Foodservice Equipment & Supplies

JUN 2016

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazines is an industry resource connecting foodservice operators, equipment and supplies manufacturers and dealers, and facility design consultants.

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82 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • JUNE 2016 CATERING TO SENIORS More often, retirement community foodservice programs are refecting the trends of retail restaurants, with from-scratch cooking, local fare and cleaner, more nutritious ingredients. By Lisa White, Contributing Editor S eventy percent of people over 65 years old require some form of long-term care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And more than 733,300 older adults reside in senior liv- ing communities. With the aging of Americans and a more discriminating clientele on the horizon, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) will continue to grow and evolve in the years ahead. Along those lines, a growing number of CCRCs continue to shun the more institutional approach of the past and now formulate their operations around resident requests. Look- ing specifcally at the foodservice component, this approach results in more individualized programs that include a diverse choice of meals, more upscale dining environments with a restaurant setting and a focus on customer service. "There has been a culture change with today's initiatives," says Virginia Ohanian, culinary and nutrition services direc- tor for St. Andrews Estates North in Boca Raton, Fla., an ACTS Retirement-Life Community. In newly renovated communities like St. Andrews, resi- dents have more dining options, ranging from formal dining rooms to branded restaurant concepts and smaller neighbor- hood eating areas with homelike atmospheres. CCRCs also cater to residents' desire to be more nutritionally savvy. The menu production program at St. Andrews provides residents with nutritional values, including fat, sodium and sugar contents. "Food is now cooked to order rather than prepared in batches, and residents are experiencing more of a one-on- one relationship with the cooks and waitstaff," says Ohanian. Additionally, a growing number of CCRCs now place a greater emphasis on dining's social aspects. For example, operators now plan more events and activities around meals, such as food demos with action stations, cooking contests and theme nights. To deal with space constraints in the back of the house, more CCRCs now turn to multifunctional equipment, including combi ovens and blast chillers. "Chefs in these facili- ties want the functionality without spending a lot of money," says Ohanian. "Cleanability, space effciency and value also are paramount with CCRC foodservice equipment." At Heritage Community, the foodservice program is uniquely centered around staf interaction. Action stations are a common fxture in the front of house.

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