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that residents are ‘free from’ the 14 known allergens.
This third way could help you make your mealtimes straightforward, stress-free, and cost-effective – while delivering meals your residents will love. However, we know it is a big decision and there are many facets to consider.
Why in-house or contract may not be the right fit
For many care homes, the label of ‘fresh cook’ has appeal to residents and their families. But there can be inherent challenges in delivering a seamless, quality service, and often a significant cost in preparing a quality fresh-cook service every day. And it should be asked – does it taste any better? How are specialist dietary needs met? How do you keep a firm handle on nutritional content? Contracting out to a third party such as contract caterer can appear to be an attractive alternative for many care homes, with the promise of minimising work for the management teams and seemingly taking away unpredictable labour concerns. But, of course, alongside this comes a loss of overall control which has been known (in some instances) to come back to bite. It is fair to say that sometimes homes can
have an unrealistic expectation of what a contract caterer can offer. The reality is that often, contract caterers are also struggling not only to recruit and keep their teams (and enjoy the benefits of capability and passion) but to pay more for them!
There is also the issue of cost. Right now, care homes budgets are being squeezed like never before, and many homes are needing to make cost efficiencies. Contract caterers are inherently more expensive as they are looking to make a margin that care homes could not, and one has to consider the exposure to rising costs, ever-rising labour costs (on a labour reliant model), absence, and inconsistency issues based on the skills level of the people in the kitchen on any given day.
How a hybrid system can help your care home
More and more care homes are considering the middle ground, and services such as our hybrid offer are an extremely attractive option.
Opting for a hybrid system helps to insulate care homes against the sector’s ongoing staff crisis, as it hugely reduces the reliance on labour while ensuring high quality meals every day, regardless of who is
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available to be in the kitchen that day. With apetito, gone is the need for a large and costly catering team. Costs are also fixed, which totally removes the time and stress of having to understand costs and how these can be controlled. In fact, we are finding that consistency of cost is a big plus for care homes using our service right now.
Food waste and portion control can really impact the bottom line. Sometimes, families take loved ones out for lunch, or residents can arrive back from hospital appointments later than expected, meaning there is unavoidable wastage. Having a pre-prepared meals service also helps make it easy for kitchen staff to cater for different numbers with minimal notice, while also managing portion control, producing less food waste, and streamlining efficiency in the kitchen.
Quality is an imperative!
Let us dispel the myth that quality is somehow inferior in a pre-prepared frozen meal. The opposite is true – nutrients are locked in, and the same ingredients are used. You will not taste any difference.
Guaranteed safety of meals Another real benefit of using a prepared meals service is that safety of mealtimes is guaranteed, something which is far harder for in-house or contract catering teams to achieve.
There are increasing numbers of residents
who have diverse dietary requirements. Catering for special dietary needs, whether cultural, religious, or ‘free from’ the 14 known allergens, makes food preparation in the kitchen a costly and complex task where enormous care needs to be taken at every stage of food’s preparation, from the storing of ingredients to the preparation and serving of meals.
Take allergens, for example – even if dishes do not include a specific allergen, there is still the risk of cross-contamination when prepared in a busy care home kitchen by staff who handle food containing allergens. It
is important that food preparation areas are fully segregated to ensure safety. Using a hybrid service helps homes manage dietary requirements. It reduces the risk of cross-contamination and makes it easy for homes to serve residents a wide variety of safe, nutritious, and tasty dishes that are appropriate for a resident’s needs. So, for care homes looking to make cost efficiencies, protect themselves from the impact of labour shortages, simplify catering for dietary requirements, and provide residents with a range of great tasting nutritious food, it really is worth considering if the third way - the hybrid approach - could work for your care home.
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Richard Woodward
Richard Woodward is general manager of apetito’s care home division, the leading experts in serving nutritious, delicious meals. Richard joined the company back in 2003 and has held numerous roles in apetito’s sales, marketing, and care homes teams. As general manager of care homes, Richard has spearheaded the growth of this division and encouraged innovation, having introduced the ground-breaking Finger Foods Range, which gives those living with dementia the opportunity to dine with dignity.
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