HEALTHTAC F&B 2024 Panel: Resident Experience, Part 2

By Jim Nelson | January 6, 2025

MIAMI, FL — Here in the home of the Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, Panthers, and Inter Miami CF, sister companies HEALTHTAC and Senior Living News recently gathered the heads of culinary departments from coast to coast for our annual boutique food & beverage event.

Our event featured panels, one of which focused on how culinary departments can enhance the resident experience from their perspective (click here to read about other panels).

This is the conclusion to our two-part article spotlighting the conversation between panelists John Pietrangelo, who was just promoted to VP of food and beverage at Life Care Services; Michael Zywicki, Anthem Memory Care’s VP of programs and engagement; and Goodwin Living’s culinary innovation and development chef, Brian Patterson, who also moderated.

In part 1, the panelists touched on things like rethinking to-go meals and the benefits of tracking food waste. Part 2 picks up with Patterson addressing Pietrangelo.

“There’s a trend building towards more dining spaces like action stations and chef’s tables to increase the engagement with the culinarians and the residents. Can you speak a little bit to your resident engagement? One of the things that we’ve encountered is a little bit of resistance on the part of residents: ‘Hey, I still want to see my food. I still want to point at that, and I want some of that, and I want some of that.’”

“Whether it’s the culinarians, the director, the servers, personal connection is really important with our resident body,” stated Pietrangelo. “They want to know our story. They want to be connected with us as team members. Once you establish those relationships, the experience really can be enhanced. They give us more grace when we have errors, because they know that we care, because we made personal connections. As we look at new spaces, for innovating spaces, we’re doing smaller venues, some  of these 200-seat large dining rooms, now we’re doing 40-, 50-seat venues, and doing multiple of them, doing different concepts with them, more destination-dining focused. Some of them have an open kitchen concept so you have that interaction of watching the experience take place in front of you. We like to actually put some counter seats, as well, for the single residents who sometimes will sit at the open kitchen table and engage with the culinarians, watch the show, talk to the people sitting next to you, as the experience is happening. That’s where we see it happening, more that open kitchen concept space, smaller venues, and more variety.”

“When you have so many cultures among your kitchen staff,” Patterson commented, “when we ask them to cook our American comfort food, that’s not really their food. But to turn the tables, so to speak, and have some of those cooks present their ethnic cuisine, and engage with the residents, has really been a thrill for us at Goodwin Living.

“We talked yesterday about allowing people to tell their story through their food,” Pietrangelo said to Patterson. “What was the driver to get them into that role and let their food tell their story. I think that’s a big deal. We need to tell our story as much as we possibly can, so I would tell team members all the time, ‘I want to feel the experience of sitting at your grandparents’ kitchen table. Just cook authentically.’”

“Something else that you and I chatted about last night,” Patterson answered, “we’re starting to look at Gen Xers coming our way now. How do we engage these folks who are coming on board who have dined in fine restaurants, been around the world, have gone to cooking classes? They have a whole new level of food awareness and food experience, and they’re coming our way. We’re getting a lot of requests for more plant-based menu items, while the boomers and the greatest generation are like, ‘Hey, what’s with all the plants? Where’s my baloney sandwich and my macaroni and cheese?’ One of my mottos, and I can’t claim originality to it, is when introducing something new to residents, something that’s out of their comfort zone or out of their experience, is to lead with delicious and tell the story. So that first bite had better be really catching — ‘I didn’t know that soybean salad could be this good’ — and then tell the story: Why is this good for you? Where does this salad come from? What is the plant-based movement? Good for the earth, good for you, good for our community, good for our bottom line.

“I’d like to hear a little bit more of your thoughts of managing expectations of multi-generations,” Patterson continued with Pietrangelo. “We’re working in communities where it’s not just a generation, like in a college campus, but 40, 50 years of generations.”

“Yeah, it’s very hard because we have a large population who still wants their comfort food and is set in their ways; change is hard for everyone,” Pietrangelo responded. “I think it’s important that we find spots on our menu where we actually can have a chef’s section or chef’s curations, if you may, and have them be composed dishes that are intended to be eaten together with complexity and introducing some of those plant-based items there, perhaps. We like to try to have substitutions for any entrée on the menu; you can always add a tofu, a portobello mushroom, or a plant-based protein option, so you can sub them out. So, you’re meeting the need of residents who want their steak and potatoes, but somebody who wants to eat plant-based we have the option there too.”

A member of the audience then asked Pietrangelo about the process as LCS went from “that traditional open-dining concept or everyone-in-the-dining room concept to this destination program,” saying they “think that’s really where the industry trend needs to go.”

