In the fast-casual dining sector, few things are more important than balancing speed and personalisation. Today’s guests expect both the freedom to tailor their meal and the convenience of quick service. For brands like Vapiano, known for their made-to-order pasta, pizza, and salads, maintaining that balance became increasingly difficult as demand grew and operations scaled.
The Fast-Casual Challenge
Vapiano’s open-kitchen concept allows guests to watch their dishes being prepared, a dynamic, engaging experience that’s part of the brand’s charm. Yet, behind the scenes, that model pushed traditional kitchen operations to their limit.
With multiple prep stations running simultaneously and no centralised system to coordinate them, the kitchen relied heavily on manual timing and verbal communication. Even the most skilled teams struggled to stay in sync during busy rush periods, resulting in inconsistent ticket times, uneven service flow, and varied guest experience across locations.
The Operational Problem
As Vapiano’s made-to-order concept expanded, three key challenges emerged that many fast-casual restaurant operators will recognise:
- Multi-station coordination without central oversight: Each chef worked independently, often without awareness of what others were preparing.
- Inconsistent ticket times and guest experiences: A backlog at one station could easily disrupt the pace of service across the entire kitchen.
- Communication gaps between front and back of house: Without shared data or real-time updates, it was difficult to manage expectations for both staff and guests.
The Solution: ConnectSmart® Kitchen
To bring order and visibility to a complex operation, Vapiano implemented ConnectSmart Kitchen, an intelligent kitchen display system (KDS) designed to streamline workflows and improve communication.
ConnectSmart Kitchen delivers real-time visibility across all prep stations, ensuring the entire team operates from the same source of truth. Instead of juggling paper tickets or relying on verbal communication, chefs can instantly see which dishes are in progress, what’s running behind, and when each order needs to be completed.
With station routing, tasks are automatically assigned to the right station at the optimal time, while timed workflows ensure each component of an order is prepared in perfect sync, meaning tables get their dishes fresh to their table at the same time. Meanwhile, front-of-house staff gain access to live order status and order-ready boards, helping them keep guests informed and the restaurant running smoothly.
The Results
Since implementing ConnectSmart Kitchen, Vapiano has achieved:
- Higher throughput and accuracy: This enables teams to serve more guests while maintaining quality.
- More predictable service times: Heightened consistency and reduced wait times for guests improve the overall experience for both guests and staff.
- Enhanced communication and teamwork: With the front and back of house aligned on real-time data, miscommunications are reduced, and order accuracy is improved.
Lessons for Restaurant Operators
Vapiano’s success offers valuable insights for other fast-casual or hybrid restaurant brands. As personalisation and speed become essential to the dining experience, visibility and automation are critical for sustainable growth and scalability.
By investing in intelligent kitchen automation, operators can remove the uncertainty that slows down service, empower teams with actionable insights, and deliver the efficiency and quality diners expect, whether they’re dining in, carrying out, or collecting for a delivery service.
In short: for made-to-order concepts built on fresh, customised meals, ConnectSmart Kitchen turns operational chaos into clarity, helping every kitchen run smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
Want to see how Vapiano reduced their turnaround time from 30 minutes to just 12?
Watch the entire video case study here.
