I wasn’t even supposed to be there. A last-minute substitution landed me at the 2025 Menus of Change Leadership Summit, co-hosted by the Culinary Institute of America and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
I walked into a conference packed with chefs, dietitians, agricultural scientists, and environmental researchers — but couldn’t find a single foodservice design consultant. That absence struck me, because the recommendations coming out of this forum will re-shape the spaces consultants are asked to design for years to come.
From protein flip to kitchen flip
Three themes dominated the summit, and each one has direct design ramifications:
- Protein portfolios are flipping. A paradigm shift in how proteins are positioned in foodservice is taking place. This means supporting the health of diners in an environmentally sustainable way that still provides the flavor profiles consumers demand. Discussions were held on how blended animal and plant proteins enhance meals and our health, new designs of appetizing plant forward menus, and addressing environmental issues by rebalancing the foods on our plate. These shifts will likely balloon the volume (and perishability) of produce. Designers may need to develop new food storage solutions in the kitchen and rethink the functionality of serveries.
- Waste is now an ingredient. One third of all food produced is wasted. Stricter food waste targets call for operators to repurpose trim and leftovers into second-life menu items. This means consultants will need to learn how to prevent food waste, implement changes in process to reduce waste, and incorporate equipment strategies for both cooking and holding prepared food at serving temperature.
- Ethical and value-based sourcing of animal proteins is the new baseline. Sourcing from smaller farms or those that implement regenerative farming often means fluctuating supply and therefore will require flexibility in menu design. Production zones with versatile equipment that can toggle between wet- and dry-heat applications keep menus agile.
The value consultants can add — if part of the conversation
Consultants are already fluent in flow, capacity, and code compliance. What’s missing is a seat at the policy-and-menu table where those flows are first imagined. Their presence would:
- Translate aspiration into square footage. Chefs may declare “50% plant-based,” but only a consultant can model the refrigeration, prep, and exhaust implications of that decision.
- Prevent over-engineering. One summit session warned against “equipment graveyards” created when operators chase every trend. A consultant can right-size the fleet and advocate for multi-use platforms that reduce both cap-ex and utility loads.
- Bring financial realism. Sustainability isn’t achieved unless throughput and labor contribute. Consultants can run the ROI scenarios that convince CFOs a lower-carbon menu is also a lower-cost one.
In short, consultants bridge the ideal and the operational. But they can’t contribute if they’re not in the room.
See you in Hyde Park, 2026
The next Menus of Change summit is scheduled for June 2-4, 2026, in Hyde Park, NY. I plan to be there — this time by design, not by serendipity — and I hope to see a contingent of FCSI professionals. Imagine the collective impact if even a dozen consultants injected pragmatic design insight into discussions on regenerative agriculture or the “protein flip.”
Menus are changing whether we engage or not. Let’s make sure the kitchens we create are ready.
Gene Doerr is director of consultant services, Unox
