SEATTLE, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Restaurant and food
service operators can now take the guesswork out of running a
kitchen with SousZen, the digital platform that informs decision
making across the entire operation by connecting food preparation,
inventory management and trends to create actionable insight.
Never-before-collected kitchen data from the Back of House (BOH)
will enable foresight into new ingredients and flavor trends for
whole restaurant chains and individual food cart operators along a
connected food platform.
SousZen bridges that technological deficit with a fully
integrated platform that digitizes every aspect of food prep to
help restaurant operators ensure quality, reduce costs and make
informed business decisions. SousZen is led by accomplished
technologist and restaurateur Stephen
King, and advised by world-renowned chef, Mark Miller.
SousZen addresses a glaring imbalance of technological
investment. While $10 billion has
been invested in Front-of-House (FOH) systems, only $500 million has been contributed to the
BOH.
"The front-of-house focus has been on counting beans, not making
them!" said Stephen King, CEO of
SousZen. "No one is focusing on Back of House, which is the central
nervous system of the restaurant business and the heart of the
dining experience. We are."
Aside from the cuisine itself, loads of incredibly useful
information flows through the kitchen.
"But that data is largely untapped, overlooked in favor of
Front-of-House systems on Point-of-Service, Ordering, Delivery,
Reservations, and more," said Mr. King. "That's all important but
BOH has been begging for innovation. By digitizing and connecting
kitchens across a network, we'll create insights that will identify
new flavors and ingredients to make amazing food that's healthier,
safer, cheaper, local, consistent and better for the planet."
Strategic innovation partner, Xinova designed the SousZen
venture. Innit was tapped as ideal partners for their culinary
know-how combined with their smart oven hardware and connected
platform technology. Stephen King
was recruited through the Xinova Innovator Network to lead the
operation, in which the popularity and recipe of, say, a paella
tested in San Francisco is
recreated taste-for-taste in Houston.
"The key will be the growth of the network of restaurants and
food service outlets that join," said David
Kraft, Global Head of Innovation Services at Xinova. "We'll
know what people are eating and what modifications are being made
and so get access to an amazing store of data that will be
anonymous but hugely valuable across regions, enabling powerful new
insights that globalize and anticipate local trends. Ultimately,
everyone wins. Diners will have local access to tastier options on
dynamic menus that keep up with shifting food trends. Restaurants
streamline their kitchen operations and reduce labor costs to
improve their bottom line. The platform is a rising tide that lifts
all kitchens."
As more connected appliances and cookware enter commercial
kitchens, SousZen is positioned to serve as the ubiquitous control
layer that automates kitchen management. The SousZen SaaS network
grants subscribing operators, customers and other chefs access to
recipes and reports generated from network data, which includes
demographic, psychographic and purchasing profiles. These reports
also pinpoint seasonal preferences and emerging trends, giving
retailers more tools to plan the growth and development of their
menus and businesses. The SousZen system facilitates easier paths
to business growth by reducing startup costs and staff needs, while
mitigating food safety and quality risks and improving the odds of
successfully introducing locally-targeted menus.
SousZen leverages its data modeling and forecasting capabilities
to introduce new menus with confidence. Analyzing data from pilot
programs in specific leading markets, retailers can determine the
most likely successful choices of new menu items. The data
collected by SousZen is a valuable asset to partners, purveyors,
and distributors. Over time, SousZen's data patterns help optimize
ordering, distribution and identification of emerging locations for
business development.
The design of SousZen improves food and worker safety while
minimizing food waste. According to the World Health Organization,
each year over 600 million people get sick and 420,000 die from
more than 200 different foodborne diseases caused by unsafe food.
Digitized cooking processes in both restaurants and street carts
can ensure food is consistently prepared safe-to-eat, and SousZen's
induction cooktops offer a non-hazardous and more hygienic working
environment. Auto-ordering from local vendors ensures ingredients
are more fresh, organic and local, while supply chain management is
more efficient via hard data on what's on the shelf, reducing
wasteful over-ordering.
About SousZen
SousZen automates the commercial
kitchen. As appliances and cookware become smart there is an
opportunity to become the ubiquitous control layer. Digitizing food
preparation will not only de-risk food service startup and
expansion but also turn every location into a sensor.
Over $10bn has been invested in
companies that automate the front of house from POS, Ordering,
Delivery, Reservations, Discovery, Rewards, CRM, Employee mgmt, but
very little in the kitchen. We aim to fix this by building on the
innit home cooking platform, adding the pieces necessary of the
commercial kitchen and adding integrations, management and a market
network to share everything from recipes, ingredient combinations
to demographic trends. www.souszen.com
About Xinova
We believe problems are a good thing. As a trusted co-development
partner, Xinova offers strategic and network innovation services
that help companies see around corners to design disruptive
ventures and accelerate innovation projects. Xinova leverages its
unrivaled global network of innovators to connect the toughest
problems with the smartest minds and best resources. From concept
to commercialization, Xinova fills partners' expertise gaps and
absorbs risk to unblock innovation. Xinova is headquartered in
Seattle with offices in
Bangalore, Beijing, Helsinki, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tel
Aviv, and Tokyo. www.xinova.com
Press Contact: Eliot Baker,
ebaker@xinova.com
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SOURCE SousZen