Test Kitchen Considerations

Each culinary R&D center or test kitchen has its own distinct points, and was likely designed with the company’s products, processes and markets in mind. Yet in the context of Culinology®, each is a machine for the creative balance between three disciplines: culinary arts, food technology and marketing. The space needs to satisfy a range of different individuals and their departmental expectations. Culinary and food-science experts will staff the facility, but no less important are the managers who will authorize this capital expenditure, and those involved in resultant sales stemming from impressed customers.

“Today’s new direction for larger companies is toward what are dubbed ‘innovation centers,’” says Craig “Skip” Julius, CEC, CRC, CCS, product development leader, Gordon Food Service, Grand Rapids, MI. “The best interpretations of these are facilities designed to have efficient, but visually different, environments. An incubation area that fosters relaxed ideation and out-of-the-box thinking is a most-critical piece. It is often this area that gets skimped on or eliminated altogether, yet it is this area, when intelligently designed, which offers the greatest potential for long-term new revenue generation and return on investment. Today’s best interpretations are centers which start with a great idea-generating environment, which then flows directly to the creation stage in a well-designed test kitchen. The next part of the sequence facilitates collaboration between culinary prototype and the technical bench-top application of the product idea.”

For such full-service innovation centers, a wide range of capabilities might factor into the plans, including cooking food, presenting products, replicating manufacturing and foodservice conditions, confirming product integrity, hosting events, and providing internal culinary and food-science training.

“We wanted to bring all our research and development activities into a single location—a location designed specifically for collaboration and innovation,” says A. Mario Valdovinos, CEC, director of corporate research & development, culinary services, Tyson Foods, Inc., Springdale, AR. “The open design of the Discovery Center has helped eliminate ‘siloed’ product knowledge and consumer insights. In the Discovery Center, our R&D team is in an environment that fosters creativity and spontaneous collaboration. The kitchens are designed for maximum flexibility—we have each kitchen equipped specifically for the business units and customer channels we serve.” He notes that the space includes office space, kitchens, product-presentation tables and rooms for focus groups and sensory panels. The space is also wired and equipped for video transmission via the Web. “Our entire R&D staff participated in brainstorming sessions during the initial design phase, and testing. We built and tested a mock-up kitchen, built to plan in a warehouse, before finalizing the plans for the Discovery Center.”

Cost, of course, is a big factor. “The budget drives the train with most projects, and commercial-kitchen costs easily reach $350 to $400 per sq. ft.,” says Dan Marsh, principal, Marsh Architects, Columbus. “The architect’s initial cost estimate needs to be accurate and the design precise. Oversights or errors will be costly.

“First, a successfully designed test kitchen will minimize the time and effort required of the chef to accomplish the mundane tasks that will remain part of the process,” March continues. “Replicating ‘real-life’ execution is the obvious approach here. Second, physical design must free and inspire the chef to tap the creative flow. Food design and food preparation can be both singular and collaborative at the same time. The workspace must encourage effortless transitions between these two modes. The decision must be made regarding the interaction of the preparation and the tasting. Will the chef’s preparation be treated as performance art in a dramatic space with the tasters present? Or will the chef prepare for the tasting while sequestered in a laboratory setting?”

KEY CONSIDERATIONS 

One example I’ve studied is the test kitchen at Griffith Laboratories, Alsip, IL. Dieter Preiser, CEC, AAC, and I gave a presentation at the Research Chef’s Association’s 2000 conference in Miami on R&D kitchen design. In our presentation—which includes overviews of equipment and floor plans—we contrasted the two centers where we worked at the time in terms of scale, scope and desired outcomes. (For a copy of the presentation, contact RCA headquarters at 404/252- 3663 or rca@kellencompany.com) 

Griffith’s space includes a dining or meeting area; two semi-independent kitchen spaces, one of which can be configured as needed for specific projects; a library; and office spaces. It’s like an eat-in home kitchen, which is sometimes the most-comfortable room in the house. Visitors and necessary interchanges between management, sales and marketing have all been fostered by this multipurpose space.

