Cover story – advertising feature


Keeping control of mealtime costs


Richard Woodward, general manager of apetito’s care home division, looks at the options facing homes when it comes to making the right choice for their residents’ mealtimes


Care homes are facing unprecedented challenges. The headlines remind us daily – record levels of inflation, continued labour shortages, food, energy, and fuel prices all rocketing, and if you are ‘contracted out’ then you will also be facing the inevitable challenges in managing incumbent contracts and maintaining meal quality. When it comes to looking at meal


provisions, care homes often feel they only have two choices: in-house or a contract caterer on-site. There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but there are many factors that homes need to consider when ensuring they make the right choice for their individual needs. There is a third way! A way that guarantees simplicity, alongside guaranteed consistent costs and, most importantly, meals that are


Bridgeside Lodge has not looked back since moving to apetito


Sitting right in the heart of Islington is Bridgeside Lodge Care Centre, which has given outstanding care for more than two decades to over 60 residents with complex and varied needs.


The Care Centre fully recognises just


how important mealtimes are to residents, and how ensuring great food and nutrition is paramount in providing an overall excellent dining experience. The Centre’s manager Fatma Makola


says that by having apetito in place, she has found that Bridgeside Lodge has not only been able to save on staffing costs but has felt less impacted by sector labour shortages.


“In the kitchen, we’ve been less affected by staff shortages due to the ease of serving apetito meals. Stephen, our account manager, has trained many of our team how to prepare the food. Whoever is interested gets the opportunity to be trained – giving us extensive cover for any absences in the team." And mealtimes have become a lot less


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stressful, explains Fatma. “I don’t have to worry about the food in the same way anymore. Before apetito, if my chef was unavailable, we’d be challenged to find an alternative solution. But now if my kitchen team are ever ill or on holiday, my team will go above and beyond to support in the kitchen and I know the trolley will still be full of all the food our residents have chosen, and our residents’ mealtimes will be a seamless, relaxing experience. “Since making the move, I’ve never had


to worry about food and mealtimes. I know I’m able to cater to all my residents’ needs. Having so many team members trained to know how to prepare and serve the food and knowing the support is always there if I need it, is really comforting. “Now, if I get a call from my kitchen


team saying they’re unavailable, I don’t feel stressed - I know all the residents, no matter their requirements or tastes, are always going to have a meal that’s safe, nutritious, and that they’ll enjoy.”


CARE HOME


ENVIRONMENT


Volume 8 Issue 3 March 2023 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com


Keeping control of mealtime costs


Passivhaus: the new frontier in sustainability UK Care Week preview


delicious and packed with nutrients. Namely, a ‘hybrid’ offer, where pre-prepared meals are cooked from frozen on site and served to residents. Have you considered a high-quality pre-prepared meals system, enabling you to make notable efficiencies in both cost and labour? Meals where you cannot tell the difference in quality between fresh cook and a prepared meal?


No more headaches having to rework costing and budgets every week to keep in line with inflation and supply shortages. No more lengthy calculations to ascertain nutritional content – it is all available at the touch of a button. And meals where waste is minimal – increasingly important to care homes in ensuring they manage costs effectively. Our care homes customers tell us that an increasing challenge in delivering an excellent dining experience for residents is around ‘personalisation’ and the challenges of meeting bespoke dietary needs, whether cultural, religious, or personal preferences. And of course, Natasha’s Law has brought home the very real challenges of ensuring that one size does not ‘fit all’ when ensuring


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com March 2023


THE


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