When your most recent dining-satisfaction scores top 95%, you might be tempted to coast awhile. But no one\u2019s resting on their laurels at Shannex, a family-owned company offering retirement living, long-term care and in-home care services across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. Director of Culinary Services Dana Schiefer and his crew cooked up a way to create even more excitement about the dining program; in the process, they positioned Shannex as an employer of choice for future culinary graduates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hosted the first-ever Shannex Top Chef Culinary Competition in 2015,\u201d Schiefer says. \u201cWe have a lot of talented chefs who work for the company and we thought this would be a good way to showcase their skills. Plus, it gives us an opportunity to work together and learn from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shannex operates 11 Parkland Retirement Living Communities, each with its own Red Seal-trained executive chef. In June 2015, seven of them competed in the first round of this contest, modeled after the popular reality-television series. Chefs prepared an appetizer and dessert of their choice and were tasked with creating an entr\u00e9e from four mystery ingredients\u2014which turned out to be Hawaiian red snapper, Asian pear, a whole coconut and radishes.<\/p>\n
A panel of celebrity guest judges advanced four chefs to the final round of the competition in December. Many recipes from both rounds were incorporated into menus and printed in
\nthe company magazine. <\/p>\n
Round one of the competition was held at the Shannex Culinary Centre, a state-of-the-art food preparation and distribution facility that supplies the company\u2019s 18 long-term care communities. Round two took place at Parkland at the Lakes Retirement-Living Community in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n
Clients, prospective clients and staff, as well as instructors and students from the local culinary school, were invited to attend both events. \u201cWe wanted them to see that this is truly a sophisticated dining operation,\u201d says Heather Hanson, Director of Communications and Community Affairs at Shannex. \u201cThat\u2019s especially important for culinary students who don\u2019t typically think of healthcare as a first career choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outreach to budding chefs and dietitians is a key aspect of the culinary program. \u201cDana invites classes from local universities to come in and see what we do here,\u201d Hanson explains. \u201cWe have about 100 to 125 students go through our kitchens each year and many of them do internships. We show them that this kind of foodservice is not what they think.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s essential to ensuring a steady stream of trained culinary personnel for an operation that serves food in 45 buildings and is always expanding. It\u2019s also critical to maintaining the organization\u2019s high culinary standards. <\/p>\n
Those standards are driven by Shannex\u2019s philosophy of service, which is based on the values of placing clients first, promoting independence, treating with dignity, respecting choices and recognizing each client as an individual. This service culture is reinforced by the word \u201cclients\u201d instead of \u201cresidents.\u201d <\/p>\n
Client-driven dining starts with eliciting individual dietary requirements and preferences before the first meal is served. It extends to restaurant-style service offering a choice of seven weekly specials, all impeccably prepared and presented in elegant dining rooms. And it encompasses a willingness to go \u201coff the menu\u201d as often as needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on the line with a chef at 4 p.m. and he got a request for four scallops seared on one side, three shrimp and 10 French fries\u2014none of which was on the menu,\u201d Schiefer says. \u201cBut he did it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all about fresh and local,\u201d Schiefer adds. \u201cAbout 40% of our menu is sourced locally. That goes up in the summer when we have access to more produce. Our clients want to know where their food is coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clients and family members are invited to tour the Culinary Centre to observe chefs and staffers readying selections that will be transported to long-term care kitchens for final cooking. \u201cEven something as simple as beef stew is assembled here,\u201d Schiefer says. \u201cIt allows us greater consistency and quality control.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same is true of a new bakery operation at the Culinary Centre. Opened in November 2015, it enables Shannex to deliver homemade flavour on a grand scale. \u201cThe other day we made 3,000 jamdrop cookies,\u201d Schiefer says.Baked goods are the only things not prepared on-site in retirement-living communities. <\/p>\n
The Top Chef competition was so successful that it was quickly slated for an encore. \u201cIt was great for our staff and our clients and our future,\u201d Schiefer says.<\/p>\n
Ready, set, compete. Eight rules for staging your own culinary competition:<\/p>\n
Client-driven dining delivers top results in Canada. When your most recent dining-satisfaction scores top 95%, you might be tempted to coast awhile. But no one\u2019s resting on their laurels at Shannex, a family-owned company offering retirement living, long-term care and in-home care services across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. Director of Culinary Services Dana Schiefer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-culinary-ideas","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n