It is sometimes easy for management or production to forget that they work for a food company if the only products they make are shipped on pallets and leave in 50-lb. bags. The fact that you are a food company—and fruit of your labor is eaten on a plate—instantly comes back when the test kitchen becomes a focal point.

One of the challenges with retrofitting or converting existing space into a Culinology center is integrating existing food-science and culinary resources. Some R&D culinary operations overlap with food-science labs. Using existing vented hoods, plumbing and electrical hardware will save lots of money. Here is where good planning and the use of a kitchen designer may well pay for itself.

“Utilities command a great deal of attention in the kitchen design process,” says Marsh. “Commercial kitchens are second only to hospitals in the concentration of utilities and the specificity of their connections.” In a test kitchen, this can include exhaust and other ductwork, hot and cold water, sprinkler and sanitary piping, natural gas, line voltage, computer and other electronic controls, phone and other communications, and alarm wiring. “All of these components compete for the same limited spaces, in order to serve a tightly assembled grouping of appliances,” he says.

Another challenge is the technology balance between kitchen and lab. Christopher Langbein, regional sales manager, T. Hasegawa USA, Inc., Northbrook, IL, has managed the R&D process and also pilot plants. “A Culinology lab should have all the standard kitchen equipment, plus anything that can help you mimic what is done in your manufacturing plant. Depending on what you work on, a marinade tumbler, pressure cooker for canning, emulsifier, vacuum steam kettle, etc., all may be needed. A digital balance or two is also needed for accurate measuring.” He also notes that typical quality-assurance equipment is also useful. For instance, someone working on dressings could use a pH meter and a viscosity- measuring device.

Something often not thought about is storage space. “A good Culinology lab should have easy access to ingredients already in use, and other commercial ingredients as needed,” says Langbein. “This may require a significant amount of ambient, refrigerated and frozen storage space. It may be fine to run to the supermarket for some ingredients when doing initial concept work, but a good culinologist will make their applications from commercial ingredients whenever possible.”

Leave some space for customers and suppliers to work when they visit—extra desks, phone, Internet hook up, etc. Top coats, lab coats and uniforms all need storage space. Do you have room for a washer and dryer for side towels?

Finally, leave room to grow. “When designing a lab, make sure you leave enough room for new additions of equipment and personnel,” says Langbein. “No matter how much you plan for, there will always be something that will have to be added later due to oversight or cost restraints. Besides, your company and responsibilities are going to grow, aren’t they?”

John Matchuk is R&D manager and chef for Grecian Delight Foods, Elk Grove Village, IL, a manufacturer of flatbreads, meat products, dressings and sauces. He is a member of the Research Chefs Association.

Indispensable Test-Kitchen Equipment

• Refrigerator and freezer 
• Gas combi-oven, digital controls with data output 
• Convection oven 
• Conveyor pizza oven 
• Range with conventional oven and gas salamander/broiler 
• Commercial foodservice and consumer microwaves 
• Slow cooker and smoker 
• Trunnion kettle 
• Tilting steam kettle 
• Convection steamer 
• Deep fryer 
• Charbroiler 
• Fry top range and griddle 
• Exhaust hood with fire-suppression system 
• Toaster 
• Vacuum packer 
• Vacuum tumbler, table model 
• Food processors 
• Mixers of various types and sizes 
• Immersion blender 
• Clothes washer and dryer 
• Shower 
• Hot and cold food counter 
• Sandwich maker 
• Hot food dish up 
• Meat slicer 
• Dishwasher 
• Soiled dishtable with garbage disposal 
• Clean dishtable 
• Pot sink 
• Hand sinks 
• Commercial hot water heater 
• Water filter system 
• Ice water station 
• Ice machine 
• Coffee brewer 
• Scales 
• Stainless steel worktables with overshelf and drawers 
• Wall shelf 
• Pot racks 
• Shelf storage units 
• Glass-door merchandiser 
• Janitor closet with mop sink 
• Demonstration table with heat lamps and overhead mirror 
• Portable heating cabinets 

Selections taken from list of equipment used in the test kitchens at T. Hasegawa USA and Griffith Laboratories.