Foodservice Articles by FCS Principles

St. Catherine’s School, a private, K-12 school for girls, has transformed its dining hall. What was an outdated serving area, kitchen and storage room has become an efficient, flexible, code-compliant operation. The Foodservice Consultants Studio Inc.’s Lawrence J. Huber, FCSI, and Amy E. Hegarty, associate member of FCSI, LEED Green Assoc., worked closely on the project with Bowie Gridley Architects, Dunlap & Partner Engineers and TriMark Gill Group, Crofton Division (dealer), and Meriwether Godsey, the school’s contract foodservice operator. [Read more]

Project Showcase: Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) offers dining facilities in the Student Commons and Shafer Court dining facility that comprise more than 70,000 sq. ft. for back-of-house, serving, and dining space. Recognizing the university's significant investment in these buildings, and corresponding furniture, fixtures, and equipment, the university invested in a computerized maintenance system (CMMS). When VCU administrators assembled a team to work on the CMSS project, they realized they had a very big problem: No one on the university staff had the expertise required to populate the software with the level of robust information that would optimize the software investment. Foodservice Consultants Studio was selected to assist the university in tackling the task. [Read more]

Viewpoint: Interior Design is Not Kitchen Design

by Amy E. Hegarty, CID, ASID, CFSP, LEED Green Associate
I understand better than most that my interior design expertise in no way equips me to design a foodservice kitchen. In fact, I didn't learn anything about kitchens in interior design school. I distinctly remember my Hospitality Design professor telling us to block out an area for the kitchen in the hotel that we were designing because "someone else would be designing that part." Eventually, I became that someone else. [Read more]

Streamlining the Submital Process

by Douglas W. Huber, CFA, CFSP, FCSI
The current submittal approval process, though effective, is inefficient and cumbersome. On a recent project we tried a new approach to the submittal process, one that has the potential to save time, improve accuracy, and lower costs. Instead of preparing and shipping multiple submittal sets, handwriting comments, and manually transferring comments to each set, one set of submittals can be sent via email, with comments captured electronically and emailed back. [Read more]

Why a Food Court Concept

by Lawrence J. Huber, CFSP, FCSI
In our years of working with the School Foodservice Community, there has never been a more striking development than the introduction of the “Food Court Concept” to school foodservice. For many years Foodservice Directors recognized that high school students lost interest in school foodservice programs resulting in underutilized and unprofitable operations. That trend has grown worse as the high school student has become more mobile, with many driving to school. For Administrators, the increased potential liability associated with students leaving campus during school hours to seek commercial foodservice has become an ever-increasing problem. [Read more]

Capital Structure of Franchise Restaurants

by Douglas W. Huber, CFA, CFSP, FCSI
One of the many challenges franchise restaurant owners face is profitably growing their businesses in an increasingly competitive environment. Internal growth by increasing same store sales is clearly a requisite for continued success; but external growth through new unit development and acquisitions is important as well, especially to optimize and leverage economies of scale...Savvy entrepreneurs recognize the importance of financial flexibility in funding this growth. The question is how to best manage your company's capital structure to achieve this financial flexibility. [Read more]