How AdventHealth Apopka Offers Multiple Foodservice Options in Minimum Space

AdventHealth-Apopka-1

When AdventHealth Apopka, Apopka, Fla., planned to upgrade its services, it didn’t just redecorate; it rebuilt the facility from the ground up. Started in early 2015, the brand-new, state-of-the-art acute care facility, previously named Florida Hospital Apopka, was ready to open by December ’17. And while much of the focus was on medical equipment, hospital administrators had put enough thought into their foodservice plans to mention in press releases that they were ready to keep patients, family members, and visitors well-nourished.

 

Overcoming Challenges

The project faced challenges of both time and space. Raymond Moe, Senior Project Manager with AdventHealth, was responsible for overseeing the entire project. He recalls, “The time requirement for rebuilding was strenuous, as the team was working with an extremely aggressive schedule to meet the demand and needs of providing healthcare to the community.” Moe explains that reducing the project transition period helped them make the schedule. To do this, they allowed the foodservice team to come in before the facility was ready to open, to fire up the new equipment and get acclimated to it and the work area.

William Inman, President of Inman Foodservices Group, Nashville, Tenn., which led the foodservice design portion of the project, relates that he and his design team “have the horsepower to take on any size project and schedule. We attended more meetings than usual, to get quicker approvals and decisions. It was a well-orchestrated project with the owners’ full commitment to expedite decisions.”

Asked about the vision for the overall design, Moe notes that he drew inspiration from the fact that Apopka is known as the foliage capital of the world, and he worked to pull the calmness of a greenhouse into the building. Establishing that sense of calmness in the foodservice areas fell to Inman and his team. Inman explains that the hospital wanted to meet the needs of staff on lunch breaks, but also requested a restaurant-style dining area with wait staff, where visitors could relax. Of course, they also had to offer room service for all the patients, but without using any of the circulation space specified by the architect.

Inman recalls, “It was tricky, designing a facility that provided everything requested in an efficient way without increasing the square footage and equipment cost.” Inman accomplished this by creating an area that included a 2,760-sq.-ft. Food Court that could operate as a self-serve, retail café, to meet the needs of those on short breaks or just looking for a quick meal, but that also could prepare food for the adjacent 2,900-sq.-ft. sit-down restaurant. This Food Court includes multiple grab-n-go displays, coffee station, short-order cook station/grill, pizza and pasta area, entrée station, self-serve beverages, and a soup, salad, and dessert island bar. An order station in the restaurant area allows wait staff to place orders with the short-order area in the Food Court. Finally, the team created the 4,940-sq.-ft. main kitchen to both support the Food Court as needed and to supply room service for patients.

AdventHealth Apopka

A large beverage cooler caters to on-the-go guests while a centrally located salad/deli bar keeps fresh menu options front and center.

“We also always have to be conscious of staffing in the design of all our projects,” Inman says. “By locating the walk-in closer to the prep areas, we minimize steps taken by staff to and from the coolers and freezer. Flow from storage through prep, cook, staging and serving (both patient and retail), if not designed efficiently, can increase not only labor but equipment needs. Quick access to walk-ins eliminated the need for multiple reach-ins throughout the prep and cooking areas.”

AdventHealth Apopka

What’s a servery without the dancing flames of a hearth oven? Employees prepare high-quality pizzas, toasty subs, and more menu favorites in the oven.

Inman continues, “Working with the architect early in the planning and design phase, and having an architect that allows you to have input into the placement of the kitchen and dining room as it relates to the overall design of the facility, makes for a successful project and an efficient facility that meets and exceeds the owners’ expectations.”

As it turned out, creating multiple ways to serve staff, visitors, and guests became Inman’s favorite part of the project. He relates, “It was very important to the hospital administration and to the designers to provide an area that would allow staff, visitors, and guests to relax, unwind, and get away from the sometimes stressful and emotional aspects of a healthcare facility. Staff can pre-order from their computers, and both staff and visitors can pre-order from a kiosk in the entrance to the Food Court and pick up their food at a pick-up station. The seating area for the Food Court includes booths, bar-height counter seating, four tops and two tops. The restaurant-style dining area has wait staff to take guests’ orders, and there is an outside dining area with covered tables and beautiful landscaping.”

