Podcast

Transcript

Josh (00:14)

All right, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the 5 in 20 podcast by Remarkable Academic Foods. I'm your host, Joshua Miller, where we have at least another five questions or topics in 20 something minutes. Today's guest is Amy Lewis, Director of Marketing and Business Development with Kitchens To Go, AKA KTG. KTG is a company that specializes in providing temporary and permanent food service solutions. They offer products ranging from mobile kitchens, modular kitchens, and containerized kitchens catering to various needs such as new construction, disaster response, and even event hosting. These kitchens are designed to ensure continuity in your food service operations without interruptions, whether it's renovations or obviously the unexpected, which we all should have in our minds. So whether you're K -12, whether you're a college or university,

If you haven't thought about what if my kitchen goes offline, this is a great episode to be in for because you never know what happens with the unexpected, right? So this is definitely value for everyone out there, whether you've thought about it or not, they have a great solution for you. So stick around for the value to be dropped in this episode.

All right, Amy, welcome and thank you for taking the time to join us here and representing KTG with us. And before we dive into the world of kitchens to go, I'd love to know what's your favorite meal to cook at home and why?

Amy Lewis (01:44)

Wow, well first, before I answer that, thank you for having me here. I've enjoyed many of your episodes so far, kind of in preparation, but I've learned about rice and I've learned about electrification of kitchens and I've learned about pizza and actually small snippets of training from our friends over at Pineapple Academy. So I'm thrilled to be here and share kitchens to go, but what is my favorite meal to cook at home?

Josh (02:01)

Yeah.

Amy Lewis (02:13)

I'm actually not the cook in our house. But no, that's not an I'm fortunate that my husband likes to cook. I'm really the baker. So I do more of the holiday baking. I make a killer pumpkin bread. I make a killer chocolate chip banana bread. So I think for me, it's more the baking and the creativity that comes from that.

Josh (02:22)

Awesome. Okay.

Amy Lewis (02:40)

But we do, I will say, we like to kind of share the kitchen duties at times and we love Mexican, whether it's going out or having it at home. So I would say that would probably be a go -to and it's not too difficult for the "un-chef" and the family to take care of.

Josh (02:58)

Awesome, and definitely need that yin and yang so I can relate to that. I don't bake, obviously I have the chef background, but my wife who you met does the baking and she's gotten into that. So it's nice to have that yin and yang when especially when you're hosting for sure. So.

Awesome. So again, before we dive too much into it, let's talk about your career journey. What led you to specialize in marketing and business development in general?

Amy Lewis (03:23)

You know, it's funny, I went into college exploratory because I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. My dad was a salesperson, a medical product salesperson for years. My brother was in sales. And I went out on the road one day with my dad and thought, nope, this is not what I want to do, going into an account after account, getting back in the car, making notes. And so I didn't follow that journey. But funny that...in a roundabout way I kind of have. Then I got into business school and into new product development and the customer journey and...and really was excited about, you know, developing products and sharing them with customers. And so I started out as, I actually started out in purchasing. I did not find a job in product management or actually even entry level marketing right away, but I started in purchasing, which is really interesting because I learned about the other side. Like when, what are you needing to buy in order for the company to be able to produce that project or that product? And then I transitioned over to marketing and it was actually with a food service disposables organization for many many years. So paper plates, paper cups, Chinese food pails for both retail and for the food service segment. So really got involved in understanding distribution and GPOs and all that kind of great stuff and then left the industry for a little while, kind of went into giftware, which really wasn't the right fit. And then...

Josh (04:55)

That's a change.

Amy Lewis (04:56)

Kind of came back in. It's kind of weird. It was I was in networking, you know, somebody was a great opportunity, but then it was just wasn't the right fit. And through again, networking, moved back into food service and actually focused on health care, mail delivery systems, worked for the Dynix division of which is now Carlisle Food Service Products for many, many years and was in charge of all of the the tray top designs and the menus, patient menus. So really.

thinking about, you know, people eating with their eyes and that once the once the kind of the clinical side is done, it's really about the food service side. And so through that, met one of the owners of Kitchens to Go. We were on a conference planning committee together and it was many years later that that they had an open position and we connected. And I actually had my interview at one of their temporary facilities.

