Silver Aspen, Bistro and Barista at Platte Valley Medical Center, Brighton, Colo.

By Donna Boss, Contributing Editor -- Foodservice Equipment and Supplies, 2/1/2008

When the original Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, Colo., grew to exceed capacity, administrators had to decide whether to expand the facility or find a new location. Due to the rapidly growing population of Brighton, located 20 miles northeast of Denver, they decided to relocate the medical center so it, too, could grow to accommodate the needs of the community. In July 2007, the doors to the new medical center opened, providing a contemporary environment with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and views of nearby Barr Lake and Colorado's majestic mountain ranges.

"The medical center provides a hotel environment and an ambiance of healing and warmth," says Katie Boemecke, director of nutrition services. Boemecke joined the medical center's staff in 2000 following a career in long-term care. She was part of the design from the beginning.

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The $138 million replacement campus sits on a 50-acre "Greenfield" site that consists of a 217,000-square-foot, 98-bed hospital that opened in July and 55,000-square-feet of space for a medical office building with required parking spaces. In the future, the campus may accommodate a 300-bed hospital and three medical office buildings. The hospital claims to have one of the country's most advanced medical imaging departments with the highest combined levels of CT scanning and MRI imaging technology. It is one of few hospitals capable of wirelessly monitoring patients' vital information from anywhere within the facility due to a fully integrated wireless system.

"In the Silver Aspen Bistro and Barista, we wanted to get away from an institutional feel that we certainly had in the old facility," Boemecke says. "We were in the basement at the other facility, so to be on the main floor is a huge, positive change for the kitchen and hospital staff who worked in the old facility." The new building houses a 1,980-square-foot back-of-house kitchen, a 465- square-foot dishroom and a 1,730-square-foot front-of-house servery designed in a marketplace style. The dining room seats 72 persons indoors and 25 outdoors.

"I think the facility is awesome, though I didn't contribute to the original design," says Mike Anderson, chef supervisor, who came to the medical center in 2006 when the design was already underway. Prior to this position, Anderson spent the previous 18 years serving as executive chef at Presbyterian/St. Luke's hospital in downtown Denver. Anderson assisted in the move from the old to the new facility.

A glass wall separates the bistro's dining area from the three-story, 60-foot-high atrium lobby. Here, soft leather couches and chairs with treated fabric surround an active fireplace and glass-etched donor wall. Granite floors bring the design elements together. According to Gail Burns, principal and senior interior designer at WHR Architects, organic forms, curvilinear shapes and other design elements, as well as materials such as local limestone at the fireplace and granite found in the lobby reoccur throughout the hospital. Other organic forms in the lobby are provided by boulders that Burns and her team found at a local boulder yard. "The color palette captures Colorado's blue sky, purple reflections off the mountains, green trees, golds from aspen trees, and red rocks and boulders," Burns says.

"The corridor linking the lobby to the administrative offices is made of flamed and honed granite," Burns says. "Inside, maplewood columns are made with granite edges to help protect the corners. Vinyl material covers oval columns."

Each floor contains healing art displays. A healing garden between the hospital and office building includes a water feature and native landscaping. A light beacon rises far above the hospital, calling attention to the facility from the highway.

According to the interior designers, special attention was paid to the owner's requests to use locally appropriate materials, as well as design simple elegance to create feelings of a warm, welcoming and comfortable atmosphere to support Platte Valley's commitment to patient-family-centered care. The project was budget-driven, so costs were considered at every step.

In the Silver Aspen Bistro and Barista, special attention was paid to finishes, including stainless steel, glass, tile, granite countertops, wood grain plastic laminate on the counter fronts, ceramic tiles on the walls and porcelain tile flooring. "The oval shapes found throughout the hospital are used as soffits over each station to designate the food themes," Burns says.

"Nearly 10 percent to 15 percent of the foodservice equipment is re-used from the previous facility," says foodservice consultant Lona Homersham, project director, Ricca Newmark Design. "Extra care was needed to lay out the kitchen so all the equipment would fit properly and the staff could use it efficiently. The money saved from re-using existing equipment provided more opportunities for upgrades in the servery such as durable granite countertops."

At one end of the bistro, the Barista area features hot and cold coffees and other beverages. A display case holds muffins and scones that staff bake in the back-of-the-house kitchen. "When we created the Barista area, we didn't have an ice maker," Boemecke recalls. "Now, we have a rolling ice cart vs. a machine, which works out best for us."

Staff assist customers at this station, the Grille and Deli, while customers serve themselves at stations simply titled Pizza, Grab N Go, Desserts, Salads and Soups, and Beverages. The station titled Chef 's Plate is selfserve or it can be transitioned into a display cooking station. "The servery is designed to have all venues open at once or it can be closed down and the staff and visitors can order from the Deli, Grille and Barista stations after hours," Homersham says.

The second station, Deli, holds cutting boards and a cold rail so staff can assemble sandwich ingredients to order.

At the Grille, a charbroiler sizzles burgers, chicken and fish. Two deep fryers prepare homemade tortilla chips, french fries, sweet potato fries and onion rings. A griddle heats omelets, pancakes, french toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as various chef 's specials. The station also contains refrigerated drawers, two hot wells and a deck heated from below and above by lamps. The deck holds wrapped burgers that are made continuously during busy traffic periods. A stacked refrigerator/freezer contains ingredients that staff use during production.

