Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazines is an industry resource connecting foodservice operators, equipment and supplies manufacturers and dealers, and facility design consultants.
Issue link: http://fesmag.epubxp.com/i/499977
panini presses and dual-tech ovens to get the product through. And we are defnitely looking at the type of people manning our stations. From a culinary aspect, we want our customers to have a full-service experience while keeping up with the speed everything moves at now. In addition to our cashless check out options, we are beta testing self- checkout and exploring a web-based ordering system. Also on the horizon is the exploration of a hotel room service-like delivery option. Of course, managing the logistics for such a proj- ect can be a challenge given that we have seven buildings on our campus. That's a lot of territory to cover. Keeping costs in line will forever be a challenge. With commodity prices rising, such as beef and other key in- gredients, how do we maintain pricing without sacrifcing quality? That's forcing us to look closer at menu composition and other aspects of our operation. Social responsibility, specif- cally in the area of energy effciency is something we are looking at now. Our campus is 17 years old so we are coming to the end of the service life for a variety of equipment items. When we replace specifc pieces of equip- ment, energy effciency now becomes an important consideration for us. I work very closely with the engineering team that will service and maintain that equipment team to understand their goals, such as waste stream reduction or water reduction, and determine how foodservice can help support them. Indeed, the expectations of today's consumers are clear and consistent. They want a quality meal at an afford- able price produced in a timely manner. And much like our peers that work in restaurants, it's an expectation that we in corporate dining will need to continue to address to remain viable in the eyes of our customers. Grab-and-go foodservice items are important for corpo- rate dining operators such as Florida Blue. In its Miami café, seen here, the company makes salads, sandwiches and other items available. Employees also have the op- tion to place custom orders at food stations.