Restaurant chains have taken big steps toward increasing transparency in recent years. From listing calories on menus to providing thorough nutritional information online, these restaurants are ensuring that customers know what the food they are ordering contains. Some restaurants are starting to take this one step further by inviting customers to tour their kitchens.

Chick-fil-A began offering kitchen tours in April 2013 in an effort to improve transparency. The restaurant chain allows customers to request a tour at any time. California Pizza Kitchen offers Behind-the-Counter CPKids Restaurant Tours that takes kids behind-the-scenes as an educational experience. McDonald’s has offered on-site kitchen tours in certain countries, including Australia and Pakistan, and virtual kitchen tours in the U.S.

“The idea of kitchen tours first began at the corporate level with our owner Dan Cathy wanting to be transparent to our customers by giving them more insight on the history and values of Chick-fil-A.  At the restaurant level, our guests have the opportunity to learn how their food is prepared, nutritional value and can also see how we manage our kitchens and keep everything running smoothly. Most stores have a Marketing Director on staff that is dedicated to these types of activities so it doesn’t pull our employees from their main responsibility of serving customers. Depending on the age group, the tours usually last around 10 minutes. Our guests get to take a peek in the walk-in cooler, learn how we manage drive-thru orders and they complete their tour operating the soft-serve machine and serving their own ice cream. The kitchen tours have provided us an opportunity to turn loyal Chick-fil-A customers in to Chick-fil-A raving fans.”- Lisa Dempsey, Marketing Director – Chick-fil-A Huntington Beach

Benefits of Kitchen Tours

Kitchen tours allow customers to see the restaurant’s inner workings and learn how their food is prepared. The idea behind this is to build trust between the restaurant and its customers in the hopes of boosting customer loyalty and encouraging repeat business. Customers are able to see how the kitchen is set up and how food service professionals prepare meals. It also provides customers with peace of mind that their food is safely and properly prepared.

Restaurant owners can take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their kitchen to customers through tours and create a favorable impression with how clean and organized it is. That includes making sure that kitchen staff can easily and quickly reach the tools they need while cooking or preparing food. It also means having an efficient food storage setup. By keeping kitchens well-organized, restaurant owners can impress customers with a high degree of professionalism and ensure that meal preparation runs smoothly, especially during tours.

Cambro Equipment and Supplies

Cambro carries a variety of storage, shelving and other products that help restaurant owners maintain a tidy, organized kitchen at all times. Some of these include:

• Camwear® square and round food storage containers

• Ingredient bins for dry bulk ingredients

• Camshelving® starter units, mobile shelving, drying racks and more

• Camrack® glass, cup, flatware and plate racks

These durable, high-quality products allow restaurant owners to safely and efficiently store food supplies, dishes and tools, even in the busiest of kitchens. They also reflect Cambro’s commitment to helping food service professionals increase sales, provide the best service possible and save a considerable amount of time and money.