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Keeping the foodservice equipment marketplace up to date with the latest menu and concept trends.

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Foodservice Design Consultants: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Some of the larger consulting firms are smaller and more flexible than they once were. For example, Egnor reduced JEM's workforce by 17 people, and 3 or 4 of those former employees have re-entered the market as competitors. "It was rough, but you had to do those things," he says. "I don't know that I would want our company to be any bigger than it is today. If more work came our way, we might consider working with other consulting firms. [Being structured this way] allows us to have a handle on our costs so we can better compete. But you have to keep the right people. We are more efficient and are better able to react to specific situations. The people are more in tune with what we want to do but are also individual thinkers."

Many consulting firms adjusted their client mix and the types of projects they will pursue. For example, in the past, roughly 90 percent of JEM's revenues were based on foodservice operations that accompanied gaming facilities. Realizing the gaming boom would not go on forever, Egnor steered JEM to start taking on work in such noncommercial foodservice segments as healthcare and senior living facilities, schools and acute care hospitals. "Some of these projects require a lot of communication and experience," he says. These projects also require an intimate understanding of their unique environments. "Once you understand their environment and know how to speak their language, you can introduce ideas that you can work with the customers to massage those ideas into solutions. A good consultant takes the customers' ideas and makes them better," he adds.

While many consultants have broadened the base of work they will take on, they have also become more selective about their clientele. "I would take any project that comes our way because they are a great challenge. But are there certain clients I would stay away from? Absolutely," Egnor says. "That's because they can be too demanding or not understanding enough. They are as smart and successful as they are stupid. I don't like getting thrown under the bus by people who don't know what they are doing."

As their volume of work declined, many foodservice consultants found themselves in the unfamiliar position of needing to market their services. In the past, many of them saw their businesses grow organically and by word of mouth. But during this downturn, that was no longer enough to sustain most consulting firms. "Back in 2008, you opened the door, and the jobs just came rolling in," Egnor says. "As a business leader, I have to go out there and sell my services more."

And JEM is not alone in its need to do this. "You see FCSI exhibiting at major shows like NAFEM, NRA, and this year they came to IHMRS for the first time," says Michael Posternak, president of PBAC and Associates, an independent manufacturers' rep firm. "They have to be more active on the outreach side of their business."

This includes design consultants strengthening their relationships with architects. A growing number of design consultants now seem to host lunch-and-learn sessions and other networking opportunities to better educate architects on what design consultants bring to the table. "The lifeblood to the consultant is the architect, and I think being local to the architect is very important. That's why the big cities — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami — are strong architect communities, and that's why you find many consultants based there," Posternak says. "Consultants also have clients they get through reputation, through repeat business and even renovations of previous jobs."

Adds Collins, "FCSI's move to align the organization with AIA will not pay immediate dividends, but it will in the long term as the architects start to recognize them more."

Some consultants recognized the need to market long before business softened and have gotten more involved with different operator segments, thus creating a competitive edge for their businesses. "The consultants that are really active with groups like AHF [Association for Healthcare Foodservice] and NACUFS [National Association of College and University Food Services] are really in tune with what the operators need," Collins says. "And if you are not connected in that way, how can you meet the operator's needs? Who knew that colleges and universities were heading trayless and how big that would be? You would know that if you had been attending NACUFS a few years ago."

The fact that design consultants continue to take a more proactive approach to growing their businesses should be a positive sign for other members of the foodservice industry's supply chain. In fact, the Manufacturers' Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry uses design consultant activity as a leading economic indicator in its quarterly Business Barometer. "They are large-project oriented, so we ask each rep if the consultants in their market are busier, about the same or less busy than the prior period. If they are busier, that usually means there will be an uptick in business in the future," Posternak adds. "Basically, today's specification is next year's order."