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Foster Frable Increase Your Value and Your Sales with Storage Solutions & Auxiliary Equipment By Foster Frable, Clevenger Frable LaVallee foster f@cfldesign.com supporting equipment beyond storage, prep, cooking, refrigeration, and ware- washing. They also need receiving desks, office furnishings, materials han- dling, storage cabinets for cleaning chemicals or flammable liquid, staff lockers, and provisions for uniform and linen storage. While these items aren't on a typical listing of kitchen equip- ment, they are readily available through companies like New Age, Channel, Lockwood, Metro, and Win-Holt. W All Foodservice Operations Need Lockers A clean secure area for staff to change clothes and store personal items is a requirement for most foodservice and hospitality facilities. In addition to being mandated by most local health depart- ments, providing these facilities is nec- essary because employees often come to work from other jobs or school, mak- ing it impossible to arrive in uniform. Locker rooms take valuable space that must be balanced with other back-of- the-house needs. In many facilities, they rank just a notch above the trash area in terms of environmental and security troubles, which can include vandalism and graffiti, odors and vermin, trash accumulation, and the sales of contra- band. Most are undersized because of space constraints and often contributing to this problem is the choice of the lock- er configuration. On the positive side, well-maintained, adequately sized, bright and cheery locker areas reinforce your customers' desire for staff's well-being. Regardless of good intentions, few facil- ities provide anything close to these objectives, which makes no logical sense. Common lockers are steel cabinets 36 FEDA News & Views hen opening or renovating a new food facility, your cus- tomers need a wide range of measuring 12 inches or 15 inches wide and 5 feet high, similar to those used in schools and gyms. Half lockers are a much more efficient arrangement that allow twice the capacity in the same area. Half or two-person lockers provide two 7.5-inch-wide and 54-inch-high sec- tions and two 9-inch-high and 15-inch- wide storage areas above for items like hats, books, boots, etc. The rise in high-value cell phones and personal electronics has led locker man- ufacturers to offer smaller mail-box- sized lockers that can be built into a wall. Lockers also are expanding beyond traditional painted metal into plastic and fiberglass. These are ideal in areas with high humidity or where they are subject to damage from carts, racks, and hand trucks. Some of the plastic lockers are made from 100 percent recycled mate- rials, offering a green option for your customers focused on environmental concerns. What if There is No Room for Traditional Lockers? Employee areas can be more effi- ciently arranged by installing lock- ers along service corridors and providing chang- ing areas in toilet rooms. With lockers in more public areas, security is enhanced and vandal- ism is substantially reduced. Where space is not available for an adequate supply of lockers, your customers may replace them with special nylon gar- ment bags or hanging lockers. These sys- tems have been popular in casinos, pris- ons, and hospitals for 20 years. While often associated with large high-volume operations, they can offer the same ben- efits as much smaller facilities. A hanging locker system usually oper- ates as follows: An individual lockable nylon garment bag is picked up by each employee when they begin their shift. A clean uniform can be attached to the outside of the bag on a built-in hook or inside the bag if there is no attendant. (A major hanging locker supplier in our industry is HBD/Pacific Concepts.) The employee takes the bag to a changing continued on page 38 "Catering, delivery, and roomservice areas all need organized storage areas like these from Intermetro in a modern efficient kitchen," says Foster, adding that providing stor- age for employees' belong- ings is also a necessity in many foodservice facilities. "I get a lot of questions from architects and restau- rant operators about lock- ers and uniform handling. Every restaurant and food operation must have them. Some also have uniform exchange lockers from a laundry service."