When visiting Union Kitchen Ivy City in Washington, D.C., one might see 95 people using the facility’s foodservice equipment and meeting spaces. Most people don’t know each other since individuals working in the space represent different companies. They may be prepping menu items to move to a retail location, getting ready for a catered event, prepping for that day’s food truck sales or engaging in wholesale manufacturing. They’ve come to use foodservice equipment and meet with Union Kitchen’s support staff about branding, marketing and product distribution.

A redesigned prototype helps this fast-casual chain emphasize its authentic, scratch-made food.

 The hot dog chain’s new prototype helps it stand out with a look inspired by its earliest stores.

Foodservice production is much more efficient and safe thanks to the overhaul of a 70-year-old kitchen.

This emerging chain expects huge growth through cooked-to-order, fast-casual Asian food offered for dine-in, carryout and delivery.

This next-generation salad bar has rolled out a new prototype that emphasizes the quality of its ingredients and offers opportunities to upsell.

Visitors and midtown residents viewing art and attending events at this modern museum also receive culinary and beverage creations delivered by Dave Kwiatkowski and Marc Djozlija, partners of Wright & Company.

The redesigned kitchens in this chain, which boasts 400-plus units, highlight its signature fresh grilled chicken. Now, El Pollo Loco aims to become a national player.

A stand-alone catering facility and The Beanery café contribute to the broad range of dining services on this large campus in Storrs, Conn.

This Michigan-based craft beer bar boasts $5 million in yearly sales per location thanks to a great beer selection and a commitment to quality eats.

The chain's leaders believe their passion for pizza and commitment to high-quality ingredients will make this fast-casual pizza concept rise above its competitors.

After updating its menu, its look and even its name, this 35-year-old concept is finally expanding out of its home state of Arizona.

New ownership looks to revive this steakhouse chain by leveraging a contemporary design and a menu built around the different regions of the Lone Star State.

Best known as a place for celebrations, this fondue concept is shifting its menu and updating its look to encourage more frequent visits.

Panda Restaurant Group, operator of Panda Express, Hibachi-San Japanese Grill and Panda Inn, a modern Asian concept, has been on a steady path toward sustainability for the last decade.

New foodservice equipment and supplies allow this center to provide more nutritious meals to more people in need.

With a simple menu and impressive sales figures, this Denver-based Asian concept forecasts going from just a handful of stores at the start of 2014 to 100 by 2018.

For years, Bennigan’s served as the model for casual-dining restaurants. But since 2008, when the chain entered and then exited bankruptcy, ?it hasn’t made much noise. Now, new leadership has built a new ?prototype, new menu and new franchise system that could make ?Bennigan’s great once again.

Farm to table? How about ranch to table — but instead of simply sourcing directly from the ranch, you actually own and operate the ranch, which raises grass-fed beef as well as goats, sheep, pigs and ducks? You also own the animal-welfare-sensitive slaughterhouse right down the road, the butcher shops where all of your meats are hand cut, and every other step in the process of getting premium-quality meats from ranch to restaurant — to the point of even providing the leather for the banquettes in your dining room.

Today’s foodservice consumer has innumerable quality food options from which to choose. What they want, however, are foodservice providers that can deliver something that relates to their lifestyles and self-images.

The Cava brand was launched in 2006 as Cava Mezze, a full-service, Greek-inspired restaurant in Washington, D.C. There are now three in operation in the D.C. area, as well as a Cava Foods division, which sells packaged dips and spreads from the restaurant’s menu in Whole Foods stores in D.C. and New York City. But the brand’s newest spinoff, and the one with which it is gaining traction in the chain restaurant arena, is Cava Grill. It’s a fast-casual operation offering healthful, scratch-made Greek and Mediterranean specialties in a modern, design-forward setting.

Seeing an opportunity to infuse the breakfast daypart with a shot of youthful innovation, brothers Jon and Adam Schlegel whipped up the concept for Snooze in 2006 and opened their first unit in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood. Decidedly distinct from traditional breakfast chains or diners, Snooze was built on creative, farm-to-table culinary; comfortable, friendly service; an eclectic and energetic atmosphere; and a strong culture of sustainability.

With full-service and casual dining growth at one percent last year, competition for the diner’s dollar continues to escalate. Operators continue to seek new ways to entice customers to frequent their restaurants as opposed to eating in alternative locations down the street. To do this, foodservice operators keep looking for ways to satisfy the evolving demands of socially-networked, technology-savvy, issue-conscious consumers.

Foodservice operators from a variety of industry segments turn to central kitchens to achieve standardization, consistency, cost controls and scheduling efficiency. Here we look at how a pair of noncommercial foodservice operators — Corpus Christi Schools and Ohio University — achieve these goals and much more.

After retiring from a 20-year career in the healthcare industry, including as president of a pharmaceutical distribution operation with over a billion dollars in sales, John Rivers followed his true passions: Texas-style brisket and conscious capitalism. Founder and CEO of the growing 4 Rivers Smokehouseconcept, as well as a new concept called The Coop, Rivers turned restaurateur by way of what he calls a “BBQ ministry,” launched in 2004 from his garage. The genesis was a fundraising event he hosted to help support a local family facing mounting

What started as an idea for making a little money to supplement the family income has become a fast-growing franchise for Stacy Brown, a self-proclaimed chicken salad connoisseur. She, with her husband Kevin, who left a career in software sales to join her in the restaurant business, founded the sassy, Southern fast-casual Chicken Salad Chick concept as a drive-thru and takeout-only operation in Auburn, Ala., in 2008.

One of New York City’s first food trucks, Mexicue made its debut in 2010 on the corner of 52nd and Park. From day one, the lines extended around the block, reviewers raved, and founders David Schillace and Thomas Kelly knew they were on to something big with their tasty mashup of Mexican and barbecue-inspired street food.

The fast-casual pizza segment has gone from nowhere to seemingly everywhere with head-spinning speed. While the niche is the industry’s new darling, operators within it are suddenly finding themselves hard-pressed to create real points of differentiation. Pizza Studio, which opened its first unit in Los Angeles in January of 2013, has done so with its menu as well as with its creative, art-centric concept.

You might call it eatertainment for the millennial age. Punch Bowl Social brings elevated casual comfort food, craft beverages and old-school, unplugged entertainment together in a single venue. Founded in 2012 by Denver-based Seasoned Development, the concept places equal emphasis on those three foundations — food, drink, entertainment — according to Robert Thompson, Seasoned Development’s CEO and Punch Bowl founder.

A job as a busboy at a Mexican restaurant hooked Rocco Mangel on the idea of developing his own eating establishment. He spent two years working and formulating his idea, but a chance meeting with his former employers, partners at multiconcept operator Big Time Restaurant Group (BTRG), brought it to fruition. BTRG was interested in adding a Mexican concept to its portfolio and teamed up with Mangel, who subsequently spent 6 months visiting more than 60 restaurants across Mexico and refining his Rocco’s Tacos & Tequila Bar concept.