As Covid-19 continues to impact the foodservice sector, FCSI provides solutions to many challenges operators are facing with a new season of its Dynamic Design podcast. While previous episodes featured leading FCSI Professional member design consultants discussing key aspects of design, this season, again supported by Atlas Metal, focuses on individual sectors in foodservice, exploring how foodservice design must evolve in a post-pandemic environment.
The second episode in the season focuses on the future of foodservice design in the healthcare sector: from hospitals to senior living facilities. Our interviewee is one of the US – and indeed the world’s – leading design consultants in this field, Christine Guyott FCSI of Rippe Associates.
You can hear the episode, below:
https://soundcloud.com/fcsi-dynamic-design/season-2-episode-2-christine-guyott-fcsi/s-WXtr1cWC5eu
A sector with empathy
“I really enjoy working with the people. They’re just a great group of sincere folks,” says Guyott, when asked why she enjoys working so much in healthcare design. “The architects and hospital folks are very empathetic and caring people. The help me to be a better consultant.”
Aside from the type of professionals she works with, for Guyott, one of the biggest differentials between foodservice design and that of other sectors can be the lengthy duration of each project. “My longest project was out on the West Coast. We started designing that in masterplanning in 2007 and it just opened up last year. So, we have a long design timeframe to work with. Sometimes that’s great, because you have the chance to think things through, but it can be hard to keep on top of trends when you’re designing ten years before it’s built.”
According to Guyott – who has seen those projects still in the masterplanning stage of development remain largely unaffected by Covid-19, while some others at the start of the design process or about to start construction have been put on hold – Covid-19 “has affected this sector differently” to all others. She praises the foodservice teams she works with for “really pulling together – they did a switch in how they were serving.”
Elsewhere in the episode Guyott addresses the future of salad bars and pick-up stations, ghost kitchens and sanitation in healthcare and why customisation will remain a constant in this sector: “People will still want variety,” she says.
Further details:
This podcast series is supported by Atlas Metal, a trusted serving equipment partner with a hands-on approach to doing business. See how they’re making metal personal at atlasfoodserv.com.
Season two:
In the first episode, Scott Reitano FCSI of Reitano Design Group discusses the design of commercial kitchens and front-of-house spaces for the education sector: from K-12 to colleges and universities.
Season one:
In episode one, season one of the series, William Caruso FFCSI (PP), founding partner of WC & Partners, Inc. and chair of FCSI The Americas looked at the importance of strategic and practical planning when leading a design-led foodservice project from a consultancy perspective.
In episode two, season one, Kristin Sedej FCSI of S2O Consultants, Inc, addressed how essential it is to have solid partnerships, when working on a design-led foodservice project from a consultancy perspective.
In episode three, season one, Joseph Schumaker FCSI of Foodspace discussed why it is essential to marry strong aesthetic design with robust functionality and the correct processes to achieve the right flow when designing a commercial kitchen.
In episode four, season one, Laura Lentz FCSI of Culinary Advisors looks at why the wellbeing of the end-user (from the back-of-house and front-of-house employees, to the customers) must come first when designing a commercial kitchen space.
The above episodes, and all additional FCSI podcasts, are also available to download on Podbean.
Michael Jones
