No end to surprises in foodservice

When I joined the staff at FoodService Director in the spring of 2015, I couldn’t believe how much there was to learn about the intricacies of the industry. My past experience, from kindergarten to my college days to on-the-job meals, would lead me to believe that noncommercial dining was a kind of automated process—an amenity that’s expected, and one you only become aware of if something goes wrong.

But as with my own household chores, there are no magical elves making sure the business of feeding students, seniors and hospital patients is done, and done well. Foodservice directors have intricate, multifaceted jobs, and while each segment has its own set of pain points, budgets and labor are top of mind for everyone.

After a year of chatting with FSDs, attending conferences and  writing stories—and, yes, eating—I was starting to feel confident in my grasp of the industry. (At least, I could tell a Smart Snack from a dumb one.) But a surprise was waiting for me during a roundtable chat with some healthcare operators this summer, in the form of corrugated cardboard.

Yes, cardboard. How, you might ask, is it possible for plain old corrugated cardboard boxes, a giant part of our everyday lives, to be a major pain point? But when just one operator mentioned the topic, the rest chimed in excitedly around the table, like dominoes falling, as my fellow FoodService Director editors and I sat and listened, dumbstruck. How could we have been so out of the loop on something so important to our readers?

Related:Hospital FSDs fighting a battle against corrugated cardboard

This moment was a great reminder about the importance of asking questions and continuing to learn on your feet and adapt. In our Operations section this month, you’ll find a story about teaching employees to move up the ladder—a process that’s important for FSDs to prioritize in their own careers, too. In our Menu section, we’re featuring innovative coffee concepts—a hot topic for any operator serving customers over the age of 15—including a primer on nitro coffee, the biggest thing in caffeine since the portable mug.

At FoodService Director, we always want to stay on top of the issues that matter most to you, our readers, and that’s part of what keeps me excited to continue learning about this industry. So if there’s something offbeat or unexpected that’s causing you headaches and driving you crazy, we want to know—and help you solve it. (If you could recommend any magical elves to clean my tub and do my ironing, I would appreciate that as well.)