I had the honor of serving our country for more than 32 years, including 4 years in active duty as a Marine and 28 years in the reserves as a Navy Seabee. During that time, I served multiple tours of duty, including my last one at Camp Fallujah in Iraq, back in 2008, where I turned 50 years old. My military experience definitely developed me into who I am today. It’s been the driving force for my life. It showed me who I was from the inside out. And that experience continues to profoundly influence my role as a foodservice designer and business owner.

Michael Berard, FCSI, President, Commercial Kitchen Consulting LLCAfter graduating high school, I was not ready for college. So, I enlisted in the military. During boot camp with the U.S. Marines, I began looking inwardly, asking myself, “What does Mike Berard’s signature mean to me? How serious are you about completing boot camp?” It did not take me long to decide the answer was a resounding “I stand by my commitment.”

In the Marine Corps, they break you down and build you up. They do this physically and mentally, while instilling small-unit integrity. During boot camp, one drill instructor saw something in me I did not see and put me in charge of a squad of 16 people. During 16 weeks of boot camp, I was in charge of three of the four squads in our platoon. They moved me from one squad to the next because I kept motivating them and instilling discipline. This experience gave me the skills and tools necessary to be a leader, many of which I apply in my consulting firm today.

In the military, you are never alone. You quickly learn you can’t do it all by yourself. You learn to rely on others within your military organization to accomplish the mission. That’s similar to how our consulting firm approaches projects.

I used to tell my troops I was only the bus driver, often breaking things down to a basic level and discussing how we were going to accomplish a mission. I would point to someone and say they were the steering wheel, and another would be the tires on the bus, and so on. The point was we, as a unit, were not going to be successful unless we all worked together to complete the mission. It’s the same now at Commercial Kitchen Consulting. When working on projects, we need to break it down to the simplest levels before we can build it up and move forward with completing the mission, which is the design process in our case. Not everyone understands all the steps that need to happen during the mission or even what technology we will use.

When talking with foodservice directors and management involved in a project, I explain how important it is to talk with everyone who works in that kitchen, from management to the dishwasher. This discussion ensures everyone understands the design intent and how it will help them efficiently do their job. If we have their buy-in and they understand their role in the mission, the operation will be successful.

In the military, we would hold debriefing meetings and generate “lessons learned” notes once a project was complete, writing down the good, the bad and the indifferent. The same applies to every design project, which helps ensure the success of future design projects.

One final thought: It’s impossible to know everything about the foodservice industry. I continue to learn new things every day, and you should, too.

Michael Berard, FCSI, President, Commercial Kitchen Consulting LLC, Binghamton, N.Y.

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