Fried Chicken QSR

Challenge

Fried chicken served at one American chain of fried chicken QSRs was perfectly crunchy and flaky — but franchises were struggling with consistency and efficiency. Additionally, franchisees found that hand-breading was often skyrocketing the cost of ingredients and leading to inconsistent coating in batches of chicken.

For quality not to suffer, it was time to search for improvements.

Solution

For several franchises across North America, AyrKing’s DrumRoll proved to be the perfect solution to meet brand standards.

The DrumRoll Automatic Breading Machine allows franchisees to reduce labor and waste while increasing the consistency of breading.

Creating a consistent crunch

Many franchisees agree that consistency is the greatest benefit of the DrumRoll.

Once one director of operations tested the DrumRoll, he never looked back, incorporating the machinery into all his restaurants. “Consistency is what we all hope and pray for every day,” he said. “Once you load flour in the DrumRoll, you get the same product every time, consistent day to day and shift to shift.”

“The DrumRoll gives the coating just enough flour to taste the product, not crust first.” said VP of operations at another franchise network. “Plus it tumbles chicken exactly the right amount, eliminating any human errors that may come from rushes.”

Mitigating labor challenges

Several locations found using AyrKing’s DrumRoll cut down on labor and the time getting chicken out. An operation that typically needed eight cooks to meet demands was able to cut back to 4-6 cooks.

“Adding the DrumRoll led to considerable savings and a better, more efficient team,” said the market leader for a franchise network in Columbus. “We even saw less turnover among cooks because it increased productivity in the kitchen. An overall win.”

Several franchisees have noticed using the DrumRoll alleviates training issues with its simple processes.

“The DrumRoll makes it very easy for cooks to learn,” said one district manager.

Saving on ingredients

The DrumRoll from AyrKing uses 13% less breading and 5% less fryer oil than hand-breading operations.

One Hawaii location saw flour efficiency bounce from 78% to 87% after using DrumRoll just 50% of the time. Once the operators began using the DrumRoll 90% of the time, flour efficiency increased to 110% — they were actually using 10% less flour than the theoretical usage and saving significantly on high costs of flour in Hawaii.

Other franchise locations reported a savings of more than five bags of flour a week in one of its stores during a typical week.

How the process works

The DrumRoll provides cooks with a hassle-free, accelerated option to bread chicken.

  • Breading is loaded into the DrumRoll
  • A switch powers the patented helix-shaped rack inside the drum to tumble the breading
  • The product is loaded and sent into the chute that leads to the drum
  • Drum spins the product until evenly coated
  • Product is released at the other end of the drum and is now ready to be fried

Overall, AyrKing’s DrumRoll has delivered promising results for these franchises, eliminating consistency issues, saving valuable labor time and stretching ingredients.

Learn more about the DrumRoll by visiting https://www.ayrking.com/food-prep-equipment/breading-equipment/drumroll-automated-breader/.

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