Form with function: Annapolis Yacht Club's kitchen Areas undergo a functional facelift.

In his quest to create well-designed kitchen areas for his clients, Scott Levine of FoodService Advocates LLC brings a unique perspective to the task. "I actually started in the industry 10 years ago as a chef," he said. "I was executive chef at a restaurant in the Phoenix area." While working in this position, Levine took on duties that went above and beyond his job description at the time. "I did a little bit of everything there, from designing the menu to writing up the employee training manual, to even drawing up the service contracts."

It was this wide variety of experiences, Levine explained, that led him to consider a career change. "After two years, I realized that I enjoyed the planning and organizational side of the business even more than the culinary side." Graduating with an M.B.A. from George Washington University, Levine founded FoodService Advocates LLC in Arlington, VA in 1998.

"Our company is not just a design firm, but a strategic planning firm as well," he said. Levine combines his experience as a chef along with his design and operation skills to allow his clients to realize and enhanced level of functionality from their kitchen spaces. "The end goal isn't just to have the best design, but to be more efficient and profitable."

To that end, Levine noted the most common mistakes he sees in restaurant and club kitchens. Chief among these is a flawed philosophy toward the practice of selecting, purchasing, and implementing various pieces of kitchen equipment. "Having the wrong equipment for the application is a problem we see all the time," he said. "To make matters worse, you often see that equipment has been purchased in an attempt to solve some oilier problem with the workspace. I call these items 'band-aids.'" According to Levine, if you accumulate enough band-aids, "you'll just eventually end up with a very disorganized kitchen.

Such a problem existed for Annapolis Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD before the club decided to hire Levine's firm to remake their kitchen facilities. "I previously worked in the hotel industry," said Steven Seidensticker, general manager of Annapolis Yacht Club. "What drew me to this position was the fact that the club had decided to remodel the kitchen and dining areas in order to accommodate the popularity in casual dining."

Levine added, "The way the club had set up its kitchen and dining operations was very inefficient. There had two different restaurants; casual dining was located on the first deck and fine dining on the third deck. And each restaurant had its own kitchen, so there was a duplication of labor." To complicate matters further, he said, "there was a full-size lounge located on the second deck in between the other two. So you had a situation where food was moving up and down all three levels."

Function Over Form

When Levine takes on a project, he immediately starts a planning phase analysis that "gets to the root of any major problems." Things to look for include what he refers to as "dead comers," where collisions between staff members are likely to occur. Also top on the list of issues to address is a lack of usable storage area.

"Our research is gathered in a variety of different ways," he said. "In addition to the on-site visits, I will also casually speak with members of the staff--managers, wait-staff, chefs--just to get a sense of how comfortable they are in the space. I've found that people are more than willing to participate, and managers should definitely encourage this prior to a renovation. Change is difficult, and it is important to get employees--especially the long-term employees--on board." The planning process alone could take anywhere from one to three weeks, or longer, Levine said.

A deeper inspection of a kitchen area, though, will often reveal problems that are not as obvious to a casual observer. "We uncover a lot more," Levine explained. "Sometimes the menus at the club have changed, and the kitchen is out of sync with its current purpose." Another tip: avoid purchasing equipment just because it may be trendy or you think you should have it. "The best example of this is a wok," Levine said. "Do you stir fry all the time? It's important to focus on using more versatile equipment. Not only that, but just having what you'd call old equipment is not necessarily bad. As long as the space is functional for your needs, that is what is most important."

What drew Levine to the project at Annapolis Yacht Club was "their shift in mindset to be more advanced." From a design perspective, Levine's firm always works from the client's menu in order to determine the best way to set up the kitchen space. For Annapolis Yacht Club, that meant a new focus on casual dining. "Customers, flow of product, and service are all paramount," Levine added. "And there should always be a little built-in flexibility, since the members' tastes and other trends will change. Let the menu guide the process."

The design phase of a kitchen remodel could take anywhere from four weeks to a couple of months, Levine said. "We produce a design and operational program that spells out what we intend to do and how we're going to approach the operational procedures." Food-Service Advocates LLC also produces construction-quality documents for the contractors to work from. "We maintain full contact with the construction company throughout the process. But our biggest asset is that when it comes to equipment selection, we are independent and unbiased toward any given manufacturer."

Annapolis Yacht Club

For Annapolis GM Steven Seidensticker, the kitchen remodel helped the club realize it's main goal: "Our club has a breathtaking view of Chesapeake Bay, and with the overwhelming number of people who want to take part in casual dining, we needed to open up 120 seats for casual dining." In order to look out on the Chesapeake, though, the casual dining area had to be moved up from the first deck to the third.

"We decided to move both restaurants up to the third deck," Levine said. "And then we would build a brand new finishing kitchen that would serve both off of one line. Each dining room has its own server station. A custom cooking suite was also added, and everything was designed to accommodate both restaurants."

At this point, the third floor renovation has been completed, while the renovation of the first floor--which will be converted into a dedicated function space for such things as meetings and wedding receptions--is set to begin soon. "They've done a fabulous job," Seidensticker said.