Front-of-House (FOH) and Back-of-House (BOH) are clearly delineated professional environments in physical B2C business premises – and their roles have remained much the same in the history of B2C business. However, times have changed. And so too have the shape of each. FOH environments have naturally benefitted from tech advancements, but so too have BOH environments transformed into high-tech, data-driven environments.
This is because employee care is no longer just about a staff meal and a break; it’s about ‘human-centric infrastructure’ that uses technology to reduce physical strain and mental burnout, with a view to improving employee mental health, reducing staff turnover and ultimately benefiting your business. What are some of the key ways your business can do precisely this?
Advanced Thermal Management
The vast majority of BOH environments are high-temperature environments – particularly kitchens, where burners, ranges and ovens make for a difficult-to-control environment with respect to heat and heat stress. The management of heat stress is one of the key reasons for which higher-volume kitchens are moving away from gas toward induction cooking, which reduces ambient kitchen heat considerably. Induction cooking completely removes heat sources from range-cooking environments, by virtue of using electrical principles to heat the pan alone.
Where heat is a non-negotiable aspect of a kitchen, particularly where oven cooking is a necessity, the risk of heat stress cannot be completely mitigated. Instead, then, it’s important to implement a cool-down zone, a designated rest area with specialized fans and electrolyte hydration stations. Higher-tech kitchens may use wearable biometrics like smart bands, that alert managers if an employee’s heart rate or body temperature reaches a high-risk threshold necessitating a break.
The Rise of Smart Controls
One of the more practical advancements in BOH kitchen technology has been that of a marriage between smaller-scale kitchen environments and industrial systems. By embracing industrial-scale kitchen-prep advancements, BOH kitchens can better handle the “invisible” side of the kitchen – ventilation, gas flow, and fire suppression – through the application and integration of industrial controls directly into the kitchen’s hardware.
Instead of a chef manually adjusting a heavy hood fan, such industrial controls use smart sensors to detect smoke and heat levels, automatically ramping up air exchange systems and preventing the buildup of carbon monoxide, maintaining a safe working environment without requiring the team to touch a single dial during a rush.
Ergonomic Flow and Power-Assist Prep
One of the hardest lessons to learn for any BOH environment is that of proper workflow. Every working environment is different, as a function of the differing dimensions of working spaces and needs of FOH. As such, there’s no template to follow for best-practice ergonomic flow.
In the worst-case scenarios, musculoskeletal injuries from repetitive prep work like chopping, lifting and stirring can be a key cause for staff turnover; this is why modern BOH design uses height-adjustable prep stations and power-assisted equipment, such as automated vegetable dicers and heavy-duty immersion blenders on spring-loaded arms.
