29th November 2021, New Delhi: Carnival Foods, a subsidiary of Carnival Cinemas, recently made its debut in the automation segment by collaborating with Mukunda Foods, one of the leading Bangalore-based automation companies for QSR and food courts in Carnival theatres. Carnival Foods understands the food industry and thus has a realization that a food business is often expected to run on tight margins and function seamlessly while scaling up by the day. It understands the need to retain skilled labor, consistent food taste, and maintain strict quality control and thus making a paradigm shift to kitchen automation to build its brand recall value while maintaining consistent flavors across all outlets.
The brand has cuisine-specific solutions that simplify the cooking process for cuisines and breaks the monotony while eradicating strenuous tasks. The kitchen automation technology is helping the venture to scale up and thanks to the advancements in the sector, the training efforts to mentor employees about machine regulation are almost minimized. The machines are auto-assist, and anyone who can use an android phone can operate these machines and dish out delicious food.
Commenting on the new expedition in the automation domain, Rajeev Kumar, CEO, Carnival Food, said, “Each Carnival QSR is a celebration destination for our customers. It serves some of the most loved cuisines, and we wanted to serve them the best irrespective of if it’s a Lucknow outlet or a Kochi outlet. The intelligent kitchen automation with IoT has been a great accelerator here; AI-based standard operating procedure (SoP) and hygiene monitoring system gives a standardized experience. With automatic machines like Eco-Fryer, Wokie, and Dosamatic, the QSR store can efficiently run 5-15 specialized Purple Foods brands since these machines can cook almost 80% of the cuisines.”
Carnival Foods has opened 25 new outlets in the last three months and is planning to scale up to 200 more. The brand has installed automation like Eco-Fryer, Wokie, and Dosamatic across Mumbai, Kochi, Lucknow, Kochi, and Kolkata. They are also planning to execute this model at their Cinema level food court across 80 cinemas, starting with one in Mumbai.
While talking to Eshwar K Vikas, Co-Founder & CEO, Mukunda Foods, added, “The commercial kitchens always needed automation, but people were not able to make out the long-term benefits. But with new-age brands like Carnival, trends are changing, and they would set up a live example of why automation is a must for multi-outlet brands. Very few brands look at automation with a broader perspective and understand the additional benefits like low turnaround time, high hygiene standards, minimal wastage, and Carnival could.”
Automation has been helping ventures in the market to grow without compromising with their quality when their employees are on vacation, change in the operation staff, or opening new outlets. It has made a difference in aiding the brands to maintain SOPs while simplifying their work and increasing efficiency without disrupting the flavors. Carnival Foods intends to encash the perks and lay emphasis on structural growth and upscaling of business along with providing top-tier services to its patrons. Setting off on a new journey, the brand envisions creating a space where food is meant to cure frowns and uplift spirits rather than disappoint the customers because of internal operational concerns and issues.