“When you’re aiming to offer a consistent experience across such a large company as Nando’s, everything needs to work the same,” says Cameron. “With RATIONAL’s help, we’re able to manage hundreds of restaurants with the same personal touch as single location businesses.” - Cameron Holder, Head of Non-food and Indirect Procurement , Nando's
Since launching its first UK restaurant in 1992, Nando's has expanded to over 1200 restaurants and has helped to revolutionise the casual dining market with its Portuguese influenced chicken menu.
One of the chain's longest running strategic partnerships has been with RATIONAL, the specialist in hot food preparation. Cameron Holder, head of non-food and indirect procurement, explains. “We've worked with them for at least 25 years now, and we like to think we've grown up together over that time.”
RATIONAL equipment has become one of the keystones of Nando's success. “There's a RATIONAL appliance in every single restaurant of Nando's, we use them to prepare our `hero product' so they are the only cooking equipment we demand.” Says Cameron.
There are many reasons for this, but consistency is at the root of why they have become such a vital part of the setup, we need to take into account not being able to rely on highly skilled staff being available all the time,” says Cameron. “With our RATIONAL equipment, we know that kitchen staff can select the program they need and let the appliance get on with cooking the chicken, safe in the knowledge that it will come out exactly as required.”
Working closely with RATIONAL has helped Nando's to integrate the latest technological developments into their business, Nando's and RATIONAL started to roll out ConnectedCooking, the network solution offered by RATIONAL, across the company's estate late in 2018.
“Having the ability to monitor every single RATIONAL appliance we own at the same time opens the door to some amazing possibilities,” explains Cameron. “Our service partners can now identify units at risk of breaking down before they do so and either schedule a maintenance visit, or even fix them remotely in some instances.” This has helped Nando's to cut down the number of maintenance callouts by 35 % since the introduction of ConnectedCooking.
Nando's is now beginning full deployment of ConnectedCooking across all of its UK estate, and will be bringing it to Canada, South Africa, the Middle East and the US by the end of the year. “The support we receive from RATIONAL has been vital,” says Cameron. “They've assisted us every step of the way, from training to implementation, providing tips on menu development as well as advising about the best appliances for specific situations, for example smaller restaurants.”