Boston at Harvard Business School. And I thought, wow, why didn't I know about this? And it was really kind of cool. And so fast forward, joined the organization in 2016. And I've been really helping to elevate people's awareness of our solutions and the organization for the past eight years. And now we were acquired three years ago. Our former owners are out.

And so have put a lot of the brand marketing to the it's being handled by the the marketing team of our of our owners, a graph. And so really, I'm I'm just now doing business development and getting out and again, continuing to talk about kitchens to go and and let people know that that this is a solution for them when they when they don't know what to do if their food service facility faces a disruption.

Josh (06:50)

Yeah, absolutely. And that's why, again, we want to talk about this, the solutions that you have there. So you have a couple of different solutions. Can you explain the difference between the mobile kitchens, the modular kitchens, and the containerized kitchens to start us off?

Amy Lewis (07:00)

Mm -hmm.

Sure, sure. It's a great question. It's funny, we were just talking about this on our leadership call the other day because we seem to have in the marketplace, people think we are just food trucks and we are so much more than food trucks. So when you talk about mobile kitchens, all of our solutions are actually mobile because they are able to be relocated, they're able to be reused, makes us sustainable. And I know that's one of your pinpoints of your approach…is talking about sustainability and that's something we really like to talk about. But when you talk about mobile kitchens or wheeled units, for us, there anything from a 20 foot step band to a 53 foot semi that can be, you can use multiple ones together. You can use a food truck to have, you know, work around a campus with bringing food service to the to the students in different areas. But we really talk about using them for short term projects. Modular kitchens are are just that just if you see a modular home going down the road, it's the same thing. They're a, 12 by 56 foot building. They can be put together to create a complex. The walls in between come down and so you've got that great site ability but they're better for long-term projects. If you're going to have a staff in something for six months to two years, you're really going to want to have them be in something that is a little bit more user -friendly…different kinds of ventilation, different kinds of insulation. And then containers are just what they are, or they sound like. They are 40 foot containers. Again, they can be put together kind of like Legos to create a facility. But the beauty is they're crane liftable. You can put them in extreme conditions. But again, they create a nice complex for a user that maybe doesn't have an option beyond their existing kitchen.

Josh (09:13)

love all those options and the modular homes I'm very familiar with because the road I live off of the main road is between Vermont and New Hampshire. So there's lots of those going down this main road. It seems like every time I go on that road, there's another one coming up or down. And it's...Almost sounds like you guys should have your own like HGTV of commercial kitchens. I can see all these projects and it just matches it so well except it's with commercial kitchen. So, so many options. And so a lot of temporary options there. Do you have any like more permanent ones that, you know, let's say if someone's looking for expansions and all that.

Amy Lewis (09:37)

Hahaha!

Right? Right?

Sure, yes, we do. So we have two sides of the business. We have the leasing option, which we've kind of talked about here, which for a college or university, a K through 12, a facility. I mean, we work in every segment of non -commercial. But then on the commercial side, and we've also done some non -commercial, what we call permanent modular construction. So we have worked with a very famous coffee brand and put permanent.

Josh (10:04)

Mm -hmm.

Amy Lewis (10:25)

kitchens places for them. We've got one in Dilworth Plaza in Philadelphia. We've got a number of them out in the Denver area. But there are a couple of modules put together. But the interesting thing is the one that we did in the Denver area, they actually lost the lease for the space that they were on. And they said to us, can you guys move this? And so they secured another spot about a mile and a half down the road.

Our operations team went in, dismantled it, took it apart, moved it down the road, put it back together again, and they were back up and running in seven days. So the beauty of these is, sure, it's permanent, and that is the beauty of modular construction itself, is while the buildings are being built, the site is being prepared, so it's quicker to market.

Josh (11:13)

Mm -hmm.

Amy Lewis (11:16)

There's also less safety and security issues, but they can be moved and that's the beauty of it. So yeah, we've also done some permanent installations on college campuses where they maybe wanted to have a new coffee concept. And so we've actually have one at University of North Texas and they'd love to have another one because it is one of their biggest revenue generating spots on campus.

