FDP, Arlington ISD Partner on Transformative Renovations

In his time working in educational foodservice, David Lewis has worked with a lot of kitchen designers. “We all know that sometimes what the customer says isn’t truly what they want, and oftentimes it’s hard to articulate what your vision really is,” says Lewis, the executive director of food and nutrition services at Arlington Independent School District in Arlington, Texas.

Having the opportunity to work with Foodservice Design Professionals, a design firm led by CEO Melissa Moore and President Lance Brooks, has helped put Arlington ISD on a path to smoother, more efficient foodservice operations. FDP is based primarily in Dallas and Houston, with remote locations in San Antonio, Tucson, Ariz., and Oklahoma City.

“Mr. Brooks is able to go way beyond what you’re telling him and really capture your vision,” Lewis says. “Working with other designers, there are times when they will say, ‘You know, David, with the shape of the kitchen space that we have, or the square footage, we can’t do what you want. I never heard that from FDP. … Mr. Brooks’ ability to create within the space that is given is just incredible. He is unmatched in a field of very good designers.”

Arlington ISD comprises 76 schools from pre-K through 12th grade, and Lewis has worked with Brooks and his team at FDP on more than a dozen different projects, including facility assessments and full renovations of existing facilities. The most recent renovation was at Bailey Junior High School, completed in November 2024.

An offset back wall at Bailey Junior High School blocks views into the production kitchen while creating entries on either side without doors.

Smooth Operations

Built in 1968, the original 1,200-square-foot kitchen and two-line servery at Bailey was “undersized and overworked,” Brooks says. “Mr. Lewis didn’t have the production capacity to accommodate the number of kids they were trying to feed, and he wasn’t able to showcase the food because it was behind a big brick wall. To talk about efficiencies, there was nothing efficient about it. It was way too small and people were on top of each other.”

A building expansion made way for a new 7,000-square-foot kitchen and five serving lines. “Mr. Lewis wanted an open concept so the students could go to whatever line they want and know the menu before they get into that area,” Brooks says. “On the hot food wells, we did a stone overshelf that’s hot so he could maximize his vertical capacity to use it for holding food or have some self-service options. We did the same thing over his cold pans with a refrigerated stone top.”

In the back-of-house, FDP strategically laid out the kitchen to maximize efficiency and eliminate the cross traffic and bottlenecks that previously plagued staff. “The prep areas are located directly next to the cooler, so if I’m working prep, I only have two steps to get to the cooler, and if I’m in production, that’s next to the freezer,” Brooks says. “Storage is in the back; cook, prep and bake is in the middle; the servery is last, so there is a systematic flow of the product. They’re not having to circle around each other or walk around a 20-foot-wall to go to the servery like before.”

Lewis can attest that the new design has made operations much smoother. “The movement throughout our kitchens is excellent,” he says. “And I don’t want people on the service line to have to come back into the kitchen to refill the service line, so we now have pass-thrus from the kitchen.” With efficiency in mind, FDP also specified merchandising doors on the walk-in cooler. “So if (the staff) is doing prep work, they have three glass doors and they can work out of those,” Brooks says. Lewis can attest this feature is a staff favorite. “Sometimes you don’t need to actually walk in the cooler; you just need to be able to grab something quickly,” Lewis says.

Lewis also was pleased with how FDP balanced his requests when it came to sightlines, entries and exits. “We are not doing display-style cooking in our kitchens, so I do not want people in our service line to be able to see into the kitchen,” he says. “But I wanted to do that without having doors. So a very unique thing Mr. Brooks did at Bailey is he actually pushed a wall out about five feet as a creative way to create entries on either side without doors, instead of having a flat wall where you see the entry directly into the kitchen.”

Since the debut of Bailey’s new kitchen, Lewis says he has seen an increase in student engagement. “Breakfast participation is up 6.1% and lunch by 6%, showing how improvements in our facilities can directly benefit our students,” Lewis says.

Curved counters at Thornton Elementary School create a more approachable design than straight stainless. Drop-down pendant lights complete the look.

Approachable Design

Two other recent renovations that FDP designed for Arlington ISD include Berry Elementary School and Thornton Elementary School, originally built in 1955 and 1956, respectively. The new foodservice facilities made their debut for the 2023-2024 school year.

One request Lewis had for FDP was to avoid straight lines and exposed metal, which he feels can look institutional. “So much of the time you walk up to a service line and it’s going to be straight stainless steel really pushing at you. I’m always thinking, how can we soften that and really create movement with a traditionally straight piece of equipment?” he says. At Thornton, Lewis appreciates how FDP integrated curves into the design. “We have three lines that traditionally would be very straight, but the stonework that goes around them and how they placed the lines on a slight diagonal from each other really created a neat curvature,” Lewis says. “We also have these drop-down pendant lights above that follow along the lines and it’s a really great look.”

The foodservice lines at Berry feature fun lighting elements that have gone over well with students. “We did a full-radius counter with lights that can change color whenever you want,” Brooks says. “So for the littles, if there’s a school spirit day, they can change the colors of the lights that day. It just gives them an opportunity to get engaged and see something new.” Lewis says his staff also likes to change the colors seasonally. “We can do more of a purplish-black for Halloween, or an orange and white headed into fall,” he says.

Counters with lights that change colors keep students engaged at Berry Elementary School.

Future Forward

Pending bond approvals, Lewis hopes Arlington ISD is able to renovate the original kitchens at several other schools in the future. However, Lewis says he doesn’t always have a say in what architect and kitchen designer the district hires for each project. Brooks and his team at FDP are currently working on creating written standards for Lewis to bring to the table for future projects. “He is creating standards for what we want in our designs for a future elementary kitchen, junior high kitchen and so forth, not just in equipment but how we want things to look and function,” Lewis says. “Where it’s difficult for me to put what we need and want into the right language, he is able to write that into specs for other designers so they will then be able to understand our vision.”