PROJECT SHOWCASE 14 Exceptional Designs from the Professional Members of the Foodservice Consultants Society International
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DEVON ENERGY CENTER
SKY’S ThE LImIT Employee foodservice facilities at Devon Energy’s new corporate headquarters have changed the oklahoma City dining scene.
Residing at the top of Devon Energy Corp.’s 52-story office tower in Oklahoma City, fine-dining restaurant Vast features its own production kitchen and contract foodservice caterer. The restaurant has a bar/lounge and separate buffet area for special functions.
Photos by Renate Siekmann, director of East Coast and Western Canadian operations, WC&A, Philadelphia
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DEVON ENERGY CENTER
By Michael Sherer
To consolidate all of its U.S. employees in a single headquarters building, Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, Okla., decided to think big. The company developed plans for a 52-story office tower, the tallest in Oklahoma City, and turned to William Caruso & Associates (WC&A), Denver, to design foodservice facilities for the 3,000 people working in the building. The company not only wanted to give its employees daily dining options on site to keep morale and productivity high, it also wanted to make its foodservice facilities available to the public because of its high profile in the community. Above all, Devon wanted the foodservice facilities to make as dramatic an impact on employees and the public as the building does on the city skyline. Company objectives included an employee dining option with enough food-production capability to handle catering for meetings and a showcase executive dining area that also could be used to entertain clients. But the company didn’t know what those facilities should look like or how they
ees as well as the general public to find out what food styles
might draw in the public.
and concepts they’d find desirable enough to use a com-
“We literally went with the client around the country on
pany cafeteria on a daily basis. Moving all U.S. employees
their corporate jet to see facilities and expose them to new
into one building also allowed the company to address even
food concepts,” says Bill Caruso, FFCSI, ISHC, president
more of their needs.
and principal in charge.
“In addition to a new way of thinking about dining, the
WC&A polled a cross-section of Devon Energy employ-
company put a health club in the new building and hired a
The design team made sure diners could see the action stations and display cooking while hiding the production kitchen and dishroom.
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Equipment NEBU Deli Delfield/Manitowoc sandwich prep Traulsen/ITW FEG reach-in refrig. RPI open air refrig. Grill Garland/Manitowoc griddle & charbroiler Delfield/Manitowoc refrig. base Delfield/Manitowoc drop-in hot/ cold pans Traulsen/ITW FEG heated cabinet, refrig. Chefs’ Special/Made-To-Order Salads and Sushi Delfield/Manitowoc drop-in pans Hoshizaki sushi case The fresh food market-style dining facility, Nebu, is anchored by an island salad and sushi bar. Action serving stations include a short-order grill, deli, ethnic food station, pizza/pasta station and dessert station. person to be in charge of helping employees lead a healthy lifestyle,� says Marcin Zmiejko, senior associate and project manager. By exposing the client to what was possible and finding out what would draw both employees and the public in, WC&A was given carte blanche to design what would work best. And the client
Specialty/Carving Alto-Shaam carving station CookTek/Middleby induction warmers Delfield/Manitowoc drop-in pans Traulsen/ITW FEG pass-thru refrigs. Pasta/Pizza La Molenarrino pasta extruder Wood Stone pizza oven Delfield/Manitowoc pizza prep refrig. Hobart/ITW FEG mixer Hatco hot shelves, heat lamps
Production Kitchen Kolpak/Manitowoc walk-in refrig. and freezer Alto-Shaam cook/hold oven Rational combi ovens Cleveland/Manitowoc kettles, tilting skillet, steamer Frymaster/Manitowoc fryers Jade/Middleby grill, range Traulsen/ITW FEG reach-in & roll-in refrigs. Hobart/ITW FEG slicers, mixers Garland/Manitowoc range Victory/Ali Group blast chiller Dishwashing Aerowerks conveyor/accumulator Hobart/ITW FEG dishmachine T&S spray rinse unit VAST Production Kitchen Kolpak/Manitowoc walk-in refrig. and freezer Alto-Shaam cook & hold oven Rational combi ovens Cleveland/Manitowoc kettles, tilting skillet, steamer Frymaster/Manitowoc fryers Rational combi oven Jade/Middleby grill, range Garland/Manitowoc range Traulsen/ITW FEG reach-in & roll-in refrigs. Hobart/ITW FEG slicers, mixers FWE banquet carts Dishwashing Hobart/ITW FEG dishmachine T&S spray rinse unit Buffet Spring induction units Delfield/Manitowoc refrig. cold pans Bar Glastender underbar & back bar equipment ARAVALLI Oscartielli display cases Delfield/Manitowoc sandwich refrig. Traulsen/ITW FEG reach-in refrig. BSI foodshields Estoria espresso machines Throughout Accurex/Greenheck hoods RPI display cases, case work, millwork Eagle work tables, hand sinks
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DEVON ENERGY CENTER
AT A GLANCE Facility Devon Energy Center, Oklahoma City, Okla. Project Employee Dining Facility, Executive Dining Restaurant, Corporate Training and Conference Center Catering, Coffee Shop Design Consultants William J. Caruso, FFCSI, ISHC, president, principal in charge; Stephen K. Young, FCSI, principal, director of design; Marcin Zmiejko, senior associate, project manager; William Caruso & Associates, Inc., Denver Total Budget $750 million Foodservice Equipment $4,136,300 Scope of Work Programming/Master Planning, Concept Development, Design, Construction Documentation, Contract Administration, Drawings, Site Inspections, Contract Feeder RFP Development & Preparation, Interviews & Contract Negotiation Architects Kendall-Heaton Associates, Houston; Gensler Associates, Dallas Engineers Cosentini Associates, New York Foodservice Equipment Contractors Stafford-Smith, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Wood Stone ovens bake delicious pizzas for Nebu’s pizza and pasta station.
