NEW YORK, NY – Wade Koehler, CAE, is continually amazed by the creativity displayed by members of Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI). As executive director of FCSI’s Americas Division, Springfield, Ill., Koehler nurtures that creativity while keeping the Society at the forefront of the design world.
As a sponsor of the annual Foodservice Pioneering Concept at this year’s HX: The Hotel Experience show in New York, FCSI seeks to expand beyond current thinking and support ideas that will spark new trends. As it happens, the creator of this year’s Concept is a professional member of FCSI, as well as a board member of the Society.
“I can’t go into much detail about it, but Joseph Schumaker, FCSI [founder and president, FoodSpace] has come up with a unique operation,” Koehler says. “It’s very flexible, so almost any size hotel could utilize it. It’s set up to where it can be used for many different types of functions.”
This year’s concept is called Duality, and HX attendees will have the best view of the concept in action when they visit the show floor Nov 11-12, 2019, at the Javits Center, New York. The specifics are partly under wraps but vice president and show director Kevin Gaffney reveals that: “Duality focuses on helping companies provide the best food and beverage amenity and concept programs for their customers. They identify concepts and suggest tactical food and beverage strategies geared toward maximizing workforce productivity and workplace satisfaction.”
Physically, Duality is a modular foodservice concept made up of a doughnut shape cut into four quarters with a Yin-Yang shape in the center. This six-piece set can be configured to accommodate different food concepts.
In addition to fostering the creative side of the Concept, FCSI’s sponsor role helps to offset some of the costs for videos that promote the Concept before, during, and after the event. FCSI’s commitment to the show, and the industry, runs deep and it’s a crucial reason the Society decided to maintain its relationship with HX.
HX sat down with Koehler to get a better idea of FCSI’s role in the industry, as well as to dispel some of the persistent misconceptions about the proper role of foodservice consultants.
HX: What is your membership profile?
Wade Koehler (pictured), executive director, FCSI Americas Division, and owner, Forte AMC, a Forte Association Management Company: FCSI is made up of three divisions. My division is the Americas, and it is primarily the division that works with The Hotel Experience. We have close to 400 consultant members, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but my members specify $2.1 billion worth of kitchen equipment annually. Our FCSI designers are people who do commercial kitchen design or restaurant management consulting of all sorts. They may be building a kitchen down to the minute details. They actually get into the exact model and name brand of whatever oven, dishwasher, prep table, or garbage disposal might be needed. They will determine where the plumbing is going to go, the heating and ventilation. The designers are basically architects of kitchens.
HX: How do your members manage to stay impartial when it comes to brands?
Koehler: The unique thing about our membership is that they don’t sell any equipment. They can’t take kickbacks or anything in exchange for specifying a piece of equipment. They are truly independent, fee-based foodservice consultants.
HX: What other types of people do you have as members?
Koehler: The other part of membership is management consultants, and they do everything from recommending chefs who develop recipes to RFPs. Say a hotel wants to bring in a third party for their food service operations; management consultants help the hotel develop and execute the RFP, go over the proposals, and make recommendations as to which restaurant or which food service operational to bring in. They do everything from hotels, to prisons, to colleges, schools, stadiums and everything in between. If there’s a commercial kitchen, my members have something to do with it.
HX: It sounds like a relatively small and highly skilled club…
Koehler: It is, especially because they are independent. There are other consultants who sell equipment, and I won’t go into philosophy, but if you’re an independent consultant, you’re actually going to give the recommendation for what the best piece of equipment is for the specific situation. Our consultants have a completely unbiased opinion of what the best piece of equipment can and should be.
HX: What are the benefits of FCSI membership?
Koehler: There is prestige that comes with it, because we’re known as the independent food service consultants, so it means something. We also offer what we call professional membership, and it’s a certification process, so when people have FCSI after their name, it stands for something, and it hasn’t just been given to them.
HX: What do they need to do to get those initials?
Koehler: They have to go through a series of exams. The inside part of FCSI is the camaraderie we have. Even though everyone is a competitor, it amazes me at events such as HX, or our own events, how much they work together nowadays. And that’s changed in the last 10 to 15 years significantly. You see fewer people being competitive with each other, and more collaboration. Consultant members or consultant companies that compete against each other for the same project might end up working on it, even though the other person gets it.
For example, with management consultants and designers, if the management consultants get in and they’re doing an operational review or something, and they realize that the kitchen needs help, then they can call up another FCSI member and bring him or her on board. I don’t want to call them job leads, it’s more about working together and collaborating for the best client outcome.
HX: What are the persistent misconceptions about food service consultants?
Koehler: A lot of people think consultants are too expensive, or not worth the extra fee for an independent person, because they can get it done cheaper with somebody who sells the equipment. What we’ve found over the years is that it’s money well spent to do it upfront.
HX: Why is that?
Koehler: If you don’t do it up front, a lot of times you’re going to end up with problems, and you end up calling one of our members in after the fact. You end up spending more time and money to fix the problem than it would have been to just pay the consultant up front. We’ve seen consultants who will do a design for a lot cheaper, but they’re actually selling the equipment, so they’re making money on that end. Down the road, clients may have to spend more money on a dishwasher because the one they have can’t keep up with the number of dishes, or maybe it’s an oven that doesn’t have enough burners. I would say that there are plenty of consultants out there who will work with you to find the right fees, but you can’t afford not to have one anymore. The bigger the operation, the more important it becomes.
HX: Why are face-to-face trade shows and conferences still important in 2019?
Koehler: To this day, I’m a firm believer that we get more done face to face than we do online. There’s something about having that personal reaction to each other, or the personal connection. If I’ve known you, or have seen you at a trade show and hung-out with you for a little bit, I’m more comfortable to pick up the phone and ask for help, or pick up the phone and ask for advice. You’re more comfortable to pick up the phone and ask me for my advice.
Face-to-face interactions are more important than anything we still have. We’re bombarded with media on a regular basis now, and how many emails do you get? In today’s world, with phones on our hips, with computers constantly dinging at us, there’s something about walking the show floor at HX and now BDNY [co-located], where you’re kind of forced to put away the technology and listen. And actually, while you’re sitting there listening, you’re actually absorbing what you’re hearing, or you’re making that personal connection. I think that’s more important than anything.