DESIGNING SCHOOL FOODSERVICE FACILITIES FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

When designing a school food service facility for today’s educational facilities, it is important to try and interpret both the present needs and be ready for future developments in educational foodservice operations. What’s happening today with food, menus and equipment? What’s changing? What role will technology play? Producing a flexible design that is right for the time but keep an eye on the future is the goal. Providing a detailed program for designers is a must.

History: The Changes in Layout and Equipment

History is a great teacher that can tell you a lot of things: what works, what doesn’t, what needs to change. The on-site kitchen in the early years of school foodservice everything was prepared from scratch. Kitchens had to be fully equipped. Potato peelers and mixers were a must, as were stack bake ovens. Bigger facilities were thought to be better. In the 1960’s, convenience foods were increasing and school kitchens were beginning to change. There was an increased need for refrigeration. In the 70’s, the single menu was on its way out and multiple-choice menus were offered, impacting the serving counter layout. The 80’s and 90’s continued to see many changes that forced modifications in menus, layout and equipment. In an effort to increase participation and satisfy student expectations, in high school food courts was introduced creating ‘Pizzazz’ and schools began to buy restaurant foods. Awnings, valances and menu boards were used to decorate school cafeterias. The use of disposables, instead of permanent ware, was used in many Districts – eliminating dishwashers.

Scratch cooking of the 50’s and 60’s was replaced with convenience foods. Today, in many schools across the nation, 75% of the items on school lunch and breakfast menus are convenience. This impacts greatly on both kitchen size and equipment. Potato peelers have become dinosaurs, stack ovens are no longer needed and mixers are on the way out, except for some schools still doing baking.

To be successful in designing a foodservice facility today, one must be well acquainted with the job to be done, the best way to do it and the most efficient layout of equipment. Research is needed to find the latest equipment that will help improve productivity, safety, and ambience of the foodservice operation. Unfortunately, architects often lack experience in designing kitchens. To prevent problems from occurring after the project is completed, the foodservice director should insist on being consulted in the planning stage before final plans are developed.

Case Study

Orange School District in Orlando, Florida: A new high school was being planned and the architect proposed to use the same plan previously used in building two high schools. The staff was not consulted on those projects. The result was many design related problems. More space was used than needed, excess equipment was purchased, serving stations were poorly placed, and the employee’s restrooms and the refrigeration were in the wrong location. Access from the kitchen to the student dining room was through the teacher’s dining room. More labor was needed because of the inefficient layout.

To make it right, Food Service Administrator Angela Butler requested and received approval from the architect to make recommendations for changing the layout and design, maintaining the square footage and the footprint. An inTEAM Associate and a consultant worked with her on the design phase.

A smooth flow of food and supplies from receiving to the serving line was established and located on the plan in the following order: receiving, laundry, custodial closet, toilet/lockers, storage (chemical, paper, dry) freezer, cooler, office, food preparation areas, serving area, student dining room, and teacher dining room.

The menu and participation factors (present and future) were used to determine the equipment needed. The sizes of the freezer, cooler and dry storage were based on the number and frequency of deliveries, as well as the menu and participation. The specifications for the equipment were determined by what was new in the industry including technology. The paper storage requirements were based on the number and kind of disposables to be used.

The resulting design is flexible and can be changed as fast as needed by using portable equipment and by constructing fixed walls only where required for safety and security. Prototypes were also developed to be used for future planning of Elementary and Secondary Schools. These changes saved the district over $300,000 per school.

Educational Specifications

School foodservice is unique and different than other foodservice operations. What make it different are the customers (3 year olds to 18 year olds), the menu, the financial responsibility, the kitchen layout and the equipment.

To help architects/consultants understand school foodservice and to avoid costly mistakes and disappointing results, “Educational Specifications” can be provided to them. Educational Specifications are comprehensive documents developed by the foodservice staff that describes in detail all physical and programmatic requirements unique to each school foodservice facility. Although it takes considerable time to develop the initial set of documents, they can be reused repeatedly, making minor changes as desired to comply with the specialized constraints of any particular site or operation. Call, e-mail or fax me if you would like help on writing educational specifications.

Suggested Table of Contents for Foodservice Educational Specifications

Each set of foodservice educational specifications should address, at a minimum, the following:

· Level of school
· Enrollment
· The menu
· Type of foodservice system
· Dining areas and seating requirements
· Square footage requirements of each area including refrigeration
· Technology to be used
· Equipment layout
· Equipment specifications

Common design problems, such as electrical plugs in the wrong place, too few drains, aisles too narrow, inadequate storage, doors too narrow, etc. can be reduced, if not eliminated, if quality Educational Specifications are used as a guide by the architects and consultants throughout the design phase.

Conclusion

Foodservice facilities should be planned with future trends as well as present needs in mind. Trends that could affect the facility layout and equipment include:

The focus on nutrition. In Texas, for example, the recommendation is to eliminate frying and fryers by 2006;
The increased use of convenience foods, eliminating equipment once used in preparation;
Multi-use of equipment – the braising pan is an example. It has multi-purpose capability;
Vending meals that meet the guidelines and will be available to all categories of students;
Aesthetics – avoid the “institutional” look when planning serving and dining room equipment;
Continue constructing central production facilities – satellite receiving schools are considerably smaller in size and have less equipment; and
Merchandising food, using counter top display cases and merchandisers;
Computers to generate reports for managers of school foodservice operations; and
Equipment developments allowing kitchen equipment to communicate with the manager’s computer to help improve food safety and the management of labor, energy and inventory. For example refrigerators that keeps inventory and a fryer that relays information on energy usage.

In a recent article, an unknown author wrote: “A good foodservice design should never be finished, but should be able to change as fast as it needs to be changed. So that overnight, you can go from one approach to another. Build in flexibility to meet tomorrow’s needs.”