How Glendale Senior Dining Turned ‘Surprise’ Service Disruption Into Surprisingly Positive Dining Experience
For the elderly in senior resident communities, a daily routine with opportunities to socialize over a satisfying meal is both comforting and good for health. Life is less stressful when seniors don’t have to worry about when they’ll enjoy their next dining experience.
Yet many senior resident communities don’t have the staff, training or resources to deliver ‘dining-as-usual’ when unforeseen problems — like a plumbing or equipment failure —put the kitchen or dining room out of order.
By working with a dining services management provider like Glendale Senior Dining, senior resident communities can avoid the headaches that can arise when dining routines are disrupted with little or no warning.
A division of Café Services, a leading food service management company in over 200 eastern U.S. locations, Glendale Senior Dining includes contingency planning and emergency preparedness in its comprehensive training program.
Todd Lindsay, Glendale Senior Dining Director of Business Development, says mapping out and practicing multiple ‘plan b’s’ based on different scenarios is central to the firm’s ability to provide uninterrupted service.
Contingency Planning Practice Pays Off
The practice pays off, as one Glendale Senior Dining customer learned earlier this month. The 70-bed assisted living center in Massachusetts experienced a major plumbing failure that rendered the kitchen unsafe and inoperable.
Within an hour of learning of the problem, the Glendale Senior Dining team of safety, nutrition, culinary and operations experts had a plan for delivering meal service with just a few, minor menu modifications. With the approval of the local health department, the team set up a remote kitchen outdoors and cooked under a canopy on a commercial-grade, gas-powered flat top range and grill.
“The residents were happy because they still got their eggs and French toast in the morning,” says Lindsay. “And our food service director, Larry Gallagher, had fun changing up the menu by incorporating more grilled meats into the mix, to make the most of the 6-foot, commercial grill.”
Glendale Senior Dining Protects Seniors From Stressful, Unpleasant Surprises
While pleasant surprises — like an impromptu, mid-week cookout — can bring joy to seniors; surprises that disrupt comforting routines like eating and socializing can bring unnecessary stress.
With Glendale Senior Dining, you can give your senior residents the peace of mind of knowing that their next positing dining experience is never more than a day away. Contact us to learn more.
