SAN JOSE, CA – After a successful showing at last year’s HX: The Hotel Experience Powered by AAHOA, Joseph Schumaker, FCSI [founder and president of FoodSpace] is using his platform to shine a light on food and beverage (F&B) consultants who have actually worked in the F&B business. Schumaker maintains they are underused. One way to change that is to emphasize certain advantages—practical and philosophical.
“We need to be up front about why and how we do what we do,” he says. “To be clear, I don’t make any money off the sale of the equipment I specify. I can’t take a spec credit, a dealer credit, or a kick-back from a manufacturer—and I shouldn’t.”
The FCSI (Foodservice Consultants Society International) designation behind Schumaker’s name carries a professional ethos that prohibits such arrangements. Wade Koehler, executive director, FCSI Americas Division, explains: “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.”
Independence lends itself to creativity, as evidenced by Schumaker’s Foodservice Pioneering Concept winner—Duality—a creation at last year’s HX. With its intriguing (and highly customizable) half circle design, Duality continues to gain momentum.
“Duality is another arrow in the quiver,” says Schumaker, a former chef and owner of a successful catering company. “We’re designing kitchens for all sorts of different applications. People reach out to us, and we put together customized units for them—and then work with our fabrication partners to have them built.”
Schumaker’s northern California-based FoodSpace is putting its principles into effect with more than a dozen active projects. “Some are getting finished up and new ones are kicking off,” he says. “Ultimately, I’m an independent consultant. I’m a trusted advisor and advocate, and I have to be specifying the right equipment. The moment my pocket is getting lined based on a manufacturer’s interest, I’m no longer doing that.”