Vision - Culinary Options

Culinary Options exists to assist clients in creating harmonious, sensible, profitable and enduring operations. Foodservice operators face multifaceted challenges: menu, labor, equipment, technology, design – all requiring attention. We advise commercial and on-site (noncommercial) foodservice companies on how to approach this tangle of demand and expense. We help them create a customer experience that will feel safe, inspire delight, and highlight the culinary experience. This work at the inception of a project is critical.

Our mission is simple. We promise to:

Support clarification of your vision
Provide perspective through open conversation
Revitalize existing operations and programs
Assist in achieving financial success
Listen restfully to your ideas
Facilitate and hone your decisions
Honor any bid
Deliver on time

In all matters, Karen adheres to the FCSI Code of Conduct which places
the Client’s interests and the Public’s interest above all.

We urge you to read the full text of The Code of Conduct of FCSI.

When Amazon executive leaders realized the mammoth task that lied ahead for them to feed nearly 50,000 employees, they realized that a team of consultants was required to help them develop a master plan for foodservice. They wanted to digress from the classic corporate campus “cafeteria thinking” and create discreet, fully articulated Fast Casual concepts within the secure spaces of their three newest 37-story buildings, as well as reinvent foodservice in three existing buildings. My role was to research the Fast Casual category and present fully articulated concepts from which they could choose. I presented 47 Fast Casual Concepts, with narratives, pictures, operational descriptions and prototype menus for each. From these 47, they have so far selected 27 which are being built.

Collaborated with Russ Benson, DayOne Hospitality, as part of an RFP process, to analyze the current operations at headquarters in Silicon Valley and San Francisco from a menu, concept and quality standpoint that would further inform the content of the RFP. The same consultant and I were then hired to conduct a deep dive into technological solutions for their current operations as well as that of a soon-to-be large

Was hired, along with Russ Benson, DayOne Hospitality and Laura Lentz, Culinary Advisors, to create an intensive workshop for the foodservice program managers at the AOC covering elements ranging from visioning, to concept development to operational feasibility and design. We were then asked to analyze all existing operations to both assist the AOC in developing an entirely new “way of being” (anti-cafeteria) as well as contribute to the Master Planning process and RFP process.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals

As a result of totally redesigning the entire campus and hiring respected architects from other countries to design spectacular buildings, the executive leaders wanted to do something dramatically different with foodservice on this corporate campus. They wanted a restaurant expert on the foodservice planning team in addition to those who historically had worked only with corporate dining. I was hired (referred by Coburn & Guyette Kitchen Designers & Foodservice Consultants in Boston) to assist in the development of three fully articulated restaurant concepts for each of the new buildings: concept, menu, equipment requirements, operational flow and design personality for each. Detailed documents were created which then allowed the architects and kitchen designers to have a road map. I then assisted in the RFP process for finding outside restaurateurs to operate the restaurants, interviewing them and participating in the ultimate operator choices.

Sentry headquarters in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was in the midst of a total cafeteria remodel. They did not want to rely on their foodservice operator to determine their future for them, so I was hired to frame the conceptual approach to the food in the cafeteria, develop prototype menus for each station, help select merchandising and tabletop decor that was congruent with the concept and liaise with the existing operator to assure that the vision held by the thought leaders was executed according to the master plan.

HCSC (Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company)
The foodservice program leaders requested a thorough analysis of their menus and sales reports in order to develop forward-thinking strategies based on my study and resulting recommendations. HCSC has multiple locations around the United States.

Starbucks

Director, Food & Beverage and Menu

Developed long-term budget for $400 million division
Established the first Food & Beverage Analysis and Monthly Report program
Researched and conceptualized a new, full-service, sit-down food concept
Created and implemented a Regional Food Manager Program to educate regional employees on Food and Beverage management protocols, monitor quality standards and negotiate better vendor contracts
Exceeded $80 million dollar food sales goal by 7%
Reduced food costs by 3% through menu strategy shifts and renegotiated contracts
Opened 25 new geographically-diverse pastry markets in one year, on time, on budget
Created strategy to guide prototype development and to establish Gold Standard attributes for all products in preparation for implementation
Brought 47 products to Gold Standard level within first 8 months
Established a Core Menu strategy; articulated and gate-kept standards for all menu itemsLed team in developing the Frappuccino™