DESIGN CONSULTANTS COVER STORY


Two designs from Ken Schwartz FCSI: A VW van bar from Five Boroughs Food Hall at JFK Airport Below: IP Casino, Resort and Spa Biloxi, MS


share you become irrelevant,” he says. On the note of collaboration, it


is important to include management consultants at the start-up phase of the design, says Caruso. “It shouldn’t be separate from design; this is a homogenous process where you have this front-end and design,” he adds. “It is why many big consulting firms have incorporated management consulting services along with design. MAS is not a nice to have, it is an essential.” At the heart of this collaboration


between design and MAS consultants is the need for a variety of voices and different perspectives. “Collaboration with MAS consultants is critical; if we aren’t doing that, we are missing the boat,” says Lentz. What’s more, without any knowledge


“Today the challenge is more to keep your database accurate and keep up with the newest innovations in design.” Looking beyond cooking equipment,


as Lentz points out, today designers must account for off-premises dining as much as they do dine-in services. Technology, she says, has passed a tipping point that has marked the sector in a big way. Consider delivery services. “For years online capabilities were an afterthought, something you wanted to be prepared for when the client needed it,” she says. “Now it is the driver of good design and, arguably, as important as the ergonomics of the cook line.”


Te global pandemic accelerated this


move towards delivery and fundamentally shifted the scope of a design project, says Melissa Moore FCSI, CEO of Foodservice Design Professionals in Texas. “Dining trends have evolved as well with more open kitchen designs and multi-use spaces. Covid-19 certainly impacted the industry and pushed us to change our thinking and incorporate more improved ventilation systems, touchless technologies and layouts that facilitate social distancing,” she says.


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A CULTURAL SHIFT Veteran foodservice designer Caruso has witnessed the twists and turns of the industry over the course of a career spanning more than 50 years. He highlights a shift in the culture and spirit among consulting firms to a more collegiate community. “Tere used to be secrets and people


kept things very close to their chest and that has changed; there is a lot more openness and sharing today,” he says. With the increasingly global nature


of the work of design consultants this is a necessity. Caruso has worked in over 30 countries around the world throughout his career and knows better than most that it is not as easy as it seems. “You have to think of everything,


including the technology and the regulations – if you work in a vacuum, you very quickly become a fossil. If you don’t


SECRETS AND PEOPLE KEPT THINGS CLOSE TO THEIR CHEST, BUT THERE IS A LOT MORE SHARING TODAY”


THERE USED TO BE


of MAS consulting, it is harder to be a good design consultant, assures Schwartz. It works both ways and MAS consultants should have knowledge about design work too. “Having the ability to chat about ideas and including each other in projects can materially benefit the client and so therefore these collaborations are extremely important to me,” he explains. Caruso also believes that the remit


of the foodservice design consultant has expanded substantially. “When we first started, I worked with some great engineers and architects and they would say, ‘We have done a million of these projects, so you stay within your boundaries and that is all we want from you’, but that has changed,” he says. “Today we get questions like ‘can you do this, can you do that’ about jobs that I see as being part of the engineer’s work or the interior designer’s work, but it has been a natural progression. Frankly it has made our job more complex.” As a result of this change design


consultants have developed a new scope of services. “We are brought in early to advise on what the client will need to meet its financial projections; to reach its financial needs in terms of ROI and guide them on the space they need to return


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