Catering Kitchen

Blue Mountain Kitchen, Colorado Springs, CO

Summary

A very cool concept, Blue Mountain Catering Kitchen offers a unique experience for a wide variety of events: wedding, corporate meeting, party, bridal and baby showers, couples’ night out, ladies’ night get together and much, much more. In addition to providing a catering kitchen concept for events, Chef Robert Meyers wanted a classroom area to teach culinary techniques and various cuisines to homemakers and kids in his community. Enter, Blue Mountain Kitchen.

Framework of Success Criteria for Design:

  • Minimal construction renovations to existing space
  • Restaurant opened in four months
  • Open kitchen and culinary classroom
  • New equipment & furniture
Challenges

Working with Chef Robert on his project did not present too many challenges other than one minor issue; he wasn’t sure what he wanted in the look and feel of the design style. I reassured him that we would find a design style that not only makes him happy but also allows for the functionality of the kitchen.

Chef Robert was very honest right from the beginning about his budget and told me clearly, “I have a total of $230,000 for the project to include construction and new equipment.” The good news is that’s a reasonable budget for this project, approximately 1600 sf.

Issues to be resolved:

  • Uncertainty regarding design style
  • Time constraints for construction; must be opened before Thanksgiving
  • Alterations to the existing fire sprinkler system to allow for the exhaust hood of the induction
  • No used equipment
how our services Helped

Chef Robert wanted the culinary students to be able to have access to the kitchen in order to get food and supplies for the class which meant that the kitchen needs to be functional as well as being aesthetically appealing. So I decided to have an open kitchen and loft space setting in the classroom area. This will allow creative movements of stainless steel tables freely and allow them to be arranged around the themed events.

I then jazzed up the space with glossy, bright yellow ceramic tiles throughout the kitchen, instead of the typical FRP wall treatment normally used in commercial kitchens. I also abstracted the bright yellow wall and stainless steel kitchen with a light hue of grey/blue stained concrete floor and exotic Zebrawood veneer for the cabinets’ finish, to give it a modern look in design style.

Results
  • Open kitchen and a loft in the classroom area for creative use of the space
  • Modern design in style and cheerful commercial kitchen
  • Project completed slightly under budget
  • Brand new kitchen equipment and furniture
  • Project completed two days prior to Thanksgiving holiday, which met the Chef’s timeline on orders had taken for the holiday prior to beginning the project