From The Field - Beth Lorenzini

We’re delighted that the timing worked out so that we can bring you the National Restaurant Association 2013 Kitchen Innovations in this at-show issue. The KIs are among my favorite topics to cover. I had a great conversation with program consultant Alan Plassche and our feature intro on page 58 talks about how KIs through the years have in turn inspired... »

I first saw the term “Mass Customization” in The Experience Economy (B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1999). The book explores how businesses can shift what they sell from commodity (sold on lowest price) to experience (charge a premium). Starbucks is a great example. You can sell coffee beans as a commodity.... »

I can’t overstate the value of an industry trade show. Weeks in advance, we’re plotting show floor strategies like generals, looking down the road to what stories we have coming up and sending colleagues on fact-finding missions. How wonderful to have 500 exhibitors at our disposal at The NAFEM Show; talk about efficiency! I charged Janice Cha with... »

Our industry’s adoption rate of high-efficiency gas fryers is a pretty dismal 10%, according to David Zabrowski, director of engineering at The Food Service Technology Center, San Ramon, Calif. The FSTC and Southern California Gas Co., Downey, Calif., are on a mission to change that percentage by changing perceptions. Next month (March 12 at SoCalGas, March... »

What a pleasure it’s been to read the profiles of our six 2013 FER Management Excellence Award winners. »

When we had our all-staff come-together to hammer out the 2013 editorial calendar last June, we also put our heads together to discuss what we’d like to see in an FER redesign. It’s been a few years since our last makeover, and it was time to stop and ask, how can we best deliver information to you? Everyone brought samples of publications they liked and we... »

The Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA) gathered for its fall conference in beautiful Colorado Springs in September, and over breakfast one morning we all learned some sobering facts. During the next five years, more than a million veterans returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan will have trouble finding jobs. The U.S.... »

I had the good fortune to hear a great story—over cocktails, of course—at the opening reception of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company Food Service Technology Center’s 25th Anniversary Silver & Beyond event. More than 200 friends and colleagues from every channel of the hospitality industry gathered in August to celebrate this exceptional... »

At the 11th hour, our excellent unit design article, which was all laid out and printer-ready, fell through. The chain’s PR department ultimately determined information on its new prototype was too new to be publicized. We honored the request to pull the story, despite how late it arrived in the process. And so Janice Cha, our contributing editor, started... »

In early June, our staff gathered at my house for what I called the Editorial Planning Powwow. We needed all hands on deck to hash out not only the equipment topics we want to cover in Foodservice Equipment Reports in 2013, but also the new features and departments we want to see when we launch our redesign in December. We had all the usual suspects,... »

In April I had the pleasure of attending the FCSI The Americas Conference in Kansas City, Mo. In one of the sessions, consultants, allied members, students and the media had an open discussion about “what keeps you up at night?” Succession planning came up pretty early in the conversation. In our industry, we tend to stick around for decades! And why not;... »