News and Views to Strengthen Your Healthcare Foodservice Operation™
WINTER 2016
Sustainability Takes Root
in Healthcare Foodservice
Enhancing Healthcare Workers’
Dining Experience
3 Ways to Stretch the Menu
Using Cross-Utilization Control
A publication of Gordon Food Service®
Changing with the Times
by: Aaron Frazier
D
rew Allen doesn’t shy away from a challenge.
As Director of Culinary Services for Otterbein
Lebanon Lifestyle Community in Lebanon, Ohio,
he has led a shift from tray-style to restaurantstyle dining. The move, which involved implementing a
new iPad-based POS system, has dramatically increased
resident food choices.
someone for a meal,” he says of his decision. “But in
healthcare, you’re catering to someone for the duration of
their stay, which can be many years. Make a mistake in a
restaurant and you may never see a customer again. Here,
I can follow up and make sure any problems are addressed
and resolved. I really like that ongoing personal contact
with residents and their families.”
Allen’s efforts have been noticed, and applauded.
FoodService Director magazine named him FoodService
Director of the Month in June 2015. More importantly
for him, he has earned the admiration of the 900-plus
residents, more than 500 employees, and assorted guests
who rely on his department for 2,000 meals a day.
Allen arrived at Otterbein in 2010 knowing the
community wanted to upgrade dining services for its
independent, assisted-living, and healthcare residents.
“They had been using a cafeteria tray-line,” he explains. “It
looked and felt very institutional—and it was very difficult
for residents who had limited mobility.”
“If somebody’s not eating their meal,
I will prepare something else.”
“It’s all about customer service for me,” says Allen,
who chose a career in healthcare foodservice instead
of restaurant work. “At a restaurant, you’re catering to
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Gordon Food Service
IMPLEMENTING RESTAURANT-STYLE DINING
Nine months after he started, Allen and his crew launched
a major change to the way residents dine. “We started in
independent living, with a choice of two entreés,” he recalls.
“We gradually increased that to five, then seven, and now it’s
19, all developed by our Executive Chef, Joe Di Salvio.”
The new approach required changes in ordering,
equipment, and especially, staffing. “Everything is made
to order, so we needed more people in the kitchen,” Allen
F E ATURE: C H A N GIN G WITH TH E TIM E S
says. “We had to add another grill and fryer as well as a
small refrigerator/freezer. And we now have eight waitstaff
taking orders at tables, plus General Manager Ashtan
Harrison out front.”
Allen inaugurated a few cosmetic improvements that
helped create a warmer, more comfortable ambiance.
A $500,000 renovation, completed in April 2014,
transformed the old cafeteria into a modern restaurant. A
variety of tables—long and short, round and square, twotops and four-tops—provide seating flexibility. A two-sided
electric fireplace and digital player piano add cozy appeal.
Just outside the entrance, a 60-gallon saltwater aquarium
and TV signage system provide entertainment and
information. The restaurant was even given a name: 1912,
the year Otterbein was founded.
Residents, Allen predicted, would greet these changes
with unabashed enthusiasm—after all, a series of
restaurant-style theme dinners held prior to 1912’s
opening were wildly popular. But change is hard. “We got
some resistance,” he says. “Some people didn’t like that we
were serving meals in courses rather than all at once. They
wanted to get in, eat, and get out.”
That was an easy fix. “We just told guests to let their
servers know if they wanted everything at once,” Allen
says. Still, a core of 20 to 30 people preferred the old way
of doing things, but Allen says most residents now love
1912—and it has proven an effective tool for marketing to
potential new residents.
EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Residents weren’t the only ones adapting to change.
Allen installed a new POS system shortly after the dining
revamp and purchased iPads for wait staff to use. “With
900 or so residents, we’re closer in size to a hospital or
small university, and we were finding it hard to track
payments for residents who weren’t on a meal plan,” he
says. The iPads, he notes, do that easily, and also greatly
reduce order time, as orders are sent directly from the
table to the kitchen POS system.
The iPads even control the restaurant’s player piano, so
song requests are submitted at the same time as orders.
