RENEE 122 Chapter © Facilities Planning, Design, and Equipment Figure 63 (continued) Kitchen Design Although the essential factor in dining room design and layout is square feet per seat, kitchen. or production area design cannot be so easily generalized because of the need to accommodate preparation and cooking techniques involved in the vast range of cuisines, concepts, and food ‘hat characterizes today’s foodservice industry. The traditional rule of thumb has been to allocate 30 percent of a foodservice operation’ space to the dining room, leaving the remaining space to production, a grecting area, restrooms, and so on. Today, however, we understand that revenue is generated in the dining room and therefore every effort is made to maximize dining space (and seats). Sull, the production area must be large enough to support the operation's menu, sales volume, and staff Most modern designers now devote 25 to 40 percent of the space traditionally used for the dining room to the production area. (Look again at Figure 6.2 to see the space allocations for the dining room and kitchen.) Again, this depends on the type of operation to which the design. applies. To understand the issues that designers address, we offer ten questions that, although. often answered in the prospectus, are specific to production area design: 1. What type of food preparation is dictated by the menu? For example, a steakhouse that ages its meat in a display case in the lobby might buy entire sides of beef and prepare ‘cuts of meat in the main production area. This would obviously requite a large amount of space. 2. Will some food items be purchased in prepackaged form, requiring litle preparation? ‘Returning to our steakhouse example, an ope: {or might choose to buy the three cuts of, ‘meat featured on the menu from a local cattle ranch, thereby requiring litle extra prepa. ration space, 3. Can some of the food preparation take place at another location? In a university or large healthcare setting, for example, all cold-food prep might be done in a central kitchen and then delivered to satellite dining centers. This would mean thatthe kitchen in the new dining hall on the edge of campus could be much smaller than it would have needed to be without centralized food production.4, What volume of meals will be produced in a given daypart (discussed in Chapter 2), and how many dayparts are serviced? Consider a large Italian restaurant that is open only for dinner and typically serves 300 meals during an evening, In this situation, much of the day can be used to prepare sauces, dough, and other meal components for service that evening, thereby requiring only modest production space. But if the operator decides later to also open for lunch, he might find that the kitchen is too small to prep for dinner and execute lunch service properly 5. How many distinct courses will likely be served (as indicated by the menu)? For a sand: wich shop, the production area is designed primarily only to make sandwiches. However, a family Js, entrees, and desserts. Thus, multiple stations would be needed in the production area to prepare the various hot and cold items. de restaurant might serve appetizers, 6. How elaborate is the menu in terms of food variety? For example, a typical outlet of The Cheesecake Factory must keep more than 1,000 items in inventory in order to create the dishes on its menu, requiring a large production area and extensive storage space. ‘Are there unique service or logistical aspects to consider? A kitchen in a school caf- teria must be prepared to produce all meni items in batches, whereas in a fine dining restaurant many if not most items are made to order. In many large operations, the kitchen is located on a separate floor from the main dining area. This would likely neces- sitate modification in the kitchen design—for example, installing plate warmers 8. How much item customization is needed? Today's foodservice guests are more sophis- ticated and trend conscious than those from previous generations are, and most expect food items to be modified to fit their dietary preferences. Think ofa local coffee out let: The consumer today must decide between regular or decaffeinated coffee, not to ‘mention facing a range of choices in cream and sweeteners, Greater customization typically requires more prep space in the kitchen and more storage space throughout the production area. 9. What equipment is available to reduce kitchen space (or require more space)? Special ized equipment, euch as a wood-burning oven, may require extra production space. By contrast, a pizza restaurant operator might opt for a conveyor oven that cooks pizzas, ‘more quickly and often in a smaller space. There is a considerable varity of equipment available today—you can even install a sushi machine to save space and increase produc tivity in the kitchen (see Figure 6.4) Gam! sty of ALTE Figure 64 The Maki Maker by AUTEC. Design and Layout 0 123SERENE 124 Chapter © Facilities Planning, Design, and Equipment 10. What changes might be required or desired in the future? This is probably the toughest ‘question to consider, as it can rarely be answered with complete accuracy. Yet alittle ‘thought can go along way. For example, have you considered adding catering to your ‘operation in the future? This would likely require more space in the production area and certainly more storage space. Will you add men items down the road? Agsin, is hard to predict fully what trends will affect any foodservice operation but itis always better to plan ahead as much as possible. In concluding our discussion of design and layout, we offer one other critical recommenda wn, one that is dismissed all too often by many restaurateurs who are doomed to fail. The old adages function before fashion or form follows function cannot be overstressed. It is very easy to become consumed with featuring the latest trends in a dining room design or deploying novel equipment in the kitchen. Such a strategy should be adopted only ifit contributes to operation- alizing the concept (again, beginning with the menu). A massive aquarium in the dining room. might impress the guests, but if the aquarium is nothing more than a decoration, one that docs not promote the concept, itis a waste of money. Similarly, a state-of-the art induction cooktop. will perform beautifully, but if the menu does not specifically call for items prepared on such a cooktop, itis an expensive accessory, nota value enhancer, aa EQUIPMENT While successfully completing the planning, design, and layout of a foodservice operation might seem daunting, selecting the proper equipment adds another layer of complexity to the process, Moreover, obtaining the right equipment through an effective procurement process can increase guest satisfaction. Fortunately, many of the decisions made during the planning and design phases will anticipate most of those pertaining to equipment. Equipment Selection Once again, we begin with the menu, What kitchen equipment do we need to prepare all the menu items? It is useful, also, to consider the answers to the ten key questions posed earlier relating to kitchen design, Another consideration is whether stock equipment, which is equipment produced in large quantities in standard configurations, can be used. This is ust- ally desirable as stock equipment is cheaper than custom-bullt equipment that might be necessary to meet special food production requizements, concept requirements, or resolve design and layout issues. Furthermore, equipping a foodservice operation means more than, procuring kitchen equipment, and similar principles aimed at lowering cost apply every- where equipment is needed. For example, mass-produced glasses and silverware are much less expensive than are the same products created for a specific foodservice operation, perhaps sporting unique design features or the restaurant's logo, Above all else, equipment selection should reflect real needs. IFyou don't need a specific piece of equipment and don' foresee needing it, then it is best not to add it tothe operation, The cost of building or even remodeling a foodservice operation is so formidable that adding equipment that {snot applicable is just a foolish use of resources. This applies as well to overe-quipping, which means purchasing equipment that far exceeds the needs of the operation. For example, a dish machine should be purchased to handle the level of volume projected. Buying one that has double the capacity “just in case” not only costs more in terms of purchase price, but also raises operating, costs and maintenance expenses,