Foodservice by Design

Team members from Profitality-Labor Guru discuss how industrial engineering can be applied to the foodservice industry.

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As 2025 kicks off, many experts have offered their predictions about what’s in store for the restaurant industry for the coming year.

With some multiconcept operators purchasing a variety of chain restaurants, co-branding has gained new life. For those who may not be familiar with co-branding, on the surface it’s not a difficult concept: A company seeks to operate multiple brands from the same location. Execution, however, can be a little more challenging.

The first weeks of any new year are rife with prognostications about what’s to come during the next 12 months. So I figured, why not join the fun?

Joe Carbonara’s recent article on potential really struck a chord with me. Potential is both a beautiful and scary concept.

As foodservice consultants, our clients often challenge us to provide an impactful return on investment, be it for a piece of equipment, a new design or even both.

Open kitchens are far from new but can represent an innovative way to address labor challenges.

When looking for efficiencies in full-service restaurants, especially fine dining concepts, operators are always careful not to impact the customer experience that has come to define their brand. One big reason customers return to their favorite restaurants is because of how they have been treated every time they visit.

Boosted by advancements in technology, foodservice and restaurant facility design has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years. When I went to school in the 90s, designs often began as simple hand sketches on paper.

Tech can be terrific but don’t let it compromise how restaurants provide service, a key ingredient in their brand proposition.

When we are tasked with a problem to solve, the natural approach is to focus directly on how the problem was dictated to you and not dive deeper into the problem statement. Often, this tunnel-vision approach can lead to issues elsewhere, particularly when it comes to multi-unit operators. This is not uncommon in bottleneck management, also known as the “theory of constraints” (TOC).

The start of a new year is a time when people naturally assess their personal lives, including what they’ve accomplished and what they hope to do in the coming year.

No doubt today’s operating environment remains a pretty complicated one for restaurants.

The calendar rolling over into a new year gives me time to reflect into the past and dive into the future.

As prototypes shrink, effective and efficient foodservice requires foodservice operators and designers to make use of every inch of space as Carlos Espinosa of Profitality Labor Guru explains.