I continue to fail to see how connecting appliances or small electronics to a network adds actual value. Simply throwing technology at a thing doesn't automatically make it better. Yet, here we are, rushing headlong into the "IoT". We ought to recognize this for what it is: pursuit of profit from uninformed purchasers.
I can see some limited benefits, like applying inventory tracking tech to refrigerators. But for the most part you need to be there to refill the device etc.
This is mostly motivated by the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) guidelines that the US FDA has set in place. Someday that designation will change from "suggested" to "mandatory".
The equipment requirements are pretty large. Restaurants need devices to track refrigeration temperatures, cooking/holding/production temperatures and times, equipment status, check probes, and lots more. Eventually most of the devices in a kitchen will be IoT connected in some form or another. Many of the larger chains will also want this data pushed upstream to their servers for overall safety monitoring and, eventually, other "big data" benefits from seeing store production in near real-time.