The term “future-proofing” has been gaining traction in the foodservice industry since the pandemic pushed the idea to the forefront. The key question at that time: How do we future-proof — or protect ourselves as best we can — against sudden operational shutdowns, major revenue losses, supply chain disasters or other unfortunate events? 

Now, five years later, the idea of future-proofing is taking on new meaning. When it comes to kitchens, many designers and their operator clients choose to consider all the what-ifs — emergencies and disasters included — while building in flexibility and taking growth into account. 

“Maybe ‘future-proofing’ isn’t the right phrase — maybe it’s ‘future-thinking,’” says Joe Schumaker, FCSI, founder and CEO of FoodSpace. “We can’t prevent disasters, but we can plan for them.” 

Five-year plans are common, but Benjamin Pierce, FCSI, project manager, Camacho, has schools and country club clients looking to build as far out as 20 years. “With prices skyrocketing now, I have clients asking me, ‘How long is this kitchen going to last? Because I can’t afford to remodel every five years,’” he says. 

From expanding exhaust hood capacities to creating more modularity and specifying flexible equipment, consultants agree that the time is now to build kitchens for the future. First and foremost, Schumaker says, it’s important to plan for future growth now more than ever. “We need to understand what the future growth potential is,” he says. “What does adding a turn on a busy night do to a restaurant? What happens if we want to offer breakfast or brunch? We need to help [our clients] think through the things they might want to offer in five years. I think it’s our job to proactively talk to clients about [the future] and then pitch some things that make that easier for them and that are less costly rather than wait for them to ask us for these changes. It’s a lot cheaper to build it now than it would be to rip up floors and walls later.”

Growth planning is especially important in the corporate dining space, where many companies continue to operate in hybrid mode and others require employees to work in the office full-time. “I’m a part of a lot of the discussions where everyone’s planning max capacity at the office in the next five years,” says Lisa Paige-Pretorius, senior project manager, Cini-Little. “Companies are absolutely focused on employee retention, and foodservice is a part of that. I’m seeing coffee programs, expanded offerings at lunch and prepared dinners to-go as incentives to give people a reason to want to come to the office.”

New foodservice options at a corporate facility in Jacksonville, Fla. Photo courtesy of Cini-little. Photo by Eric Laignel

Incorporating Flexibility

While much continues to change, one thing remains constant: Menu shapes design. 

Throughout all segments of the industry, “there’s a lot more focus on healthy eating and giving people variety,” Paige-Pretorius says. This translates into “much, much bigger salad bars. A couple of the school projects I have — they’re getting really big on the vegetarian and Indian cuisine stations as demographics become more global. Basically, [my clients] want to be able to offer something different every day to keep people interested.”

Creating modularity for modern serveries is critical in both supporting variety now and allowing for future flexibility. “You need to be able to reconfigure equipment on the front lines,” Schumaker says. “There’s so much more innovation to be able to switch from hot to cold on the same counter,” he says, pointing out the growth of hot-cold wells and surfaces. Modern prep tables with hot-cold holding also allow operators to be able to flip between sandwich, deli, and customizable pizza and taco stations. 

Many of Pierce’s country club clients rotate their menus daily or weekly. “One chef manages 20 menu variations each week,” he says. Multiuse equipment pieces help accommodate this type of variety. “Combi ovens are pretty standard these days, but I’m helping [clients] do more with other equipment. One chef told me he wanted a pasta cooker, but my question was, ‘What else can you do with it other than cook pasta?’” says Pierce, a former chef. 

Operators and their foodservice designers can often get creative with existing equipment in the name of a flexible future. For example, Pierce recalls an instance waiting on a griddle to come in where “we used a 900-degree F pizza oven to cook hamburgers because the chef wanted to get a high sear, but the broiler only offered 28 inches of workspace. We were able to sear 40 burgers at one time in the pizza oven.” 

Chef’s counters also offer room for flexibility. In the past, clients wanted “massive pieces with huge wells built in, one large refrigeration piece and everything bonded together, but that creates problems if one something breaks down or is hard to replace,” Pierce says. “We’re doing more stainless-steel fabrication with no electrical controls and just cutouts for coolers, plate storage and maybe a worktop freezer. If something breaks, you can just roll it out and replace it. And everything’s on legs so you don’t have to worry about spraying down the floor at night and hitting wires.”

The test kitchen at FoodSpace in Boise, Idaho, features a versatile equipment setup designed for testing different configurations.

Building in Infrastructure 

Future-thinking design means ensuring there’s enough capacity for changes in power, water and gas needs, especially as more operators invest in more all-electric kitchens. “Running an extra conduit during initial construction costs next to nothing — it’s just plastic pipe and isn’t terribly expensive,” Schumaker says. “It’s a better solution than leaving the space sitting empty.”

To accommodate more electric equipment as kitchens may become all-electric in the future, Schumaker leans on utility distribution cabinets and systems for easy plug-and-play capability. This way, “you can reconfigure the line fairly easily, add more water, add more power and build room for more capacity in the future for expanded cooking suites,” he says.

For hot water, Schumaker plans for an extra 10% or 20% more capacity than the operation will need to be on the safe side. He does the same for exhaust hoods if the budget allows. “We oversize by as much as 20% of total exhaust rates,” he says. “What if they need more charbroiling capability than what they have now? It’s much more costly to build out the exhaust in the future.”

