Hotel Cafe Royal goes paperless with latest iPad technology

By Sara Williams Award-winning Executive Chef, Andrew Turner at Hotel Café Royal, has joined the revolution of technology by introducing a new way of using Apple iPads in his kitchens. Andrew Turner was inspired by the technology used by race car engineers and took matters into his own hands by contacting Apple about developing a similar product, resulting in the creation of a new way to communicate and store information, designed specifically for restaurants. With a career spanning 31 years, Andrew Turner has long been at the pinnacle of London’s culinary scene. As the executive chef, Turner introduced the high-tech software to the hotel in March this year, it contains a full library of recipes and dishes available throughout the hotel’s food and beverage outlets which include the Ten Room and Domino restaurants, the Green Bar, The Café and the iconic Oscar Wilde Bar.

Turner has placed seven iPads across the three kitchens, all chefs now have easy access to every menu, recipe and dish image, ensuring a smoother service and more efficient running of the kitchen. As a newly appointed ambassador of Apple, Andrew Turner comments: “I am so proud to have introduced this new way of working into our kitchens here at Hotel Café Royal. The new system has revolutionised the way we work forever.” Hotel Café Royal is one of the first venues to use the system and Turner believes that it really has helped the kitchens with a which a number of advantages including time saving, more productive training for staff and effective ways to manage specific requirements for diners, such as allergies as well as helping to work towards a paperless kitchen. Turner is also able to communicate with his whole team using Apple’s ‘Face Time’ technology, another feature Turner believes is essential. In addition, the iPad has brought the kitchens a full catalogue of cook books on the software which is easily available for staff to access at any time. The future sees further developments of the system as Turner hopes to work towards a format where the waiters write orders directly onto iPad Mini’s, which are then sent straight to the kitchen. His goal is to maintain a traditional dining experience for guests, whilst using the latest technology to transform the way restaurants work behind the scenes.

Chefs, is this the way forward? Would you use the iPad’s in your kitchen?

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