2024 Kitchen Innovation Awards Bring the Wow!
By Chuck Ulie on Feb. 23, 2024A machine using artificial intelligence (AI) discerns the color of hamburger patties and assesses their quality, a robot automates the pizza-making process, including forming the dough and applying sauce and toppings, and a combi oven with AI interacts with the chef to optimize its performance.
These are a few of the winners in the 2024 Kitchen Innovation Awards, recognized for its role in defining the gold standard of foodservice equipment innovations.
Since 2005, award recipients reflect the current priorities of foodservice operators, showcasing advancements in automation, efficiency, safety enhancements and sustainability. This year’s recipients will be lauded at the 2024 National Restaurant Association Show from May 18 to 21 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
“The KI Awards have been instrumental in defining excellence and driving innovation within the foodservice industry for two decades,” said Tom Cindric, president of the National Restaurant Association Show. “The evolving landscape of technology—including developments in AI, robotic solutions, autonomous ordering and customer service—has elevated the KI Awards to expand beyond back-of-house operations to also recognize innovations that offer labor, waste and energy savings.”
The National Restaurant Association Show is owned and operated by CSP parent Informa.
Click through to see 10 of the 25 winners …
Aniai
Using cloud-based artificial intelligence, the Alpha Cloud patty quality assistant from New York-based Aniai discerns the color of hamburger patties and assesses their quality through real-time vision sensors during the cooking process. Alpha Cloud promptly notifies the cooking staff about patty quality, ensuring rigorous and enhanced quality control.
Atosa USA
The Robotic Auto Seasoning and Auto Packaging Station from Brea, California-based Atosa USA replaces a standard dump station and includes a dumping port for french fries, as well as optional additional storage for up to two other items. The kitchen staff or robotic arm dumps the fries, then robotics seasons the fries according to programmed salt weights and portions the fries by size of carton according to orders. It then delivers the filled fry cartons to the pickup area, ensuring first in, first out.
Blodgett Ovens
The ImVection IMV-4E oven from Burlington, Vermont-based Blodgett Ovens offers four chambers, each providing choice of convection or impingement, either by manual choice or using menu programming in cooking stages. This flexibility comes at the touch of a single touchscreen controller via a sophisticated patent-pending motorized “shuffling jet plate” system that aligns air holes for either convection or impingement cooking. The oven is ventless and provides one variable-speed fan per chamber. In addition, a multiplexor targets power when and where needed.
Ecolab
St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ecolab's Nexa Concentrates 2.0 Hand Hygiene System provides cost savings and workflow benefits—and helps with sustainability. The refillable bottles allow operators to proactively refill hand soap and sanitizer dispensers, streamlining processes, and helping ensure guests won’t encounter empty dispensers. The concentrated chemistry significantly reduces plastic waste and freight costs by up to 90% based on a 1:10 dilution ratio for Nexa Concentrates compared to standard 750 mL packaging. It also saves on storage space for crowded back-of-house shelves.
Evo America
Evo America, Tualatin, Oregon, has redefined the limits of ventless with the launch of the EVent Open Canopy Hood that uses ozone and cyclonic separation to remove grease-laden vapors from the effluent so effectively that it can accommodate high-volume ventless frying and cooking proteins simultaneously. The unit is UL-approved for use with electric cooking equipment including fryers, griddles, ovens, broilers and more.
Lab2Fab
PizzaBot from Fremont, California-based Lab2FAb automates the pizza-making process from formed dough, application of sauce and toppings, to fully baked. Similar to most pizzaiolos and major pizza chains, the PizzaBot automated pizza-making system applies toppings in concentric circles, allowing customers to program PizzaBot the same way the culinary team has prescribed in their build sheets. The machine consistently adds toppings such as sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage and more quickly and accurately—resulting in a better and more consistent product with less waste and less intensive tasks for kitchen staff.
Newton CFV
Conventional ceramic-based flow control valves in drink systems are prone to wear and going out of adjustment (drift), causing wrong ratios, poor taste and pour-outs. Sebastian, Florida-based Newton CFV’s new Discrete CFV (Constant Flow Valve) ends all that. The new plug-and-play retrofit for conventional ceramic-based flow control valves provides a fixed flow rate, factory set ratio that does not require calibration and does not drift. The improved beverage quality, reduced waste and service savings are significant improvements for end users.
Pitco Frialator
The TorQ fryer from Bow, New Hampshire-based Pitco Frialator offers an unusual combination of attributes. First, a unique pivoting filter arm raises the filter up out of the oil, making for quick, easy filter changes and reduced downtime. In addition, forced convection creates efficient heating and reduced recovery and cook times, and continuous filtration reduces labor time. Meanwhile, a unique tank wash/drain system neatly gathers particulates and flushes them efficiently.
TechMagic Inc.
I-Robo from Tokyo-based TechMagic Inc. cooks numerous stir-fry recipes with chef-quality sophistication, streamlining every step from seasoning distribution to pan cleaning. In addition, it employs AI culinary science to customize and develop, providing personalized cooking experiences by auto-adjusting cooking parameters to individual tastes.
Unox Inc.
The new Cheftop-X Digital.ID combi oven from Denver, North-Carolina-based Unox Inc. comes with AI, a state-of-the-art OS and a built-in microphone enabling voice control. An optical sensor allows it to recognize foods and start cooking programs automatically. AI interacts with the chef, asking for feedback on cooking results to optimize its performance and giving consumption tips to reduce users’ environmental footprint.
The 2024 KI Award recipients will be featured in a dedicated Kitchen Innovations showroom in the South Hall and highlighted in the special session “The Kitchen of the Future: Kitchen Innovations Awardees Paving the Way for What's Next” at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18.
The KI Award recipients were selected by an independent panel of judges comprised of industry leaders representing international brands across foodservice, including Aramark, Cracker Barrel, Walt Disney World Resort and the U.S. Air Force.
The panel reviewed each nominee and recognized 25 recipients as the year's most forward-thinking and cutting-edge kitchen and product innovations that not only elevate foodservice operations but also significantly contribute to industry progress.
The complete list is here.