From the Board
What is Next – Foodservice Consulting
As a foodservice consultant I think it is easy to fall into a rut or get complacent. Let’s be honest, it is a pretty demanding profession with plenty of pros and cons. We have chosen to share our knowledge with others and in some ways, we are still just a really small pawn in the grand scheme of things.
So as often as I can make time and at a minimum once a week, I make sure to spend a few minutes thinking about and researching what is next. If you think about what that means, it isn’t what has already been done, rather what is possible. How is the autonomous car industry coming along? What robotics, AI, machine learning, video games or VR system is next? How will AR be used in real life? In some ways I leave the thought of the kitchen and I think beyond what we do day to day and look at the world.
How could this help us and our industry, well that doesn’t translate into one answer or one next step. What it does, however, is help us gain a little bit more insight into what is happening on the outside so we can work to create inside of our industry. For example, if you have a project in the greater Pheonix area, San Francisco or Los Angeles, have you ridden in a Waymo One car yet? It’s like Uber, but no driver. How can we start to think about the impact of autonomous vehicles on the food delivery side of the business and LEAD some of our clients to a path of integration or at a minimum become a thought leader on the subject.
Within FCSI it is easy for us to talk about what is happening inside the industry. The latest trends in sustainability, lowering the use of fossil fuels or water. We talk about the future and what is coming or what is next, however, are we investing in learning how to bring some of these things to fruition? Do our clients and our projects allow us the actual time or energy needed to bring these new ideas in and execute them.
I challenge all of us to make time, outside of a project, outside of our comfort zone, to go research and think about what is next. Let’s go beyond our industry and start to talk about and engage with ideas that could help make small but meaningful changes to update what we do and how we do it. I believe these are the most lucrative, non-billable, hours we can possibly spend to drive ourselves, our firms and our industry forward and on to what is next!
Joe Schumaker, FCSI
Founder and CEO of FoodSpace®
