EducationUniversity & Collegiate | Primary & Secondary (K-12)

Consulting, Planning and Design

DENVER | HONOLULU | SAN FRANCISCO | SCOTTSDALE

Educational facilities are exciting projects to work on because regardless of whether the project is K-12 or higher education, the two most important goals are universal. Those goals are affordable, healthful food options available to all students. History has proven that healthful food options do not create a decline in food purchases and do not have to cost more to produce. It comes down to planning appropriately and having the correct labor force and facilities in place to deliver on this goal.

William Caruso & Associates (WC&A) specializes in planning for educational facilities food and beverage services. From the early days of simple cafeterias in K-12 schools and colleges/universities, the world and its focus on health, flexibility, breadth of products, and natural foods has changed our business. WC&A has not only kept pace with these

changes, but has stayed on the forefront of inno-vation and design to accommodate these desires. From food courts to branded name kiosks, conven-ience stores, take-out, grab n’ go, and commissary units remote from dining areas; we’ve done it all over the years. Throw in the need for critical time schedules to ensure that facilities are open when students return from summer break or in some cases from mid-year breaks, and you have an industry segment of specialization that constantly morphs and adjusts. WC&A has worked on over 250 educational projects throughout the world. We have been presented with new challenges and been asked to push boundaries, all the while providing students, staff, and communities the best of what facilities planning and design has to offer!

Overview

WC&A has had the opportunity to work on many university level projects that include student unions, student dining facilities, teaching facilities, and staff dining facilities. These dining environments must be welcoming, and their designs should create flow and movement that facilitate natural move-ment throughout their spaces.

A wide range of options exist for operations and design. Many unions have big name brands within them, as well as generic brands created by the school itself. There are options like grab n’ go, traditional food courts, and cafeteria style venues. While K-12 schools may not serve as many indi-viduals per day or have the budget that collegiate level projects have, they do use the knowledge of space, movement, and strategy these larger scale operations have gained over time. WC&A is able to provide options that suit the needs of a particular client; whether large or small, grandiose or simple.

Whether our work be on the secondary or college/university level, we approach all we do in a defined and orderly manner. We believe strongly in an interactive approach with our clients. Meetings are set with client planning teams, user focus groups, and even administrators of the institutions we work with. From these, we learn all we can about the project goals and objectives, past operational and functional histories, operational changes contem-plated for the future, time and budget requirements, as well as the likes and dislikes of facility users. Armed with this information, we work “hand in hand” with the project design team to provide master planning, programming, and design serv-ices that meet our client’s objectives. We listen, we learn, we act, and we succeed!

Our Approach

The array of food products available and the ways to prepare, merchandise and serve them are endless today! K-12 students look for recognizable foods that look and taste good. School foodservice departments provide food and beverage offer-ings within federal guidelines. We as consultants must bridge the gap to entice student participation and provide facilities and equipment on schedule within budget and special availabilities.

On the collegiate level, we have taken advantage of the unique commercial and cultural maturity of the modern college student as it relates to their food and bever-age choices. This includes new wave cooking technologies, cooking fresh in front of guests, electronic digital media to market products, convenience stores, take out and delivery zones, grab n’ go, internet cafes, and more. The varieties of op-tions college students are accustomed to today form new ways to market and sell products. We at WC&A have been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of these technological advances to ensure that our clients remain on the “cutting edge” of all foodservice trends!

New Trends in Educational Food &Beverage:

University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona

Cherry Creek School District Englewood, Colorado

Madison School District No. 3 Phoenix, Arizona

Kent School District Kent, Washington

Quinnipiac University Student Center Hamden, Connecticut

Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WC&A designed all foodservice facilities in the Student Union Memorial Center, which upon completion was the largest student union in the United States. Foodservice areas are located on all levels of this multi-level facility, which include a central kitchen, bakery, storage areas, a six-outlet food court, Mexican restaurant, and a scramble-type servery. Phase II of this project consisted of the renovation of the existing student union, which included an Italian restaurant, an espresso/ice cream shop, convenience store, faculty club, and banquet facilities.

WC&A has designed numerous foodservice facili-ties for the Cherry Creek School District. Projects include Elementary Schools (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 36, 37, 39, 40, and 41), Middle School 7, two High Schools, the Industrial Arts Building, and the Cen-tral Commissary that provides bulk prepared foods and central store items to all schools in the district. WC&A has also further refined the Cherry Creek Elementary Prototype Schools in Cherry Creek #40. Working with the District Foodservice Staff, WC&A re-evaluated the cooking methods of the school and updated the equipment to utilize the lat-est technology available.

WC&A was retained to program, design, and detail the Madison Elementary School foodserv-ice facilities. This unique school is a 700-student kindergarten through second grade (K-2) facility. WC&A’s expertise incorporated flexibility and service efficiency.

WC&A planned and designed a 20,000 meal per day central kitchen facility for this high growth school district in the metro-Seattle area. Services included a complete warehouse design with a semi-automated bakery, automated food produc-tion utilizing a cook-chill system and automated packaging components. Integrated into the design planning was a phased design construction plan to accommodate the anticipated growth requirements of the district.

