Introduction
Catering design and project management is one of the most complex and challenging briefs that can be given. A clear idea of how the facility should look may exist, however before any detailed planning of the project can commence it is necessary to address the complicated logistics of accommodating the various utilities and services. To be honest it is many of the things you don’t and shouldn’t see that are the most difficult and expensive to deal with: proper ventilation, heating and cooling, goods in and waste out, health, safety, fire regulations, and food hygiene, and all of those things that are taken for granted, such as drainage, electricity, gas, lighting, steam and water.
It is only when this infrastructure is in place that the front of house fit-out design can commence. Decisions will need to be made about how to divide the space, where the servery counters might be positioned together with the various retail offers, are changes in level required, what are the different visual requirements. Even then it is essential at the same time to consider how the space will be used from a practical perspective when it is occupied by the customers and catering staff.
In simple terms a catering facility is the combination of two very different operations. On the one hand you have a manufacturing plant that can produce beverages together with hot and cold food to a very high quality, in a short period of time, at a realistic cost, while on the other you have a modern retail environment that entices the customer to purchase and consume the various products that have been made.
In a number of modern outlets the two different operations are brought together with greater visibility as the barriers are being removed to enable the customers to see the kitchen in full swing as the food is prepared. This sharpens the customer’s sense of anticipation by providing an element of theatre. An additional benefit is that the catering staff catching sight of customers enjoying themselves brings new levels of job satisfaction to their work and helps break down the traditional hostility between front of house and back of house staff. This has improved the quality of the food and beverages being offered in many cases, however this can bring with it its own design problems that need to be addressed.
It is by meeting this most challenging and indeed highly complex type of design brief that the commercial catering engineer’s adrenaline starts to flow giving him that buzz that makes ever project something special.