How Curate Helps Factory Partners Re-Engineer Foodservice Design for Efficiency

New industry analysis explores how Curate simplifies the complexity of modern commercial kitchens through innovation-driven design.

DENVER, Jan. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Curate today released new insights on how commercial kitchens are evolving in an era defined by labor pressures, smart-equipment adoption, and rapid operational complexity. The company’s “Streamlined for Success” approach highlights how its culinary and bar specialists help factory partners and operators accelerate innovation while reducing design friction, using a cross-functional methodology proven to deliver measurable impact.

The Modern Kitchen Is More Complex Than Ever
Ghost kitchens. AI-assisted layout planning. Modular, multi-use equipment. Sustainability-driven replacements for legacy appliances. Today’s foodservice equipment manufacturers face unprecedented pressure as restaurants demand solutions that are faster to implement, easier to maintain, and capable of scaling systemwide, without compromising culinary identity.

Curate’s team describes this shift as the emergence of “the future kitchen”: a connected, efficiency-driven environment where engineering, operations, and culinary strategy must align from the beginning.

How One National Brand Transformed Prep Work and Costs
One recent Curate project demonstrates the scale of impact that factory partners and operators can achieve when they collaborate early in the design process.

A national fast-casual chain partnered with Curate to redesign its entire vegetable preparation workflow, a system that previously required 4 employees working 4 hours per day, resulting in $134,320 in annual labor costs per location.

Curate coordinated engineering, culinary requirements, and operator needs to develop a separate food processor that included a custom julienne disc, a custom dicing plate, and an integrated cleaning tool, engineered to maintain the brand’s distinctive “hand-cut” aesthetic while dramatically reducing labor.

Results:

• Prep time reduced to 90 minutes
• Labor reduced to two employees
• New annual labor cost: $25,185 per location
• Estimated savings: >$109,000 per location per year
• Systemwide savings: ~$30 million annually across 4,000 stores
  

The solution was so effective that the operator elected to air freight their new equipment nationwide, expecting full ROI in just three to four weeks.

A Streamlined Process That Reduces Decision Friction
According to Curate, achieving results of this magnitude requires a process that simplifies, not complicates, innovation.

Curate’s “Streamlined for Success” workflow:

1. Challenge Alignment – Defining labor constraints, throughput targets, and brand standards.
2. Engineering Collaboration – Guiding factory partners through custom-equipment development.
3. Rigorous Testing – Ensuring cut quality, sanitation, ergonomics, and consistency.
4. Approval & Rollout Acceleration – Coordinating national deployment with speed.
5. Implementation Oversight – Managing communication and execution at scale.
   

This 9–12-month process has been refined to reduce friction for factory partners and help operators adopt advanced equipment more quickly.

A Future Built on Connection and Innovation
Greg Iorio of Curate explains that the success of this project and others like it reflects the company’s belief that innovation accelerates when partners openly share challenges and goals.

“We didn’t shy away from the complexity; we guided our partners through every twist and turn until we found the answers together,” said Iorio. “That’s the power of real connection — trusted relationships that spark innovation and make solutions like this not just possible, but inevitable.”

He adds: “As the industry faces tighter margins and higher labor costs, operators must be willing to rethink old traditions to stay financially strong.”

What This Means for Manufacturers

This case study illustrates a broader shift: factory partners that build adaptable, modular, smartly integrated solutions, supported by culinary-driven engineering collaboration, are best positioned to succeed in the next decade of foodservice design.

Curate calls this the blueprint of the future kitchen: engineering precision + labor-saving automation + brand-specific customization.

For factory partners, the opportunity is clear: partnering earlier in the design journey can unlock faster adoption, stronger operator loyalty, and recurring revenue streams.

Connect with our team to explore what Curate can unlock for your brand.

About Curate
Curate, a division of Forward Solutions, is a team of culinary, bar, and equipment specialists dedicated to helping foodservice manufacturers and operators innovate faster. Through cross-functional design processes and deep operational expertise, Curate simplifies complexity across kitchen and bar projects to accelerate results. Learn more at CurateTeam.com.

About Forward Solutions
Forward Solutions is the engine behind a national portfolio of outsourced sales and service brands — including Avision®, C3Team™, Curate®, Electris360™, OneSolution™, PJ Boren, RelyPak®, StruXur®, and Xpand Demand™. We handle back-end operations and connect customers to multi-channel sales models, providing a smarter, more scalable path to growth.

Media Contact:
Gina Tsiropoulos, SVP of Marketing
Gina.Tsiropoulos@Forward-Solutions.com

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