Loaded with all 19 meal selections prior to each dinner,
the iPads ease memory strain for the wait staff and accelerate
pre-meal meetings. “Most of our wait staff is younger and
they embraced the technology right away,” Allen says. “Others
took a bit more time, but everybody’s up to speed now.”
That includes four employees (aka “culinary partners”)
recently inducted into Otterbein’s 20-plus club. “Teresa
Fielder, Teresa Dunfee, Nancy Keith, and Teresa Lige have
all been here for more than 20 years,” Allen says. “Their
experience and expertise goes a long way in implementing
successful culture change.”
Change extends to the way dining serves skilled-nursing
residents. Previously, the kitchen sent trays to 10 individual
Small Orders for Small Houses
Otterbein Lebanon Lifestyle Community
is one of many self-styled “Senior Lifestyle
Choices” the Otterbein organization offers
to Ohio seniors. That includes four other
Lifestyle Communities as well as a number of
“Small House” neighborhoods that combine
skilled nursing and rehabilitation. These Small
Houses, located on cul-de-sacs in residential
neighborhoods, accommodate a maximum of
10 elders and rehab guests.
“Drew’s foodservice business at Otterbein
Lebanon is so large that it equals all the rest
combined,” says John Kitchen, Otterbein’s
Director of Procurement. “The difference
in scale, especially between the lifestyle
communities and the Small Houses, creates
some interesting issues.”
Foremost among them is procurement. Lifestyle
communities receive weekly truck deliveries,
but Small Houses need correspondingly small
quantities of food, and they’re located in
residential areas not amenable to trucks.
“We rely on Gordon Food Service® Store for the
Small Houses, too” Kitchen says. “Every week, a
dietitian, a nurse, and cooks get together to plan
a menu for each house. Orders get electronically
transmitted to the nearest Gordon Food Service
Store®, where they’re bundled for us. It’s the
same order system we use to communicate
with Gordon Food Service warehouses, so we
can easily track everything by location. A single
vendor makes it so much easier.”
ENRICH | Winter 2016
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F E ATURE: C H A N GIN G WITH TH E TIM E S
neighborhood kitchenettes, giving residents only two
choices for dinner. Now, he says, residents have seven
choices—usually a special of the day, which is the same as
the restaurant’s, plus everyday selections such as
grilled cheese, a burger, and three different types of
chicken breast.
Skilled-nursing staffers serve as wait staff to take orders
and transmit them electronically to neighborhood-specific
culinary workers, who plate meals and deliver them to
residents at their tables.
EVOLVING SERVICES
Change continues at Otterbein. “We’re steadily growing,
getting ready for an influx of baby boomers,” Allen says.
New buildings are emerging on the 1,400-acre campus,
including The Bistro, slated to be a bigger and better
version of Otterbein’s deli concept. “We focus on healthier
items there—wraps, smoothies, juices,” Allen says. ”We’ll be
expanding the menu and adding more seating.”
Additional seating and cosmetic improvements are
in the works for The Country Store, another of Allen’s
responsibilities. The store, which sells knickknacks,
personal items, beverages, and snacks, includes a place for
residents to sit and chat.
Chatting will be discouraged at the new on-site movie
theater in the works. Allen’s crew will be responsible for
the food there, too, including a popcorn machine.
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Gordon Food Service
“These are all changes driven by new and existing
residents,” Allen explains. “We listen to what our
customers say.”
Obliging residents, a talented culinary staff of more
than 70, and a supportive administration help ease the
challenges Allen so eagerly tackles. He and Otterbein have
created a potent recipe for positive change. E
Credit Where Credit is Due
Every year, Otterbein honors the suppliers that
contribute to its success. Gordon Food Service
earned Otterbein’s “Vendor of the Year” award
in 2014.
“One of the best things Gordon Food Service
does for us is our annual food show,” Allen
says. “They set up in a big multipurpose room
here and bring in a huge array of different
entrées, vegetables, and desserts for residents
to sample.” Residents fill out a survey and topscoring items get added to the menu.
The event is a further expression of Otterbein’s
commitment to customer service. “Most places
tell people what will be on the menu,” Allen
says. “We ask.”