Schumaker also specifies full-coverage fire suppression systems as opposed to dedicated nozzles. “That way, if a piece of equipment gets changed out in the future, there’s no change to the entire system,” he notes.

Selecting the right gas and electric pieces for the future remains crucial. Energy savings seems top of mind for most operators. “[Clients] are absolutely drilling down to the nitty-gritty of Energy Star,” Paige-Pretorius says. She also recognizes the future of all-electric kitchens. “I’ve got quite a few projects in California, and they’re pushing all-electric in their kitchens by 2030, so we are looking at different manufacturers that have 480-watt options, which tend to have higher voltage with less amperage draw.”

Building in infrastructure these days means preparing for expanding technology in the form of data lines, internet access and other digital needs. “We need to make sure that we’re putting in enough wiring so that data sources can be very flexible for the future,” says Schumaker. Kitchens need to be designed to accommodate future technologies, from menu boards to new ordering systems, and to not rely on all-wireless systems, which can malfunction. 

“We’re actually working with a manufacturer right now to put a switch into the utility cabinet system to have internet capability for data collection and distribution,” Schumaker says, noting the growth of more connected kitchens and equipment. 

Though the enthusiasm around kitchen robots has waned some, there’s more potential for them in the future. In his client Adobe’s kitchen, “there are framed openings for three different robot doggy doors to get to the back of house,” Schumaker says, noting that more clients are looking into robots for food delivery and pickup as a starting point for investing in robotics. 

Setting the Stage for Smarter Operations

Less talked about but still critical for the future is storage, Schumaker notes. “Storage capacity is always a conversation,” he says. “I’m always talking with clients about how they want to design dry storage areas for flexibility to allow for growth and reduce dependencies on daily deliveries, especially if there are issues with supply.” 

Schumaker also builds in more flexibility for cold storage. “I don’t lock anything down in the walk-in. We’re using less built-in shelving and more storage racks on wheels to be able to easily reconfigure everything,” he says. 

Whether you call it future-proofing, future-thinking, future-casting or something else, operators, consultants and all industry players are coming together to invest in the right equipment, infrastructure, technology and design to accommodate evolving consumer needs. 

Future-Planning Flex

Five equipment pieces that consultants cite as favorites when it comes to designing with future needs in mind:

1. Demand-Responsive Cooking Suites

“There’s a new cooking suite coming out that will pull power from an adjacent piece of equipment to provide power where it’s needed so that the overall electrical draw stays constant in your panel,” says Lisa Paige-Pretorius, project manager, Cini-Little. 

2. Ventless Enclosed Fryers

“I’m hearing more about ventless-enclosed fryers, basically a totally enclosed drawer where you can place food and it will cook without smelling up the area — and you don’t need a hood,” Paige-Pretorius says. 

3. Self-Contained Grills

These pieces have been around for a long time, but “they’re very reliable because they have a lot of space to cook different foods at the same time and have built-in vent and fire systems to eliminate grease and smell, so they’re great for up-front cooking,” Paige-Pretorius says. 

4. Pressurized Tilt Skillets

“These units have really fast heat recovery and are great for cooking larger batches of food fast,” says Benjamin Pierce, Camacho. 

5. Slow Cook and Hold Units

Newer models allow cooks to prepare foods such as smoked chicken wings at lower temperatures, and they often come in ventless applications that extend cooklines with less hood needs, Pierce says.

A modern approach to corporate foodservice in Tampa, Fla. Photo courtesy of Cini-Little. Photo by Seamus Payne, Payne Photography. Photo by Seamus Payne Photography

Case Study

University of Maryland’s Mobile Cooking Suite

The University of Maryland’s Yahentamitsi Dining Hall serves more than 13,000 meals daily. A key feature of Yahentamitsi’s forward-thinking approach is its custom-built mobile cooking suite, a collaborative effort from foodservice design consulting firm Ricca Design Studios, interior design and architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross, and UMD Dining Services. The custom suite serves as a versatile centerpiece that supports both daily production and new menu development at the campus’ largest and busiest dining facility, which opened in 2022. 

“The idea is to keep things as flexible as possible,” says Bart Hipple, assistant director, marketing and communication, UMD Dining Services. “Each piece of equipment needs to be able to do two to three things.” 

The caster-based mobile unit features a 3-foot flattop grill, a 3-foot charbroiler, a six-burner stove with a hot- and cold-water faucet, two double-drawer undercounter refrigerators, undercounter storage shelving, a heated shelf warmer, and a 3-foot storage cabinet with two doors. Initially, Hipple says a two-sided grill was integrated into the suite, but it was later replaced with an additional six-burner stove and oven to increase burner capacity for small-batch sauces, beans and lentils — an easy switch due to the plug-and-play setup. 

“This suite has become a production area for small-batch foods and a compact test kitchen for new menu items,” says John Gray, senior executive chef, UMD Dining Services, who notes that with all the equipment in one unit, chefs can test recipes, refine offerings and respond to student feedback for new menu items. Strategically positioning the unit near other equipment, such as the fryers, expands the cooking and production capabilities for the cooks as needed. 

The flexibility of the mobile cooking suite has also allowed campus dining to introduce new meal periods and menus. In response to students’ request for breakfast food later in the day, UMD was able to use the mobile cooking unit to tackle the morning rush and remain open longer. Since the initial investment, a similar plug-and-play mobile unit was added to the South Campus Dining Hall to serve as a rotating hot food, salad, dessert and pancake/waffle station during high-demand meal periods.