The fourth station, Chef's Plate, features a menu that changes daily. Three heated wells hold the chef's special of the day. "This is the station where I get to be creative," Anderson says. "We prepare made-to-order chicken Caesar salads, shrimp scampi, burritos and beef or shrimp noodle bowls in front of customers. We're using butane portable burners so we don't need hoods. But the smell of garlic works its way to the hospital entrance to entice customers to come into the café."

The Pizza station features a gas-fired pizza oven that becomes the centerpiece of the servery. In addition to baking pizzas, the oven also bakes ravioli and shrimp and scallop penne casserette. The station holds a pizza prep counter with an undercounter refrigerator and holder on top for pizza toppings and a proofing box for pre-made dough. The station also contains a panini grill and three heated decks for displaying pizza and calzones. At Grab N Go, a display cooler that is part of a walk-in cooler in the kitchen holds a variety of beverages, sandwiches, desserts, sushi, salads and boxed lunches. "Display shelves are loaded from inside the walk-in," Homersham says. The Beverages station contains ice dispensers and hot and cold drink dispensers.

In the center of the servery, a salad bar holds a selection of fresh vegetables, pre-made salads and other ingredients. During the winter, heat wells hold two soups; in the summer, only one soup is available.

At the dessert station, customers can feast their eyes on cakes, pies and cookies. A display counter with tiered glass shelves and glass food shields holds the sweets. Staff check out customers from mobile cashier stations that can be moved into the servery when it is closed. "I didn't anticipate how much cash flow we'd be handling in the new facility," Boemecke says. "In the old facility, cash flow was minimal. We've had to change all our procedures to accommodate the amount of money coming in.

Another challenge is how to handle the cashier stations themselves. When metal gates come down to lock the stations on the non-public side of the gates, cashier stations are rolled into the servery. But, cash registers always have to be plugged into an electrical outlet, which is on the public side. I wish we would have seen that earlier on in the design process."

In the 1,980-square-foot back-of-the-house area, staff store meat, produce and beverages in walk-in coolers. An upright freezer is connected to the walk-in that stores the meat and dry storage. The beverage walk-in backs up to the servery, so staff can stock it as needed from the back rather than walking through the servery to stock it from the front.

The only "tight" space is a small, 465-square-foot dishroom in the back of the kitchen, according to Homersham. The room fits in between the kitchen and servery. "We didn't want to take any more space from the servery, so we came up with a design for a tray conveyor system rather than a tray accumulator system."

In the cold prep area, stainlesssteel worktables and sinks support staff as they open containers with cut vegetables and other ingredients. "We buy prepared vegetables to cut down on waste and labor costs," Anderson says. A small food processor sits on a counter.

In the hot production section, a combi oven, Anderson's favorite piece of equipment, cooks chicken breasts and fish, and roasts pork and beef. An adjacent convection oven produces baked bacon, sausage, breads, muffins and scones. A double-deck steamer evenly heats rice, fresh vegetables, sauces and soups. "We bring these items up to temperature and place them directly in the steam table, which saves us a pot or two to wash," Anderson says. In the future, Anderson hopes to add two 20-gallon steam kettles to the equipment mix so the staff can make soups from scratch.

A small tilting skillet sits between the steamer and convection oven. Staff use this for heating soups, stews and chili, and to deep-fry.

The production area also includes a floor stand mixer for making dough and fresh mashed potatoes for the servery and room service.

"This is such a welcome contrast to the old facility," Boemecke says. "We've been doing room service since 2000, but we had a make-shift setup built from the old trayline to accommodate room service. Everything was very discombobulated."

Patients can order room service from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. "We've definitely seen an increase in customer satisfaction scores," Boemecke says. "Yes, it is more laborintensive, but we're small enough that we can be efficient in other areas to make up the difference in costs."

The other side of the kitchen contains custom-made equipment for room service. A small prep area allows staff to assemble ingredients for the hot line, which includes a six-burner range for sautéing vegetables, boiling water for pasta and heating sauces. A salamander hovers above the stove to melt a cheese topping over macaroni and cheese and other casseroles.

A flat top sitting next to the range allows staff to make breakfast items such as omelets, and lunch items such as burgers and chicken fajitas. During busy periods in the servery, this flat top serves as a backup for the Grille. Refrigerated drawers underneath allow cooks to store ingredients.

A fryer also contributes to the room service selections. An upright refrigerator/freezer completes the line.

Across an aisle from the hot line, a four-well steam table pan holds all the sauces used in room service, as well as vegetables and mashed potatoes. An adjacent cold rail holds ingredients for breakfast production. A toaster sits on the counter.

On the opposite side of the table, staff plate items onto a heat-on-demand tray setup. A nearby reach-in refrigerator holds salads for the trays.

"Because the design process was so thorough, and we started so early, we could work around room service challenges such as placement of equipment to maximize productivity," Boemecke says. "The main challenges were minimal. We had to develop new job descriptions and provide training to adapt to a larger work volume."

Emphasizing that the foodservice department underwent the largest, most dramatic physical transformation, Boemecke says the administration offers support, which helps reduce the stress that builds up as the staff adjust to a new facility and new systems. Keeping the equipment in good working condition also helps minimize stress, so she and Anderson insist on maintaining strict standards for cleanliness and maintenance. That's a wellness philosophy that undoubtedly holds true throughout the new medical center.