015PUBLISHER
(^) +
(^) PERSPECTIVE
I
think qualified kitchen designers are relevant
to today’s needs. Chefs always know what they
want but here is the conundrum – a kitchen
starts off designed for one chef. When he moves
on, another chef takes over and that’s where the
problem starts as most chefs are rather selfish in
their requirements. If these chefs who have a say in
the design process in the initial stage stay for ten or
20 years, there’s less of an issue. But, here in Asia,
how many chefs stay that long in the same kitchen?
I can count the ones I know on my one hand. Take
Florian Trento for example: he has been the group
executive chef of The Peninsula Hong Kong for
almost 30 years. Chef Trento’s input was included
in the kitchen designs and that’s a perfect example
of how it should work.
There is a hotel that we designed
according to the then current chef’s
needs. The chef left and it was
redesigned for his successor’s needs
who also then left after three years.
The next chef came in and didn’t
know what to do with some
of the equipment.
Kitchen Layouts:
Technological Advancements
In order to put my point across, the only thing
that has changed is technology, ergo the old
equipment versus the new ones. What have not
changed is the basic cooking methods. In today’s
world of rising costs, the key words are efficiency
and productivity without the lack of quality. How
do you increase one without compromising the
other? People travel the world nowadays and they
know food much better than the people of 20 years
ago. Now for a call of action: I want to see all the
so-called ‘consultants’ justify all the statements
that I will make and prove that they’re really up
to the tasks. Do the owners that spend so much
money make wise decisions or cheap decisions?
The quantity surveyors – what do you all seriously
know about kitchens operations? You may be
good at comparing rental costs and equipment
costs among others but what do you know about
food production? Why is it so important to have
an in-house lab for airline caterings? Can you
imagine if in the middle of a route everyone gets
food poisoning? The same goes for hotels, but an
aeroplane can’t land just anywhere. We need to
be very serious about the subject matter – do not
save money on the wrong side.
Well-Designed Kitchens:
A Responsibility Owed
There are some well-designed kitchens done by
our competitors. Super Potato, CKD and DiSHES
being some of them with solid modern designs.
These companies really stand out as proper design
companies. In terms of independent restaurants, I
think Chef Julien Royer’s kitchen at Odette is very
well designed, as he is the chef-owner. God bless
the man, he knows what he’s doing. That’s a good
example for any new kitchen designer that wants
to learn. Don’t be shy and ask if you don’t know
and don’t give false professional opinions. Do your
research. You have a responsibility to the owner –
take it seriously.
I once met an owner who had absolutely no
qualms about spending half a million dollars to put
a statue in front of his club but was arguing with me
on the cost of a combi oven and whether if it was
really necessary. Owners, stick to what you know.
Get yourselves professionals that can justify your
investment is wise and get a second opinion if you
must. Don’t short-change consultants on that. And
to the operators, just because you’ve been working
for so long in the F&B industry, it does not qualify
you to be a competent consultant. It qualifies you
to have competent opinions but that stops there.
Modern cooking devices as described by
a German book from 1909.