We've all been there. You think you know everything there is to know about food safety. But with restaurants ordering higher volumes of fresh produce and specialty proteins, a lot of which come from smaller, local purveyors, operators should employ a few extra steps to maintain a clean and food-safe operation.
The kitchen of the future has long been a topic of discussion for David Zabrowski of PG&E’s Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) and Don Fisher of Fisher Consulting. This modern day cookline, they say, would feature all energy- and water-saving appliances as well as optimal design, enhanced operator education and maintenance that could get us closer to the unthinkable in our industry: net zero energy.
Rebates for energy-saving commercial foodservice equipment can be an incredible resource. This becomes especially relevant when the cost of this equipment teeters on the high range and operators continue to look for ways to prove ROI. Offered by the EPA’s Energy Star program as well as utility companies around the country, rebates can save foodservice operators up to thousands of dollars on equipment. For some operators, a $500 rebate can mean the difference between buying or not buying a specific piece of foodservice equipment.
At Technomic's annual Trends & Directions Conference in Chicago, representatives from the research firm did what they do best: outlined a handful of trending topics and backed them up with supporting data, an economic overview and even more data. Here's a look at a few factors that will influence the foodservice industry in the coming year.
Fresh. Healthy. Scratch cooking. These buzz words dominate today’s school foodservice industry. But what impact can these trends have on operations that were doing little more than heating and serving meals until now? Read on to find out.
A glass-walled dining hall that converts to a concert venue; a restaurant designed to serve and train special needs students; lush organic gardens; cafés touting pour-over coffees; paleo-diet-friendly brownies and cardamom-infused blueberry tarts; celebrity chef demos; industry-leading sustainability programs; food trucks; bulk organic and local food sales; smartphone apps and social media — all of this and more is found today in the world of college and university dining.
"Total cost of ownership" represents one of the foodservice equipment industry's most ubiquitous and misunderstood terms.
Despite growing participation rates and increased governmental demands, school foodservice providers continue to leverage a battery of heavy-duty foodservice equipment to provide students with healthy meal options.
Preparing 90 million meals annually from 123 on-site kitchens on a government budget, the Florida Department of Corrections has had to get creative. To feed its approximately 90,000 inmates, the foodservice program prepares 230,000 meals per day from these on-site kitchens.
A Fresh Arrangement of the Living-Learning-Dining Theme
In today's restaurant environment, the old adage "bigger is better" doesn't necessarily hold true anymore, at least when it comes to the kitchen. Savvy operators find that an intelligent redesign — along with equipment reconsideration — allows them to reduce the size of the kitchen without compromising food quality or production capabilities.
It wasn't long ago that Colorado's Boulder Valley School District's foodservice program centered on highly processed food prepared in finishing kitchens.
About three years ago, however, the district did a complete 180 with its menu and production. Today, its 54 schools feed 30,000 students approximately 12,000 mostly from-scratch meals daily.
To serve large inmate populations on limited budgets, correctional foodservice operators leverage high-volume equipment packages.
Experiential Learning is Big on the Menu
Creative cafeteria and kitchen design on a limited budget improve staff efficiency and customer satisfaction at Miller Elementary and Langston Road Elementary.
A Multi-Faceted Approach to Sustainability
