Customers return to your restaurant because you can be depended upon to create the same experience for them every time. The same unique flavor or texture. The same quick service.

How do you protect this experience, ensuring there will be zero disappointments, especially during this time when labor is hard to acquire and difficult to retain? Here are three points to consider – all related to your front-of-house blending equipment.

1. Don't Keep Them Waiting

In the QSR context, even 20 seconds of blending can be a big deal. In a line of 10 people, 20 seconds of blending per beverage can become two or three minutes, which may determine whether some customers return again or not.

If the staff member needs to attend to the blender through the entire run, manually dialing in a range of speeds, timing the blend and turning the machine off, that’s lost time. A programmable machine like The Quiet One® by Vitamix® Commercial allows the staff member to move on to another task while the blender runs.

berry smoothie cups

2. Make It Just Like Last Time

You strive for the frappé with the perfect suspension of ice crystals – or the smoothie with the ideal consistency, thick but still slurp-able. You discover that perfect blend, but then: How do you repeat it every time?

If labor turnover is too high or the staff is under too much strain, it will be hard for them to keep track of blending times, let alone dial in the right speeds. The Quiet One is a machine that locks in the blending formula for each blended beverage. The staff member loads the container and pushes a button. The Quiet One takes care of the rest. Each beverage is assigned a program, and it’s held in the machine’s memory.

That means the same results every time. And the same results at every store.

3. No Pause Between Orders

In the front of house, cleanup should not be a pause in the action. Between servings, blender containers need a quick rinse to remove residue. A shortcut is the Rinse-O-Matic®. No special setup. Attach it to the sink faucet. Flip the blender container upside down and press it onto the Rinse-O-Matic – a single motion and you’re done. More seconds shaved off wait times.

The Rinse-O-Matic can also be used to rinse out the container lid and other tools used in beverage creation, further speeding up front-of-house operations.

In addition, the container lid itself – putting it on, taking it off – is sometimes a concern when turnaround times are especially critical. That’s why Vitamix, acting on customer requests, developed a special easy-off splash lid that can be used in lieu of the standard one that latches.

For more information, contact Steve Hosey at letstalkcommercial@vitamix.com.

The Vitamix Culinary Team consults with food service professionals, not only on blending, but also on kitchen efficiency and recipe and menu development.