On Wednesday 17 June 2020, three leading FCSI The Americas Professional member consultants and Scott Heim, president, Ventless Solutions, The Middleby Corporation met for a virtual roundtable to discuss ventless innovation in stadia foodservice.
Chaired by Michael Jones of FCSI’s Foodservice Consultant magazine, the panel saw experienced consultants and stadia foodservice experts Kristin Sedej FCSI, Chris Bigelow FCSI and William Caruso FFCSI, chair of FCSI Worldwide, address how ventless technology is impacting on the sector and helping operators to utilize previously ‘dead’ spaces for foodservice settings.
You can watch the video of the roundtable below:
The game-changer
“Post-Covid, the possibility for ventless technology is unlimited. The technology lends itself to creating more points of service and more small entertainment zone opportunities, both inside and outside of stadiums and arenas. And that’s critically important in defining both profitability and also safety and security, health-wise,” says Caruso.
“The days of the self-serve buffet are toast. They’re gone. So, everything we do is going to be chef or server handing the food to the customer. If you get rid of the traditional buffet you can still have attractive display cooking [with ventless], right in front of the customer, and that’s something that will drive sales,” says Bigelow.
“One of the things we’re going to see in areas of future expansion is in cost savings. For us to continue to keep evolving we have to do two things. Number one, we have to look at long-term costs associated. Number two is the production thru-put. We are limited to size and function and the amount of KWs we can put through. So, there are limitations, but [ventless] is a game-changer, no doubt,” says Sedej.
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