TIPS & TRENDS EMPLOYEES & PROCESSES
IMPROVING IN-ROOM DINING “The pandemic gave us the opportunity to focus on improving our room delivery ex- perience, forgoing disposable containers in favor of a more sustainable approach with plates and lids, much like a finer hotel,” says Doug Anderson, vice president, marketing and communications, culinary services, at New Perspective.
CLEANER, SAFER, FUTURE “The best processes that arose out of the pandemic are probably related to sanitation, with unsanitary things like salad bars and table menus hopefully going away forever,” says Nick Olla, vice president of special projects at Merrill Gardens. “Beyond that, things like mask wearing and enhanced cleaning practices with electrostatic equipment might make sense in certain situations moving forward beyond the pandemic.”
PICKUP AND DELIVERY Juniper Communities started a partnership with Cubigo, a platform that integrates with its POS (point of sale) system, says Kris Kishbaugh, Juniperʼs regional culinary di- rector. “Residents can log into Cubigo and view menus in our restaurants and place orders for pick or delivery.
COLLABORATE AND CONQUER “Be it with ghost kitchen operators to drive additional revenue, or with local restaurants to give our teams a break one or two nights a week, we believe that working together with others in the broader community will be to the benefit of us all,” says Merrill Gardens’ Nick Olla.
FLEXIBILITY AND FUN “We have focused on developing dining rooms that feel purposeful, with counter and banquette seating, and engaging spaces that
allow for both intimate and larger gather- ings,” says Olla. “We like having semi-open kitchens that allow our chefs to look out, and our residents to look in. This enables our chefs to see when residents come in to dine as we are always open, and that allows us to anticipate their needs and be better prepared to serve them.” “Our residents also like to look in, so that
they can connect with the process and the people behind their meals. It’s dinner and a show!”
CULTURE AND CROSS-TRAINING “Juniper’s culture has always been our advantage,” says regional culinary director Kishbaugh. “We have a leadership team built with servant leaders; we have doers from top to bottom in this organization. We have employees willing to be cross trained from housekeeping, to dining services, to our executive directors. So as we work our way through these unprecedented times, we have people who are flexible enough to meet the ever-changing challenges this pandemic has presented.”
VIRTUAL TRAINING AN OPTION “We have certainly leaned into virtual train- ing when it comes to training and onboard- ing our new executive chefs during the pre- vaccine days when we were limiting travel,” says Olla, of Merrill Gardens. “While remote training will certainly
have a place in the future, we’ve found that the in-person experience is still the best way to train and retain and is a worthwhile investment in time and effort.”
At Merrill Gardens, redesigned counter seating enhances engagement.
STAYING IN HIRING MODE: “While we talked about always being in hiring mode before the pandemic, we didn’t always live it,” says New Perspective’s Doug Anderson, vice president, marketing and communications, culinary services. “We now have now been forced to always be hiring, even when we are ‘fully’ staffed, because the situation can change from one day to the next.”
14 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MARCH/APRIL 2022
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