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By engaging
CDIS-KARM
as
your catering design consultant you are taking the first step of turning your
vision into a reality and at the same time you are taking on board a
professional organisation that can help guide you through the complicated route
from those initial ideas to the first served meal. But be prepared, providing an
unbiased professional service sometimes means that you are employing us to tell
you things you don’t want to hear!
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 consultant’s adrenaline starts to flow giving that buzz that
makes every project something special.
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. |
