Notable: Canteen’s Tenant Improvements Consolidate Operational Efficiency

Canteen provides workplace foodservice solutions, including vending machines that accommodate everything from snacks and beverages to fresh food and frozen meals, self-service food and beverage markets, coffee and tea stations and cafés. In fact, the company offers more than 250,000 food and beverage options to its thousands of customers coast to coast, whom they service from distribution and warehouse facilities in nearly all 50 states.

To improve efficiencies, Canteen recently consolidated several Des Moines, IA, facilities and moved into 90,500 square feet within our Rider Logistics Center, which is located near the intersection of Interstate 35/80 and Highway 141 in Grimes, IA.

The tenant improvements we completed for Canteen included a number of unique spaces, one of which was a first but hopefully not a last for us: building a chocolate room.

• Canteen has a large fleet of refrigerated box trucks that they want to load overnight so the trucks are ready to hit the road for early morning deliveries. We determined that their leased space could accommodate an indoor temperature-controlled parking lot for up to 36 vehicles, where employees can easily and safely access the stored inventory and load the trucks.

• We considered a number of indoor parking lot scenarios that would allow for the greatest number of parking stalls and the most efficient traffic flow both in and out of the facility. The building already included a drive-in door, but, ultimately, we added a designated drive-out door on the south side of the building along with a one-way driveway.

• To maintain employee safety within the facility, we installed physical barriers between the parking lot and the occupied spaces as well as proper air filtration systems to mitigate the effects of vehicle exhaust. We also installed carbon monoxide detectors, a fire suppression system and an Emergency Voice Alarm Communication system (EVAC). Trench drains were installed to prevent standing water in the parking area.

• Along with open warehouse space with racks to store dried goods, we created a 940-square-foot cooler, a 470-square-foot freezer, and a 740-square-foot chocolate room, the latter of which is used to provide temperature-controlled storage for the many chocolates and candies Canteen offers. An 8,000-square-foot office includes a large training room with capacity for more than 56 employees to be trained simultaneously.

• Two other unique features we completed for Canteen were a wash bay – not for washing vehicles but for washing food totes – and a fenced in maintenance area to clean, repair and update the vending equipment.

• More about Rider Logistics Center