What kitchen CCTV is for
- Handling guest complaints: who cooked the dish and how
- Following recipes and plating standards
- Hygiene: gloves, headwear, clean stations
- Control of goods receiving and storage
- Cooking speed and bottlenecks at peak hours
- Security and product safety
Where to place cameras
- Above assembly stations and the pass: a top-down view of the work surface
- Hot and cold sections: a general view
- Goods receiving area and storage
- Dishwashing and the courier hand-off area
For reviewing a cook's actions, angle and light matter more than resolution: a 1080p camera above the station is more useful than 4K in a ceiling corner. Glare from stainless steel is fixed by repositioning the lights.
How to set up monitoring lawfully
A person's image is personal data, so filming staff has to be formalised. The general procedure is:
- Describe the monitoring in internal documents: purpose, areas, retention period, who has access
- Have employees sign that they have been informed; include the clause in onboarding documents
- Put up signs that video surveillance is in operation
- Do not place cameras in changing rooms, toilets or rest rooms
- Store recordings in Kazakhstan and restrict access to them
- Do not use recordings for purposes that were not declared
Why ordinary cameras barely work
An ordinary system records an archive. It is opened after a complaint or a shortage, when the money is already lost. Nobody has time to watch hundreds of hours from dozens of kitchens.
So the cameras hang there, dishes are still assembled differently, and you learn about it from reviews.
How AI video analytics differs
| Ordinary CCTV | Video analytics | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Records an archive | Finds deviations itself |
| When you find out | After a complaint | While the dish is cooked |
| What management sees | Hours of video | Ranking of locations, shifts, cooks |
| Needs a person at the monitor | Yes | No |
Questions and answers
Is it legal to film staff in the kitchen
Yes, if the monitoring is formalised: described in internal documents, employees have signed that they are informed, signs are posted and there are no cameras in changing rooms or toilets. Agree the wording with a lawyer.
Which cameras suit a kitchen
IP cameras from 1080p with an RTSP stream that tolerate steam and grease. For checking dish assembly a top-down view of the work surface is what matters.
How long should recordings be kept
You set the period yourself in internal documents based on your purposes. For handling complaints 14-30 days is usually enough.
Do cameras need replacing for video analytics
Usually not: analytics connects to existing IP cameras. Sometimes one camera is added above the assembly station.