WC&A was commissioned to design new din-ing facilities as part of a major renovation to the university’s student union. The design included two dining facilities, one on the main campus and the other in their residential area. The main campus renovation existed of a serving area and ware wash, and new themed action stations including a Yan Can Cook Concept (Martin Yan concept). The dish room included a vertical conveyor to transport trays from the upper level dining space to the lower level dish room. York Hill (residential) Dining Hall included multiple action stations and a new pro-duction kitchen. This is located in their gym and recreation center, and provides a “lodge-type” feel to its guests.

WC&A was chosen as part of the team to reno-vate three of Louisiana State University’s Dining Facilities. The renovated dining halls (Laville Din-ing, Pentagon Dining, and Student Union Dining) include state-of-the-art dining experiences with a variety of amenities including video and sound systems, private seating areas, convenience stores, and franchised fast food outlets for quick meals and late night snacks. WC&A inventoried and

inspected foodservice equipment from existing din-ing facilities in order to recommend which equip-ment could be reused in the renovated facilities. We also determined the foodservice equipment and manufacturers that would best suit the needs of the operator and university, and provided foodservice design and utility design criteria for the team.

Project Highlights

Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona

Auraria/Tivoli Student Union Denver, Colorado

Boston University Boston, Massachusetts

Bucknell University Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Chandler-Gilbert Community College Chandler, Arizona

Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina

College of Charleston Charleston, South Carolina

Colorado School of Mines Golden, Colorado

Colorado State University Ft. Collins, Colorado

Cornell University Ithaca, New York

Creighton University Omaha, Nebraska

Eastern Washington University Spokane, Washington

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott, Arizona

Fairmont State College Fairmont, West Virginia

Fresno State University Fresno, California

Gonzaga University Spokane, Washington

Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana

Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana

Iowa State University Ames, Iowa

Louisiana State University Residence Halls Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2)

Louisiana State University Student Union Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Maricopa Community College Mesa, Arizona

Metropolitan State College Denver, Colorado

Mission Bay Conference Center University Of California, San Francisco

Monmouth University West Long Branch, New Jersey

Montana State University Bozeman, Montana

New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

North Carolina A&T University Greensboro, North Carolina

North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina

Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois

Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma

Old Dominion University Norfolk, Virginia

Purdue University W. Lafayette, Indiana

Quinnipiac University Student Center Hamden, Connecticut

Quinnipiac University Medical Center New Haven, Connecticut

Southern Connecticut State College, New Haven, Connecticut

Southern Utah State College Cedar City, Utah

St John’s University Queens, New York

St Louis University St. Louis, Missouri

SUNY Albany Residence Hall Albany, New York

SUNY Albany Indian Quad Albany, New York

Texas State Technical College Sweetwater, Texas

Texas State University San Marcos, Texas

United States Air Force Academy Colorado Springs, Colorado

United States Military Academy West Point, New York

University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona

University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, California

University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, California

University of California at San Diego La Jolla, California

University of California at San Francisco, Mission Bay Student and Conference Center San Francisco, California

University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado

University of Colorado at Denver Denver, Colorado

University of Colorado Dal Ward Center Boulder, Colorado

University of Dayton Dayton, Ohio

University of Denver Denver, Colorado

University of Denver Hillel Student Center Denver, Colorado

Highlight Client ListColleges and Universities

University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario

University of Illinois Champaign, Illinois

University of Indiana Bloomington, Indiana

University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa

University of Maryland College Park, Maryland

University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan

University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina

University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado

University of Notre Dame South Bend, Indiana

University of Oregon Arena Eugene, Oregon

University of Oregon, Autzen Stadium Eugene, Oregon

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina

University of Southern California Los Angeles, California

University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio

University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin

York College Erie, Pennsylvania

Academy School District 20 Colorado Springs, Colorado

Adams Twelve Five Star School District Thornton, Colorado

Albany County School District One Laramie, Wyoming

Aurora Public Schools Aurora, Colorado

Bellingham Public Schools Bellingham, Washington

Boulder Valley School District Boulder, Colorado

Cherry Creek School District Englewood, Colorado

Cheyenne Mountain School District Colorado Springs, Colorado

Clark County School District Las Vegas, Nevada

Colorado Springs School District 11 Colorado Springs, Colorado

Denver Public Schools Denver, Colorado

Douglas County School District Castle Rock, Colorado

Durango School District 9 Durango, Colorado

Eagle County Schools Vail, Colorado

Elizabeth School District Elizabeth, Colorado

Falcon School District 49 Falcon, Colorado

Fort Lupton School District Fort Lupton, Colorado

Glenrock School District Glenrock, Wyoming

Jeffco Public Schools Golden, Colorado

Kent School District Kent, Washington

Littleton Public Schools Littleton, Colorado

Madison School District Phoenix, Arizona

Marysville School District Marysville, Washington

Poudre School District Fort Collins, Colorado

Queen Creek Unified School District Queen Creek, Arizona

Roaring Fork School District Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Saguache County District 2 Moffet Township, Colorado

San Juan/Alamo School District McAllen, Texas

Scottsdale Unified School District Scottsdale, Arizona

Summit County School District Frisco, Colorado

Tempe Union School District Tempe, Arizona

Washoe County School District Reno, Nevada

Weld County School District Greeley, Colorado

Wichita Unified School District No. 259 Wichita, Kansas

Fremont County School District Wind River, Wyoming

K-12 Schools

Contact Information:

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