Betty Crocker Kitchens
Golden Valley, MinnesotaHGA worked with General Mills to create the new Betty Crocker Kitchens that consist of 19 kitchens where 30 people work to test more than 50,000 recipes each year. The new space unites the test kitchen staffs of General Mills and Pillsbury, who merged as a company in 2003. The kitchens are visually connected with second floor offices adjacent to conference rooms and a TV Studio. They have became a central point of the campus and significant place in life at the General Mills World Headquarters Campus. Challenges included the technical aspects of the kitchens and coordination of equipment with millwork, keeping in mind ergonomic issues and the goal to encourage more collaboration and visual connectivity of the staff. It was critical to incorporate the importance of the "Betty Crocker" brand into the design of the kitchens. A demonstration kitchen, with seating for up to 50, was a requirement and the Betty Crocker brand - "America's First Lady of Food" - was incorporated with her portrait gallery in this kitchen. An adjacent library houses more than 7,000 cookbooks, one of the country's largest cookbook collections. Reflecting the popularity of a shared cooking experience, the new kitchens are enjoyed as much for their spectacle as their product.