“It’s not easy,” Pietrangelo said right up front. “It takes some reengineering of your kitchen space and your dining room space to make it happen. And then menu concepts: How do we create our menus to be short and concise to the point where the team can still do it efficiently? We’re not adding another kitchen; in most capacities we’re actually using the same firing line, but we’re having to be really smart about, ‘How do we break our line up, what items come from this side to go to that dining room? What items come to this side to go to this dining room?’ I have a community here in Florida and we’re doing three concepts out of one main kitchen.”

“We’re struggling now,” said Patterson, “with the fact that we have multiple venues, and each venue has its own identity — yet those venues are separated physically from the main kitchen, so we’re bussing a lot of material and food, and cooking stuff from one venue back to another through resident-facing areas. This is, ‘How can we reengineer our spaces so it’s a little less conspicuous how the main kitchen is feeding each of those disparate dining venues?’”

The next question came from a member of the audience who asked Zywicki of Anthem Memory Care about care staff in the memory space. “What did you do to take that responsibility out of their hands and put it into the culinary?”

“I actually flow with a full cooking team; we don’t have servers,” Zywicki responded. “They do everything, and I’ve helped them understand the concept, especially the chef. When you have a server call in, it doesn’t affect you, but when your cook calls in and it’s a two-man show you’re working seven days a week, so they got the concept real quick, it’s much better to have a full cooking team that are working together, that wash dishes, do everything together, but I have our culinary team just do the serving in the dining room and interacting, and then I rely on the engagement team. If engagement is not available, the leadership team. I’ve told them that you need to be present in the dining room, because, again, it’s an experience for our residents and families. That’s how we’re gauged, right? If a family comes to join a resident with a meal, our residents can’t always fully articulate how they’re enjoying that experience or that meal. It’s the eye test for them. If they’ve seen a lot of waste go in, if it’s a chaotic environment, they’re going to rate us low. So, I had to teach the teams, and I have, I guess, the benefit that I’m also bringing fun from the engagement side, and they’re seeing me sing karaoke and bring a bunch of candy and do a bunch of fun stuff from that perspective, too. So, I’m building a relationship with the caregivers. Many [here] have commented about [my] Nikes. I have all different colors, and that’s a talking point with a lot of the caregivers; they’re like, ‘Oh, you got nice kicks. You’re like, someone that I could probably relate to.’ It just opens the door for me to ask them to do things and try things, and I’ll even be in the dining rooms and kitchens, showing them how it’s done. And once they see the magic and the change, it’s actually been pretty awesome. But I don’t give them a choice. We’re in this environment where we’re scared to ask, or people are going to leave. They don’t. When you show them the value and have them understand the ‘why,’ they’re not leaving; they actually are starting to buy in and do some great things. We just don’t press and ask enough of our staff in the right way to get the results that we’re looking for.”

“When you made that transition,” asked the same audience member, following up his initial query, “were you able to do it with the existing kitchen staff, or did you find that you had to add additional labor?”

“Four FTEs is what we have,” Zywicki explained. “I don’t get extra staffing. I had to become pretty versed in how the kitchen operated, and the decisions that I’d make wouldn’t be a detriment to what they still have to accomplish. I have a three-cook structure now, where they each focus on one meal, and it’s actually brought a better-quality meal because they’re not [finishing] breakfast and then rushing to get lunch done. You’ve got the lunch cook coming in. They support each other by the cleaning and doing all that. And I have cleaner kitchens. I have better-quality meals being presented now. And they’re putting all their heart into one meal a day. They’re prepping the day before, where it used to be they’d walk in and they’re cooking right from the get-go; now they’re all preprepped. They’re less stressed, so it has translated to a much more effective, efficient kitchen, and the quality of food has improved.”

Patterson, the moderator, finished by asking for Zywicki’s perspective on the “universal soldier” approach to the CNAs and caregivers.

“With life enrichment being part of the whole process in the dining room,” Zywicki explained, “I’m really trying to show them that our culture is everybody does everything for everyone. So, it’s not just on the caregivers. I’ve even had chefs and cooks come out and do life enrichment events more often than just the one time a month. And the relationships that our staff build together, because of the concept and mindset, they’re supporting each other. I even have on our engagement calendars the specific caregiver that’s leading some kind of activity, or the chef or what have you, and they’re the better-attended events because they want to support each other as a staff. So, it’s just utilizing the staff and having them understand the value that they’re going to get by doing the things, and that we’re not just asking them to do more we’re asking everybody to work together better, which makes their life more efficient and better.”