Josh (11:42)

That's what I love about what you guys are doing because one of the big words that are jumping out a lot, it seems as of lately, is food deserts on campus. And it's like, what do you do? And most of the time you think, we have to either fit within an existing space or we do the traditional building from the ground up. And that obviously has cost to it very much so. And it's probably a little bit more frustrating than having...

Amy Lewis (12:02)

Right.

Josh (12:10)

a partner such as KTG coming in and really helping to own the process and guiding along through it. And we can touch more on that a little bit later, but there's also a bolt-on option that I saw on the website, which is super intriguing to me. What's the bolt-on all about?

Amy Lewis (12:28)

So the Bolt-On Kitchen is just what it sounds like. It is a modular unit that is bolted on to an existing building. And we actually won an NRA Kitchen Innovations Award for that. Our legacy company, Carlin, did back in 2011. I think it was 2011 that they won a KI Award for that. And...

So truly, just as you came with one of our temporary kitchens, the operator chooses the equipment that goes under the hood and the unit is built and you can put one, you can put two, you can put three, but they go together. You open up a side of the building and bolt it right on. And so it's been great for organizations or for campuses that have maybe had an existing arena that now they want to turn into like a performing arts center and but they want to offer food service or maybe it's a nursing facility that has a small kitchen and would like to expand but doesn't have the footprint to build a new so they can they can just add another you know 12 by 56 unit space and it can just be a prep area as well but it literally bolts on to to an existing building.

Josh (13:49)

Innovation award deserved. That is mind blowing to know that that is even an option. So going back to my HGTV mindset, like what kind of finishes? Can I blend it in with the building somehow? Can I pick like the exterior graphics or finishes interior? Like what kind of options do we have here to play with?

Amy Lewis (14:09)

Sure, we have done all of the above. When you talk about some of our wheeled units, we've gotten them in the fleet where we've actually wrapped them with a college or school's logo. So for instance, I'm thinking Wheaton College, they needed to offer temporary food service while a facility was being renovated and decided to go with a food truck. So we wrapped it with their logo and they drove it around campus. Another time.

Josh (14:37)

Nice.

Amy Lewis (14:38)

for NCINT, they were trying a wing concept, but they didn't want to put it, they were thinking about putting it into their permanent space, but they wanted to try it. So we wrapped it with Wingstop and they drove that around campus and used it with the students until they got to the point where they're like, yep, this is a concept that's going to work. And then they used it inside.

For modular units or even the containers we can do different cladding. We've got a it's a permanent installation but it's in Newport Rhode Island where they wanted to expand their dining options to a seasonal offering called the lawn. And we clad it with kind of the New England-esque kind of gray cladding, and it matches the original building. So it fits right in.

I've been out to check on it a few times. I think it's been there 10 years and it looks like it's been there forever. So we can do anything like that to make it fit into the existing aesthetics of a campus or the area where it's gonna be put.

Josh (15:50)

Perfect. Perfect. And kitchens to go, obviously kitchen is a big part of the project, no doubt about it. But there's other things that we need to go into these buildings, especially if a building goes offline for any reason. So what about like dining spaces? What about restrooms? What about offices, locker rooms, anything like that?

Amy Lewis (16:11)

Sure. You know, it's interesting. We talk about, you know, our three solutions, mobile module containerized, but then when you do look at places that, and really primarily, I guess you'd say, we do it more in the college and university world, but where they're going to need to make sure that they are feeding not only the students, but the employees, but visitors that maybe are coming to walk the campus. So absolutely, we do modular dining. We also have a strategic partnership with a company called Sprung, which are tension membrane structures that connect to the module units and they can see up to, well, more than, I mean, thousand people, more than that. Then we can do cold, frozen and dry storage. They kind of pop out the side of the module. We can attach bathrooms, locker rooms, offices, anything that an operator would need to keep their business continuity moving forward, to make their entire staff feel comfortable and be able to keep feeding their constituency.

Josh (16:56)

Mm.

