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Independency:
Professional Kitchen Consultants
Here’s another issue: a kitchen manufacturer
that sells equipment and provides ‘free-design’
versus a kitchen designer who is independent of
any manufacturers. Most of the people within
the hospitality industry are understandably on
the lookout for the most cost effective deals.
The ones that provide ‘free-design’ services will
naturally recommend the brands they sell, but I
feel that this isn’t always the right solution. So, it
is really important for owners who invest large
sums of money hire independent consultants. The
independent consultants do their own assessments
and audits allowing them to give options driven by
service needs or ever-present budgetary concerns
or even future potential expansion. We also find
that so-called kitchen consultants or food and
beverage (F&B) consultants are hired based on two
aspects – reputations as well as past affiliations.
Unfortunately, this is one industry which is
not regulated. The Food Service Consultants
International (FSCI) has an ethos which you can
view here (www.fcsi.org/about-fcsi/fcsi-worldwide/
bylaws) that clearly spells out the responsibilities of
a qualified food service consultant.The Right Qualified Professionals?
There are many chefs or F&B professionals who
are tired of their work and are looking for other
opportunities go into F&B consultancy. There are
no qualifications necessary, there are no tests,
causing owners to be hoodwinked by friends’
recommendations rather than by a professional
association or recommendation. The lack of
regulations allow for any Tom, Dick and Harry to
become a consultant, over-flooding the market
and forcing parties to become cheap. Does cheap
guarantee good services? In some cases yes, but
mostly not. Chefs who have been running kitchens
don’t necessarily understand technology and
layouts as per today’s needs and future needs.
Factors like how the Southeast Asian tropical
climate affects the equipment material are not even
considered.These consultant-wannabes may think
they’ve got what it takes but they are not necessarily
equipped to give real professional advice. They can
give opinions – which are fine as you can’t really
quantify or qualify an opinion. Having worked in a
kitchen allows you to understand the standing of
how a kitchen works but doesn’t necessarily give
you the professional backbone on how kitchens
of the future should be run. The kitchens being
built are not just for today or next year – they’re
for a minimum of five to ten years, preferably up
to 20 years. How many chefs have that kind of
experience? How many consultants have that
sort of exhaustive knowledge? How many take
into account the energy saving features which are
important today, waste and temperature control,
HACCP requirements or the other regulations?I can guarantee that if all the consultants in
Southeast Asia are to be put through a hard-core
test, like a driving license, maybe only ten to 20
percent will past the test! I know some people are
not going to be very positive about my comments,
but I’ll stand by it, because these are the pure raw
facts. I have seen too many kitchens that have been
misbuilt, with inappropriate layouts derived from
somebody’s personal opinion as a guiding source
rather than a proper analysation from case studies
or proper understanding of needs.3D perspective: A bar design concept.
Costumed designed duck roasting oven.