the processing/cooking time of any item in particular by helping in a new technology for it and therefore its cost too! The restaurant runners are these days focusing on hiring industry exposed research and development experts who can help come up with new flavors and taste bud tickling recipes. The recipe development is sometimes considered as an inherent part of a chef’s profile, but with a technical edge to it, one can do wonders to their menu engineering!
Food technologist with a good exposure to preservation techniques can help you in better monitoring of the current storage and preservation practices of the restaurant and even optimize them. Who knows you are spending more than you actually should for storing and preserving your items! An inbound or outbound technical food technologist can help you work on that aspect. And no surprise, a food safety eye comes in handy with a food technology.
Restaurant runners with focus mostly on service and taste of food, some-times forget the safety and quality aspect. A vigilant food technologist for monitoring and auditing of your restaurant can help keep food safety and good kitchen practices (GKP) alive!
Food techies and restaurant accountants know the in and outs of the FIFO, FEFO, cold storage frozen storage and cooking technicalities, properties of oil, how fresh your shelf stored food is and how you can improve its shelf keeping properties.
Always remember this bit of advice: just as a tasty and well presented food brings in customers for a restaurant, in the same way a hygienically prepared food of consistent quality which ensures healthy being of its customers, helps a business retain its customers. So there you go, evaluate your options, select and inbound or outbound food technologist for your business.