Food is the area of greatest enjoyment or greatest contention. Sometimes the smallest changes can swing the pendulum.
Who hasn’t spent endless hours vacuuming, dusting and decorating their entire home in preparation for a party or festivity only to have all their guests congregate in the kitchen chatting and socializing among plates of food and dirty dishes?
What is this phenomenon? What role do our kitchens play in our daily lives? For most of us, it is the comfort and normalcy of the surroundings that draw us here, it is a place where we are all experts—in eating and drinking—and the one room in the house that offers a multitude of choices. There are food and beverage options, seating or standing options and work options—we can be served or serve others. No other room in the house offers so much in one spot.
Is it any wonder that those of us in the health-care industry, while focusing on care and services for seniors, spend so much time trying to ensure the dining experience for the customers—our residents—is just right?
Consider the following perspective. Our customers include the resident, family, staff and anyone who has an opportunity to enjoy a meal experience within the organization.
All our customers need to have a sense of ownership and pride in their dining encounters.
- How do we achieve this when each customer may have a different perspective on how that dining encounter should feel and taste?
- How can we achieve this if each customer has a different range of abilities influencing their enjoyment of the dining encounter?
- How can we achieve this if each staff member has a different opinion of how the meal should be served?
Follow these fundamental rules to ensure a great dining experience.
Dining room
A place to congregate between meals
What does the dining room look like before, during and after the meal service? Remember, dining rooms are an area where people like to congregate and enjoy social ambience between meal experiences. Do you have seating options outside of the table and chair setting for mealtimes—perhaps small café-style tables and chairs available for informal chitchats between meals? Are beverages available and accessible to the customers between mealtimes?
The table setting
Are tables set according to your organization’s standards? Many organizations have embraced a fine-dining standard of meal service so the tables are set to meet this standard. Keep in mind, different staff members will interpret this differently. By providing a display picture of the optimum table setting in each servery, the staff will have a quick point of reference for dining preparation that ensures consistent commitment to excellence in presentation.
Table settings for residents with physical and cognitive limitations
Remember, fine dining for persons living with physical and cognitive limitations will always require some tweaking! Tablecloths and paper placemats can easily become a risk nightmare for these residents. Plates and utensils can easily slip. Colourful non-slip placemats complemented by alternate-coloured plates will ensure minimal slippage during meals and compensate for altered depth perception.
Menu options
Menu appearance
How does the menu present? A photocopied black-and-white menu indicates a substandard commitment to the food being served. Pride in details such as menu presentation is fundamental to anticipating a great or not-so-great meal experience. Menu design requires attention to colours and font size to ensure senior eyes can actually read what you are offering, plus adjectives that entice the reader to want to try the menu item.
Menu choices
The meal choices offered need to encourage a perception of bounty not unlike that on a cruise ship. Every main course should offer a variety of gravies and sides. When offering desserts, more than one topping can be offered. Gravies and toppings are a cost-effective preference that offers meal diversity and an array of choices. Consult the experts on menu development, presentation and side options. Food service providers offer a wealth of knowledge and creativity and can take the frustration and time out of menu development and presentation.
Staff
Server presentation
How many staff members are actually aware of the impact that their dress, body language and ultimately their attitude has on the success of the meal for our customers? If your dining encounter requires front line staff such as personal care workers to also deliver plated food, make sure they have clean and presentable aprons to wear that cover their uniforms. Make sure they take five minutes at the outset of the meal to touch base with the servers behind the servery and review the menu. This includes the adjectives that describe the menu item, especially in view of those residents who require textured meal alternatives. Their meal experience should be the same as that of any other customer.
Table etiquette
As part of the hiring and orientation process, take time to teach all staff the effort required to provide a fine-dining experience. This should be shared with all staff, not only the persons hired for the food service department. It is the responsibility of the staff to demonstrate an attitude of excitement and genuine service commitment to the meal. This includes avoiding smelling food before offering it to the customers, blowing on the food to cool it down or crunching up their noses when offering foods they personally do not like. Such table etiquette breaches have no place in the dining room of our customers. Alternatively, table etiquette breaches by our customers are allowed. Staff are there to accommodate and ensure dignity and ownership at every meal. Hire staff that solve problems and serve others.
Quality begins with your organizational definition of excellence. Take that definition and apply it to all areas of your presentation— dining room, menu and staff. Commit to the dining encounter as a centre for success for all your customers, and you will guarantee at least three wonderful events a day for them.
About Jayne Harvey
