Jeremy Imes

The community’s senior care residents and guests felt the meals provided were “second rate” compared to those provided at the independent living dining venues. However, a health care setting has specific nutritional requirements and government regulations surrounding food service that can greatly limit the dining options.

In order to exceed guest satisfaction expectations of food quality and dining service, provided extensive and continued training to the culinary team and inspired creativity while simultaneously working within the regulatory limitations.

The senior care facility was ultimately ranked as one of America’s Best Nursing Homes by U.S. News and received the highest overall rating of five stars from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for four consecutive years.

The organization’s food and beverage department was divided, team morale was extremely low, and progress was at a complete standstill. Separation within the department had previously been enforced, thus there was a lack of accountability and an air of distrust among the employees.

Set expectations of a cooperative and helpful workplace culture and ensured any remaining negative tendencies were managed through progressive disciplinary action. Then, trained department management to utilize a newly implemented standardized employee attendance and performance tracking system.

These actions effectively changed the workplace culture to one that was positive, helpful, and unified.

Within 60 days of taking the Food and Beverage Director/Executive Chef position for a luxury active adult community, received direction that all food and beverage operations would be on hold indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparable circumstances were nonexistent, and a state of fear and anxiety was taking over the department. Moreover, there were a number of new mandated laws that affected all aspects of operations.

Quickly established enhanced sanitation procedures for employee and guest protections. Additionally, implemented a curbside restaurant program that included a retail grocery operation for the community.

Consequently, department revenue loss was minimized to less than $40,000 per year during the COVID-19 closure and reduced occupancy period. This ultimately led to additional revenue-generating procedures with continued success.

The department’s food cost percentage was much higher than company standards. There was a track record of unnecessary spending and overpurchasing, as well as inaccurate product inventory reporting. At the time, product ordering control measures and standardized inventory systems were not being used, and the menu costing templates were generic and outdated.

Created standardized systems and trained responsible parties on how to utilize the tools for the job. Additionally, leveraged company purchasing power, identified raw product savings, and adjusted menu price discrepancies.

As a result, the department’s overall revenue grew by $1.5 million from 2020 to 2023. Furthermore, the average annual bottom line improved by $65,000 per year.

The new retirement community was under construction and was needed to pass inspections without additional time and resources in order to begin occupancy. However, the majority of the dining department staff and management were new to federal- and state-regualted food and beverage operational procedures.

Developed simplified methods of thorough, engaging training to create awareness and increase knowledge about regulated dining services processes and procedures.

As a result, the department earned exceptional regulatory inspection report scores, and the certificate of occupancy was granted on time without additional inspections.

The retirement community was nearing construction completion, and opening day was quickly approaching. The dining department was expected to be open and operational on the first day of resident move-ins. However, there was a five-week construction delay. This made it difficult to hire, train, retain, and schedule food service staff members.

Advised already employed staff to not resign from their current positions until food service was ready to commence and maintained regular communication and transparency with the team regarding a realistic opening timeline. Additionally, hosted social gatherings for the department to create comradery and generate excitement as opening day approached. Onboarding the community’s largest department during construction and while the community was not yet generating revenue required a great deal of careful planning, creative thinking, and thoughtful implementation.

By strategically waiting to hire food service staff until the facility was complete, successfully saved over $100,000 in department wages.