“We really want them to see that ‘we're your partner, we're here to help you’”


Anja Kuechenmeister FCSI, marketing director of business development, Camacho Associates


September. Every corporate client I had was supposed to open on 9 September, but none did. As a result, January is still the new ‘fl oating September’, but we have no idea what will happen over the winter. We do a lot of MAS consulting, so I’ve seen this from both sides. We went through diff erent waves of reopening plans. There has been discussion lately about the future of the workplace and how we will leverage food and amenities to encourage people to come back into offi ces. Even if we have a lower headcount [in offi ces], we want to increase amenities, and that’s an encouraging sign in the B&I sector. LL: We have several projects that are aiming towards January too. Unlike in the past, things are now much more dependent on the client. It has also further segmented the market – whether that’s for designing a big foodservice solution, or multiple smaller solutions. But we see that as being short term and not lasting. Other markets, such as healthcare, have been able to plug right along and are at least getting back to normal. As a company, we have seen markets stop and start. One week, there may be eight new projects ready to start, the next week may be quiet. The pandemic has also changed our work-life balance.


What remain some of the biggest challenges? KS: Something that's vitally important to projects of all type is supply chain. Previously, when we were talking about budgets and timelines we could tell most clients, “You


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can get anything within 8-14 weeks. Now, it can be 18-26 weeks to get some foodservice equipment on site. And costs have increased. When you start thinking about structural steel, light fi xtures, fl oor tiles, all these other things that go into a project, developers and owners have got to be wondering how much more of this kind of increase they can tolerate before they start to push the brakes on projects or say, “We're not going to build it now until prices normalize a little bit.”


What innovative ideas or technologies have changed the game for your clients? AK: A lot of our clients haven't really implemented a lot of the technology we're off ering, which we fi nd kind of surprising. One product I would defi nitely say is the pickup to go mobile cabinets, where someone can come pick up the order they placed online. Our clients have felt comfortable with that technology. But, as far as other technology, our customers are not really focused on it that much. We tried to educate them and let them know that this will help with their shortage of labor, or produce their menu. So, we've still got work to do with them, because we really want them to see that "we're your partner, we're here to help you." JS: Some of the new equipment out there that comes with good training can really help clients realize and access these culinary resources. I think that's a missing piece. Induction, for example, has had a very slow


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