Metropolitan State Hospital is located in Norwalk, California and serves up to 3,000 patients per day. In 2010, a new central kitchen with six rethermalization satellite kitchens were completed. The central kitchen occupies 27,000 square feet and replaced an old inefficient kitchen at the end of its life cycle. The new replacement facility consists of half the physical size and doubles the meal production of the previous system. Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Magazine named Metropolitan State Hospital the winner of the “2012 Design Project of the Year” competition. The project has earned a LEED Gold certification for its energy efficiency and sustainable design initiatives. Additionally, state of the art cook-chill and packaging equipment reduces labor requirements, improves food consistency, and dramatically reduces food waste.

The new Central Kitchen/Culinary Arts facility is located within the central portion of the existing Creekside Education Center. The 15,000 square foot Central Kitchen provides nutrition services to schools throughout the district. The Culinary Arts Classroom includes 4,000 square feet of classroom space.

The new central kitchen and partial remodeling of seven existing satellite kitchens located in five separate buildings. The utilization of a new central kitchen which includes state of the art equipment, including parallel remote refrigeration system with temperature monitoring capabilities; cook-chill equipment (form-fill seal machine, kettles, chiller tanks); flight type dishwasher; energy efficient steam equipment; bakery rack ovens; blast chillers; variable speed exhaust hood systems and the operation of a cook-chill program. The cook-chill program allows the operation of a five day a week production schedule utilizing a food bank system.

The Oakland Unified School District Central Kitchen, Urban Farm, and Education Center will be the hub of the new district-wide school food program network that connects nutrition, education, and community programs at OUSD’s schools, kitchens, gardens, and produce market stands. At the central kitchen and commissary, students will observe professionally trained cooks at work and see how to prepare approximately seven million meals each year for 38,100 school children.

To assist with the planning process, Webb FSD provided a leadership team with extensive expertise in facility design, project management, food processing, operational and food management, menu development, HACCP compliance, and nutrition.

The $70M project maximized the use of three separate district properties: The existing central warehouse, and a new adjacent property purchased for the project. The transportation facility was moved to the newly purchased property, which allowed for the 50,000-SF warehouse to be fully renovated to house the new kitchen bulk storage functions. The new 35,000 SF Central Kitchen facility serves over 60,000 meals per day at full capacity to students in grades K-12. In the kitchen, professional chefs turn freshly prepared entrees, sides, and produce into meal kits to be assembled, reheated, and served at individual school kitchens for students across the District’s 90 school sites.