We live in a design-conscious world. Fashionable clothes. Custom cars. Wondrous phone apps. New and fresh is always attractive, and healthcare foodservice is taking notice. That\u2019s because good design brings efficiencies that can improve performance and reduce costs.<\/p>\n
Kitchen and dining design changes are bringing \u201chospital\u201d and \u201chospitality\u201d together more than ever. And senior living and long-term care providers are learning the value of appealing to a population that has a lifetime of food experiences. For Scott Reitano, Principal at Reitano Design Group, this means exciting changes. His Indianapolis-based company has worked with healthcare and education dining around the world to create solutions that lead to everything from better eating to higher profits, customer satisfaction and cost-saving efficiencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hospitals and senior living areas compete for customers by using amenities as a selling point,\u201d he says. \u201cPart of that has to be food and the way it\u2019s served.\u201d<\/p>\n
The power of food is undeniable. Eating is front and centre at every party or social gathering. As the people working in healthcare-related dining embrace this culture of food, they have a lot to learn from observing college and university foodservice as well as retail dining.<\/p>\n
Both front and back of house design updates can improve receiving and storage, enhance kitchen flow, speed up service lines, build better sales and reduce waste. The result? More meals per labour hour and reduced plate cost.<\/p>\n
But change isn\u2019t easy, and often it\u2019s expensive. It\u2019s also unlikely the cast of \u201cExtreme Makeover\u201d or \u201cKitchen Crashers\u201d is dropping by anytime soon. So, unless you\u2019re building a new kitchen or have money budgeted for renovation, it\u2019s valuable to look for improvements you can make in the space you have.<\/p>\n
Some changes may look very modest. Performing a task using three steps instead of five doesn\u2019t sound like a big deal until you consider how those steps add up day after day into meaningful savings. Design, Reitano points out, makes possible many beneficial changes. He suggests taking a look at three areas\u2014context, benchmarking and trends\u2014to guide useful design changes.<\/p>\n
Every operation has a story. A hospital, for example, may have a mission statement that emphasizes being part of the community, with wellness classes, fitness and nutrition education, or even community involvement. \u201cIf so, then your serving space needs to be tangible evidence of your commitment to wanting people to be healthy,\u201d Reitano says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not about being food police, denying people burgers and fries, but rather about offering a fresh fruit bar front and centre or to-go options that are exciting, colourful and healthy. Because people eat with their eyes, he suggests directing people to the food you want them to eat. It can be accomplished by simply putting the fried food in the back corner and the colourful fruits and vegetables by the entrance.<\/p>\n
This approach helps manage what you buy, how you prepare it and the way it\u2019s served. All of these lead to savings by controlling prep time and labour.<\/p>\n
For hospitals and senior care, it\u2019s possible to fulfill your wellness mission statement and get people excited about food. \u201cEveryone has a chef these days,\u201d Reitano notes. \u201cWhy not bring that chef out of the kitchen to cook presentation-style? Create an entr\u00e9e of the day at a portable induction-cooking station and hand out samples.\u201d<\/p>\n
He even envisions cooking classes as a way to connect with everyone from employees to patients, residents and the public. Failing to practice what you preach could be driving people to eat elsewhere, and losing a large percentage of your staff at lunchtime or failing to entice visitors to try your dining options is costly.<\/p>\n
Collecting and analyzing data never sounds exciting. But data never lies, and it gets your operation to look at real numbers relevant to your business. Reitano suggests starting with metrics such as the number of people served. If yours is a 140-bed hospital or a senior community with 80 residents, compare with other like-sized operations. The data might be as simple as comparing your dining area square footage with the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly, you\u2019re noticing other things \u2026 what\u2019s popular, what\u2019s not popular,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you prepare a spreadsheet that shows six area hospitals making pizza, you can decide if it\u2019s something you want to add to your offerings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scouting the competition provides an idea of what\u2019s playing well in the marketplace. And, if the comparison comes from a similar-sized operation, you move beyond the numbers and analytics and into concepts.<\/p>\n
Rough comparative data often leads to concrete gains. For example, Reitano says, you may decide to offer more choices and find out that, as a result, participation goes up. And, if people like their choices, food waste declines.<\/p>\n
Food waste is one of Reitano\u2019s pet peeves. He urges using a collection bucket to weigh uneaten and unserved food at the end of the day. Once the waste is tracked, it\u2019s possible to enact measures to reduce it. \u201cMaybe you\u2019ll discover that you have extra trays of food on days when medical tests are administered. That will teach you to communicate with medical staff and not overprepare in the future.\u201d That kind of benchmarking data, combined with communication, creates savings that go right to the bottom line.<\/p>\n
Fresh is the key word these days, Reitano observes. \u201cFresh and healthy are not the same thing, but it equates to more engaged eating\u2014if a panini sandwich or an omelet is prepared in front of a guest, there\u2019s a feel of freshness.\u201d Other trends on Reitano\u2019s radar:<\/p>\n
Customizable food.<\/strong> When customers choose ingredients at pasta bars, deli counters, pizza and wok stations, it increases consumption and reduces waste.<\/p>\n Socialization. <\/strong>People want to eat in a space where they can talk and share, which increases participation.<\/p>\n Expanded hours.<\/strong> People no longer eat at traditional meal times. You may be missing revenue if you only serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Consider keeping a caf\u00e9 open at all hours.<\/p>\n You want to make design comfortable and inviting, and Reitano makes it happen using this three-word secret: follow the food. From the loading dock where it arrives to the tables where it\u2019s consumed, the right design changes make a difference. Reducing the distance between the back door and the cooler can save time and labour at delivery. Properly stocked shelves streamline inventory and reduce overstock. Getting food quickly from oven to plate enhances quality, and proper presentation reduces waste.<\/p>\n Turning data into design can build a success story. If your new front-of-house design increases traffic, you may need more labour. The higher labour cost is actually a win if your sales increase so much that you can afford more labour and make more money. Ultimately, your meals per labour hour go down.<\/p>\n Data can drive better design. And better design can provide improved results. It\u2019s a circle that can result in time, labour and cost savings, as well as reduced waste, improved revenue and higher customer satisfaction. The kind of data that\u2019s always in fashion. Data-driven design changes lead to better performance and satisfied diners. We live in a design-conscious world. Fashionable clothes. Custom cars. Wondrous phone apps. New and fresh is always attractive, and healthcare foodservice is taking notice. That\u2019s because good design brings efficiencies that can improve performance and reduce costs. Kitchen and dining design changes are bringing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow design pays off<\/h3>\n
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