Grab-n-go displays and multiple POS stations help keep traffic moving in the Food Court. It is the restaurant area that allows people to slow down. Inman relates that, in addition to wait staff and nicer seating, the restaurant area is differentiated by the use of china, while disposable ware is used in the Food Court.

 

The Right Stuff

No matter how lovely the design, how serene the surroundings, or how efficient the flow, eventually, you have to prepare and serve food. Ranging from prep to serving to cleanup, the selection of foodservice equipment is a key element of reaching an operation’s objectives. Inman is enthusiastic about everything they’ve installed, but identifies some of the equipment that he considers most important to the facility’s successful operation.

AdventHealth Apopka

Reliable and easy to use, the bean-to-cup machine at the coffee station equips employees with the ability to produce high-end specialty beverages.

Using a combination of convection heat, impingement air, and microwave energy, the Merrychef e4 high-speed oven can prepare foods up to 15 times faster than conventional ovens. Inman notes, “Used in both the room service area and short-order grill, this oven allows for quickly cooking food to the perfect texture, moisture, and flavor. The e4 features six 10-minute cooking stages and advanced technology to produce quality results at top speeds. This allows you to prepare and cook food as it is ordered, which will reduce waste and costs.”

AdventHealth Apopka

Creating a relaxing atmosphere for visitors was an important part of the project, designers say.

The Wood Stone pizza oven in the Food Court offers visual appeal, with its dancing flames, but it also produces high-quality pizza, toasty subs, and a variety of other products. The WMF 1500 S is a reliable, user-friendly espresso/cappuccino maker that offers an array of specialties that are consistently high quality with an excellent price-performance ratio.

In the kitchen, Inman points to the Halton exhaust hoods, stating, “This demand-controlled ventilation system is really flexible. Combined with Capture Jet technology, these hoods can save up to 50% in galley energy consumption.” He also mentions the E-Control Systems monitors in the walk-ins, which provide constant temperature monitoring.

So, working together, hospital personnel, architects, and foodservice professionals have created an array of dining options that fit both the space available and the foodservice needs of the new hospital. Moe states, “The foodservice component is a critical part of the healing process. This design has allowed us to create an experience that embraces service and quality for spectacular meals.”

AdventHealth Apopka


Apopka, Fla.

Type of Facility: Acute care hospital

No. of Beds: 120

Opened:  December 13, 2017

No. of Seats: 120

Hours of Operation: M-F, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; holidays and weekends, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Station Sampler: Short-Order Grill, Pizza/Pasta, Grab & Go, Entrée, Soup/ Salad/Dessert, Beverages

Average Check: $5.16

Cost of Project: $207 million project costs, including $147 million construction cost and FS equipment budget of $1.6 million

Annual Sales: $816,570

AdventHealth: June Flowers, MS, RD, LD/N, Nutrition Services Director; Raymond Moe, Senior Project Manager, Office of Design and Construction

Foodservice Design: William Inman, Principal-Design Consultant; Frank Flowers, Project Mgr.; John Caldwell, Construction Project Mgr., Inman Foodservices Group, Nashville, Tenn.

Interior Design/Architect: Earl Swensson, Associates Interior Design, Nashville, Tenn.

Equipment Vendor/Installer: Clark Food Service Equipment, Bradenton, Fla.

Fabricator: Florida Stainless Fabricators, Oviedo, Fla.

 

EQUIPMENT


AdventHealth Apopka

WAIT STATION

  • Halton VFD control panel w/enclosure box
  • Manitowoc/Welbilt ice storage bin, cube ice maker
  • Delfield/Welbilt upright refrig., mobile dipping cabinet, u/c freezer
  • AllPoints dipper well assembly

GRAB-N-GO

  • Structural Concepts refrig. display case
  • Kolpak/Welbilt grab-n-go cooler, shelving, glass doors, blower coil
  • Metro/Ali Group refrig. shelving

SHORT ORDER/COOK/GRILL

  • Delfield/Welbilt 3-well hot food unit, 2-well hot/cold food unit, 3-well hot/ cold food unit, freezers, refrig. equipment stand, worktop refrig.
  • Metro/Ali Group mobile dish dolly
  • Hatco conveyor toaster
  • Dormont wheel position devices
  • Merrychef/Welbilt high-speed oven
  • Garland/Welbilt griddle, charbroiler
  • Globe/Middleby panini press