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Vast is open for lunch and dinner during business days, for dinner only on Saturday nights and features a buffet for group events. salad and sushi bar. Around the perimeter of the servery are “action” serving stations, including a short-order grill, deli, ethnic food station with induction burners for menu flexibility, pizza and pasta station with Wood Stone ovens and dessert and beverage stations. Digital signage and menu boards at some stations provide the flexibility to change out food concepts from one day to the next. Next to the marketplace is a coffee shop/café called Aravalli that offers grab-and-go salads and sandwiches in addition to a full coffee and espresso menu. Employees also can pick up entrees and side dishes from the grab-and-go case. The latter service has been wildly successful, providing a revenue stream the client never envisioned. “It’s like a dream Starbucks,” Zmiejko says, “with traditional espresso, pastries, a gelato station, sandwiches and home-meal replacement, which the client had never been exposed to.” The production kitchen on the main level handles prep cooking for the marketplace as well as catering for a conference and training center on the floor above. Two pantries and a hot/cold buffet serving line with Delfield reach-in refrigerated storage support the conference center. On the 49th and 50th floors of the office tower are the fine dining restaurant Vast and a series of spaces reserved for events. The restaurant operates as a completely separate entity with its own production kitchen and even its own contract foodservice caterer. The restaurant also has a bar/ lounge area and a separate buffet area for special functions.
Outta Sight charged the design team with vetting a contract company
“Probably the biggest challenge on this project,” Young
or companies to run the foodservice facilities.
says, “was moving people and product. Since the confer-
“Unfortunately, we never have enough space, but espe-
ence center is above Nebu, the marketplace, and the public
cially in this case,” says Steve Young, FCSI, principal and
event space is above Vast, the restaurant, we had to sepa-
design director on the project. “Because the building is
rate the foodservice side from the public side. We also had
vertical, we couldn’t install a back-of-the-house food-pro-
to separate all the goods coming in at the receiving dock in
duction machine. Instead, we put a lot of the equipment
the basement between the two operators.”
and the cooking out front. That actually worked to our
Separate dry and refrigerated storage areas were designed
advantage because it’s interactive and draws customers in.”
and built in the basement next to the dock, and the design team convinced the client to invest in and install a special
Foodservice Functions Fulfilled
system in the freight elevator that allows foodservice em-
The team designed a fresh-food market-style dining facility
ployees to key it off for their own use at certain times of the
called Nebu on the ground floor, anchored by an island
day. That way, they can move food quickly from storage to
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DEVON ENERGY CENTER Devon’s main kitchen incorporates combi ovens and blast chillers to enable some cook-chill preparation for large events. kitchens on the ground floor, or from kitchens to conference center or to the restaurant on the 49th floor, keeping food safe, especially during hot Oklahoma summers. They designed the ground-floor Nebu so employees and the public could see the action stations and display cooking, but hid the strictly foodservice functions such as the
production kitchen, dishroom and the movement of people and food from Nebu to the conference center. An Aerowerks conveyor, for example, takes soiled trays and dishes from customers at a discreet window back to an Aerowerks accumulator in the dishroom.
Ventilation Issues Ventilation also was a challenge, particularly in Nebu. Between the production kitchen and display cooking in the marketplace, the facility uses five Accurex hoods. But the design team couldn’t vent exhaust up through 50 floors, so the client invested in a scrubber to remove all of the pollutants from the hood
Save $4,000
exhaust, and the resulting exhaust—hot air— is vented out of the building at the receiving dock on the lower level instead of out on the street. Vast, which is on the 49th floor, could
year one and
$1,000
vent kitchen exhaust to the roof far more easily. But as a good environmental steward
per year thereafter.
and to help keep the building clean, the client installed a scrubber there as well.
With a mandate to achieve LEED Gold cer-
tification on the project, the design team specified variable-speed fans on all exhaust hoods,
Ventless/ Heat Recovery DH5000
Removes heat and water vapor at the end of the cycle while recovering the normally exhausted heat and transferring it to the booster. Decreases energy usage for utilities savings.
DH5000
Direct Vent
INDUSTRY EXCLUSIVE
Allows unit to vent directly to the outside. We remove steam and heat…not your conditioned air.
high-efficiency Hobart warewashing equipment and Energy Star-rated kitchen equipment wherever possible. For greater energy and production efficiency, the team specified Rational combi ovens and Victory blast chillers to give the contract operators the ability to imple-
Champion. Singularly focused on Warewashing.
ment a cook/chill system for certain items or special functions and advanced equipment like TurboChef ovens to speed cooking and/or rethermalization in some areas.
800.532.8591 | championindustries.com Follow us @championind
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“We love hearing from the client that even
after seeing some of the best foodservice operations in the country, their own facilities far exceeded their expectations,” Caruso says.