Wow, lots of options here for everyone. And I have to ask, it sounds like a big undertaking to bring any of these structures in, especially if it's one of the modular ones and it's going to be essentially bolted to the ground somehow, right? It has to be on the ground permanently. They're not going to want it to be able to easily lift up in a storm. So between that, the utilities, and I mean, that's not even getting into permits and codes. But talking about all that, what kind of support comes with this? Because need a whole lot more happening around it. So what kind of support is provided with regard to all that?

Amy Lewis (18:00)

So it's a great question. And we have always been, and like I said, we've got a legacy organization that goes back 40 years. And our team has always been client focused. So from when that first inquiry comes in or the first conversation I might have with a client or a potential client at a show, the first phone call, depending on where the person is located, they are immediately connected with an account executive and a sales coordinator that are then, they're kind of their go -to people. And we operate with what we call cross -functional teams. So beyond that, there is then going to be a project manager. There is a design and engineering team lead for bigger projects. We might have a project executive, which in our case is the director of our division. But that team works with the client the entire way through a project. And they will coordinate with the GC that will be needed on campus or on site. What will happen is our project manager will go out, walk the site. The AE may go with them and maybe the AE goes, but they go and they look at where's going to be the best place to put this. We're going to need a flat service. You want to be relatively close to utilities. You don't want to have to pull them too far. Is it going to be on asphalt? Are we going to need to pour? Is something going to need to be poured? To put this on, think about ADA requirements, all of those things, are we gonna need to crane in units or is it gonna be easy to bring them in? So it's a step -by -step process that we go through for bigger projects. There's generally weekly meetings with the clients until go time and then even through that. And many times, these are processes that are started years in advance. I mean, we've got a project that is going live next week that we literally, well, we started talking about it before COVID. So maybe we can't use that, but literally we've been talking about it since 2019. So we had a little pause in the middle there, but the more time available, the better because we are able to look at.

Josh (20:01)

Hehehehe

Yeah.

Amy Lewis (20:12)

Are the buildings certified for that state? Are we gonna need to go through local jurisdiction for codes? We provide the package that the client then takes to the health department for health submittals. So there's all of these things, but we are there for the entire process to help the client walk through this so that they don't feel like that they're alone in this.

I like to be client facing and then pass it off and let them, cause you're right. There's so many things that, gosh, the lit roofs leaking or for whatever reason, the combi oven isn't working. I mean, there's all those things that they then do deal with. And sometimes it's even, we don't have a lot of roofs leak, but, but, but a combi oven goes down or something happens and they are then there or a dish machine goes down.

Josh (20:42)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Amy Lewis (20:57)

And then they are there and they are working with the service companies throughout the project to make sure that the client is not down for any great length of time. Because obviously the more time they're down, the more time that they're not serving their clients. So they are there from day one until when we go back and dismantle at the end of the project.

Josh (21:21)

Nice. And you touched on a great point for me to dive into next, which is the equipment. So you're bringing the structure. What about the equipment that goes inside it, especially for the chefs out there? We all know that we can be picky. I want this oven and no other oven. So what are the options here? Do you supply the equipment? Does the leaser or the owner have to supply the equipment? What are the options?

Amy Lewis (21:46)

You know, it's a little bit of both. So at that original, I mentioned the site visit. And so our accounting executive will work with a client to find out what they have under their hood. What kind of equipment are they using in not only for cooking, what things are they using for preparation? What kinds of storage do they have? Cold storage, dry storage, you know, so we are able to look at what their overall needs are. And then we have a renovation center in Indiana that has thousands of pieces of equipment. And so we work to build the cook line and the kitchen exactly to what the client has. Now, is it always going to be the exact make? Maybe not, but we talk through that with the client.

The other thing that we have done is we did it with the Naval Academy is they needed to, they were going to be, they utilized a lot of kettles and so they were going to be purchasing new kettles. So rather than them purchase, I think it was 20 new kettles and put them in their permanent space, they actually purchased them and used them in the temporary space, which helped their lease price go down. And then when it was time, those were moved into their permanent kitchen. So we have done that where some of it is client supplied equipment or say you've got a really special pizza oven. That's not necessarily something that we're going to have in our standard equipment. We can get it so it may be it's going to be cost more or we can use the clients and they can be that you know can be client supplied which also helps with the lease price. So we do a little bit of everything but for the most part, we are supplying the equipment that is going into the kitchens for the end user.