PIZZA/PASTA

  • Delfield/Welbilt refrig. pizza prep unit, 2-well hot/cold food unit
  • Halton exhaust hood
  • Wood Stone pizza oven
  • Hatco heated shelf

PICK-UP/COFFEE/PASTRY

  • San Jamar cup dispenser
  • WMF espresso/cappuccino maker
  • Structural Concepts refrig./ dry display case
  • Delfield/Welbilt drop-in ice station, u/c freezer, salad top refrig., u/c refrig.
  • Hamilton Beach blenders

DELI/SOUP/SALAD/DESSERT

  • Delfield/Welbilt refrig. cold pans
  • Infinity drop-in hand sink
  • Wells/Middleby drop-in soup wells

CONDIMENTS

  • Hatco conveyor toaster
  • Server condiment station
  • San Jamar cup dispenser, napkin dispenser

BEVERAGES

  • San Jamar cup dispensers
  • Manitowoc/Welbilt cube ice maker

ENTRÉE

  • Vollrath bakery case
  • Delfield/Welbilt 3-well hot food unit, roll-in hot box
  • Hatco toaster

DRY STORAGE/NON-FOOD/ PAPER STORAGE

  • Metro/Ali Group can rack with casters, dry storage track shelving, dry storage shelving, mobile dish dolly

CATERING PREP

  • InSinkErator/Emerson disposer w/control
  • T&S Brass pre-rinse unit
  • Globe/Middleby slicer
  • BUNN hot water dispenser
  • Robot Coupe food processor

KITCHEN-PREP

  • Delfield/Welbilt freezer
  • Metro/Ali Group mobile heater/proofer
  • Globe/Middleby 20-qt. mixer
  • Rubbermaid mobile ingredient bins

KITCHEN-COOK

  • Kolpak/Welbilt remote condensing unit
  • Halton exhaust hood, VFD control panels w/enclosure boxes
  • Cleveland/Welbilt 40-gal. tilt skillet, 40-gal. tilt kettle
  • Garland/Welbilt hot top w/oven, double convection oven, 6-burner range, griddle, charbroiler
  • Dormont wheel position devices
  • T&S Brass hose reel w/mixing cabinet
  • Convotherm/Welbilt combi oven, double combi oven
  • Merrychef/Welbilt high-speed ovens
  • Globe/Middleby panini press
  • Delfield work-top refrig., u/c refrig., refrig. sandwich unit, mobile 4-well hot food unit, freezer, refrig. equipment stand
  • Hatco conveyor toaster, heat lamp
  • Dinex/Carlisle mobile heated plate dispensers
  • Advanced Tabco ticket minder

GENERAL COOLER/FREEZER

  • Kolpak/Welbilt cooler/freezer assembly, cooler/freezer glass doors, blower coils

ROOM SERVICE

  • Halton M.A.R.V.E.L. control panel
  • Metro/Ali Group mobile starter station, mobile dish cart
  • Dinex/Carlisle mobile tray dispenser, base activator, mobile dome drying rack
  • Manitowoc/Welbilt cube ice maker, ice storage bin
  • FWE mobile tray delivery cart
  • Structural Concepts grab-n-go refrig.

POT/WARE/CART WASH

  • T&S Brass hose reel w/mixing cabinet, pre-rinse unit, ceiling-mounted hose reel
  • InSinkErator/Emerson disposer w/controls
  • Power Soak/Unified Brands pot/pan wash
  • Metro/Ali Group mobile pot/pan rack
  • Hobart/ITW FEG flight-type dishmachine, pulper/extractor
  • Halton condensation hood
  • Aerowerks soiled dish table w/rollers
  • FWE soiled tray return cart

BUS STATION

  • T&S Brass pre-rinse unit
  • FWE soiled transport cart
  • InSinkErator/Emerson disposer w/controls

THROUGHOUT

  • Custom counters, tables, shelves, stands, sinks
  • Amana/Ali Group microwave ovens
  • Hubert display units
  • IMC Teddy s/s floor troughs w/grates, hand sinks
  • Premier food shields w/lights, food shields w/lights & heat lamps
  • Ansul fire suppression systems

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