How to Improve Speed of Service in QSR Restaurants

How to Improve Speed of Service in QSR Restaurants

Learn how automation can increase efficiency in your quick service restaurant

QSRs, quick service restaurants, depend on consistency and of course, being QUICK – it’s literally in their name.

Through automation, quick service restaurants are assured unwavering brand consistency with menu item repeatability, increased throughput and improved restaurant speed of service.

Automation solutions from Antunes elevate your commercial kitchen by increasing the speed of food production, while decreasing pain points such as food waste and poor consistency among different chain locations.

With automation managing mundane or tedious tasks, team members can focus on customer satisfaction. Team members can assist in invaluable, customer-facing tasks without interfering with restaurant speed of service at your quick service restaurant.

Improved restaurant speed of service can come through various strategies and implementations. In general, streamlining menus, simplifying the number of ingredients, standardization of process, expanding drive thru capacity, optimizing the layout to reduce steps and waiting times and the deployment of automation technology are the main opportunities for improvement.

Antunes develops solutions for a multitude of the food service industry’s challenges.  Innovations include the Sm^rt Pepp, Sm^rt Saucer, Smart Drive-Thru, Smart Conveyance System, Automatic Bun Feeder and a range of other automatic saucing, protein breading, and custom solutions.

Learn how to improve speed of service in restaurants through Antunes automation solutions

Here are some Antunes commercial kitchen automation solutions that will elevate your commercial kitchen by increasing the speed of food production, while decreasing common pain points areas such as food waste and customer experience consistency among chain locations.

Automation Solutions from Antunes:

Sm^rt Pepp

• Creates the perfect slice of pepperoni while maintaining consistency
• Automatically slices and places pepperoni on pizza
• Brings speed and consistency in a compact design – slices and applies 100 pepperoni slices onto a 14” pizza in 27 seconds

Sm^rt Saucer

• Effortlessly dispenses sauce onto pizza with just the push of a button
• Handless multiple pizza sizes (7”, 10”, 12” & 14”)
• Sauces a 14” pizza in 7.5 seconds

Automatic Bun Feeder​

• Bun quality is improved by controlling air exposure and handling
• Sandwich temperature is increased by just-in-time bun production
• Allows labor to be deployed to other tasks
• Reduce recognition and initiation time by approx.15-20 sec. per transaction – Up to 1,200 buns per hour
• Easy to operate and low maintenance 

Antunes continued investing in the development of the Automated Bun Feeder with in-store testing from a third-party engineering firm to provide a cycle time analysis.

In the test, restaurant speed of service improvements were found and the measured cycle times per sandwich made, from consecutive sandwich making, were from 15% to 25% faster with the ABF.

Read Restaurant Automation Analysis: Automatic Bun Feeder at Fast Food Chain for a more in-depth analysis.

See the ABF in action: https://www.tiktok.com/@antunessolutions/video/7236881221656022314

 Smart Drive-Thru Expansion

• Adds additional drive thru lane(s) to an existing restaurant or new
• Orders can be delivered from the kitchen to a car in 30 seconds
• Transport food and beverages without any special packaging
• Vehicle detection sensors automatically adjusts delivery window height – accommodating all vehicle types from sports cars to trucks
• Retractable drawer extends the customer’s order to minimize reaching or having to exit their vehicle

• Asynchronous operation provides full flexibility of order delivery
• Programmable acceleration, deceleration, and conveyor speed matching increases throughput

See the Smart Drive-Thru Expansion in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phq7k_Vk4f4

Antunes Smart Conveyance System

• Transport food, covered beverage orders on a tray and bus tubs at a high speed from bottom floor to upper floor
• Asynchronous configuration allows for multiple orders to be in process at the same time during peak hours
• Orders remain on the Horizontal Buffer Conveyors, in queue, until they are delivered to their destination

See the Smart Conveyance System in action:

Automated Breading Machine 

• Automatically coats chicken strips, nuggets and wings in milk-wash ​
• Preloaded chicken drums tumble at a programable speed for maximum coating 
• Automated clean-in-place system​
• Refrigerated cabinet maintains product at 35 – 40F°

Automated Sauce Solutions:

Automated Cup Filling

• Touchless activation
• Sauce automatically stops drip-free
• Adjustable sauce volume
• Dispenses thin and thick sauces
• Up to 1200 cups per hour

Automated Cheese Dispensing

• Touchless operation
• Holds and dispenses heated sauce
• Adjustable temperature and volume

Automated Sauce Solutions

• Small footprint
• Multiple sauces running concurrently increases throughput 
• Removable components allow for easy cleaning
• Programmable spinning achieves consistence coverage – variable by sauce and the number of wings

Utilizing automation technology in quick service restaurants can help improve restaurant speed of service.

Learn more about Antunes automation solutions: https://antunes.com/cooking-products/kitchen-automation/