Josh (23:36)

Love it. And one thing I love, and we can talk about this a little bit more later, but the electrification that you guys are preparing for and having that built in so that, you know, especially if it does come down to the state or the county that they're in, if they're mandating it, you guys are already working ahead and you're thinking about that and having the power in some of your units to, you know, where someone can say, I want all electric. So that's another good point for sure. If that is a concern for anyone.

So speaking of that, let's talk about any success story or case study, new project expansions that are coming up along the horizon here that you want to talk about.

Amy Lewis (24:18)

Well, I will tell you, our - you know, obviously we talked about COVID a little and COVID was a little quiet and actually the couple of years afterward. And I'm happy to say our fleet utilization right now is through the roof. In fact, if anybody's got an immediate need, we may or may not be able to help you right now, but you know, six months down, but we've got, you know, our biggest marketplaces are our healthcare, college and university, and we do a lot with the military. And so we've got a very large installation in in Western Massachusetts area for a private high school. It's actually going live next week and it will be there for two years and it will be the dining facility will seat a thousand people.

We're very proud we've got an installation that is live currently at Camp Pendleton and we've got another one going in at Lackland Air Force Base a little bit later this year. We've got a number of healthcare projects going on down in the south. We've got a American Place Casino up in the Chicago area while that's there.

It's called the temporary while they build their casino. We've got a beautiful installation. If anybody is in California and goes up to Yosemite National Park, we've got a beautiful installation at the Iwani Hotel while they're doing seismic retrofitting for the facility. So we've got a containerized kitchen complex there that is supporting their dining facility. So we've got a lot all over the country and a lot of wheeled units out there. And so no two projects are ever the same, which for me is really exciting. I love to talk about our solutions and...and be able at times to be able to take clients to see an existing solution so they can kind of in their mind think about, okay, this is what I could imagine. And then we have a lot of past case studies that we can share with clients. But yeah, we have no shortage of projects right now, which is exciting and frustrating all at the same time because we're not able to always help everybody.

Josh (26:34)

Yeah, and that is crazy how many projects you have going on and I'm so happy for you guys in that regard. And it's crazy how big you guys can make this. And a little secret to the audience, I did see one of those projects that Amy mentioned that it wasn't online at the time, but close to it. And it is just jaw dropping to see what they can pull off for temporary solutions.

Not only from the size, but even just the quality and the details. Everything is thought about and it's truly amazing. Nothing short of that. I'm so glad I was able to see that. So glad you were able to come on for this episode. If anyone wants to talk more with you about Kitchens To Go, connect with you personally or with the company, where can people go to connect?

Amy Lewis (27:32)

So personally, I'm on LinkedIn. Also, my email address is amy lewis@kitchenstogo.com.

Our website is kitchenstogo.com and we will be at NACUFS, we will be at the NACUS events, focus on college universities. We'll be at AHF, we'll be at ANFP, and then an info at kitchens2go .com just for a generalized question. But - We're always thrilled to talk with someone that's thinking about a renovation or maybe even is thinking about an expansion or maybe they want to buy a food truck. Our tagline is "We keep you cooking" and we love it and we will do that for you on a temporary basis or to help you do something permanently. We're here and excited to help you.

Josh (28:28)

Love it. Thank you, Amy, for taking the time to come on and share all this wonderful info. And hopefully everyone got some peace of mind and knowing that there's a solution out there if you didn't know. So if you didn't, now you know. And for those that maybe have known a little bit about Kitchens to Go, I'm sure they've learned some information here because there's so much that you are doing. And to end off on that note, everything Kitchens to Go is doing with schools in particular. That's what my company is all about.

You are all contributing to the success of school programs, both K -12 and colleges and universities. So I consider you all ambassadors of Remarkable Academic Foods and helping Remarkable Academic Food Nation all across the country. So thank you, Amy. Thank you, Kitchens To Go. And audience, I'm your host, Joshua Miller. Until next time, signing off.