Mississauga, ON
February 26, 2025
Four Questions (Part 1)
1.Event Success
What special food service events have you done in the past year that were a BIG hit? Tell us.
2. Maximizing Choices
How do you maximize and provide daily meal & beverage choices at your healthcare community? Explain.
3. Timely Feedback
What effective ways do you obtain timely feedback on meal satisfaction from staff/ residents/pt/family (outside of resident council mtg?)
4. Best Practices
How does your team stay up to date with Best Practices? What resources do you lean into the most? List
1.Event Success
1. Christmas Dinners – invite family members for a special menu and cocktails and drinks.
2. Carnival – popcorn stands, hot dogs, petting zoos
3. Cooking with Chef – prepare special item/meal. Residents will help out and get to eat meal afterwards.
4. Resident banquet with family – for Lunar New Year – lion performances
5. BBQ events
6. Farmer’s market
7. Restaurant type service
8. Valentine’s day event with residents and families – pink juice and heart shaped pasta
9. Tansley Woods 1 night Christmas Dinner (855 meals served)
10. Polish traditional Christmas Eve event
11. Sysco comes into home with vendor show to sample products
12. Potluck “Taste of the World” theme food samples
13. Recognizing national food days
14. Sandwich maker
15. Nutrition Month
16. Chinese New Year
17. Food show for residents – vendors bring items to sample and exhibit for residents and family members and then have opportunity to evaluate items
18. Black history month
19. Travelogue
20. Menu Fest – themed and done annually – families trying new recipes “Marg’s Meat Pie” – recipes from family members and team members
21. Spring & Fall food fairs
22. Having a tool to vet products (scorecard)
23. Recipe exchange
24. Resident council meetings intro to their food procurement system (Sysco)
25. Family integrated meals
26. Strawberry fest
27. Early bird dinners – community-based dinner event. Invitation out to community senior groups and revenue generating. Potential national roll out
28. Non-profit café open to low-income seniors – provide affordable meals & a space to connect
1.Event Success (cont’d)
29. Perch fry, BLT day, Tim Horton’s day, burger day, ice cream truck, decorate cookies with kids and residents, lunch with the chef, pizza class, outside dining, BBQ
30. Taste of Home (resident involvement)
31. Travel the world (programming and menu culture – sounds, sights, taste) –monthly
32. Family Christmas Dinner – fine dining
33. Home milestones – 25th anniversary of the building, 60’s & 70’s theme with food trucks, diners
34. Valentines Day with flowers and loot bags, shrimp cocktails, involve staff with food
35. Pasta contest
36. Casino theme
37. Strawberry social, summer BBQ, take-out lunches, Vegas night, specialty desserts, local themed foods
38. Breakfast club – once per month – 10 residents rotate each time
39. Fried egg Friday
40. Prom night with decorations and music in retirement home. “Sold” made tickets
41. Swiss Chalet dinner
42. Take out days
1.Event Success (cont’d)
43. Food festivals – eat around the world – taste tests
44. Student implementation of special meal day
45. Communal dining during special occasions
46. Family style seating plan
47. Cream Roll Event – French Cuisine Event
48. BBQ – resident participates in prep
49. Camping, retreat and smores on fire and spider dogs
50. Gingerbread house
51. Cultural event – bring in cultural dishes to share with team & residents. Wear costumes and entertainment
52. Christmas meal for all staff prepared in house
53. Mother’s Day High Tea
54. Three days of Christmas Dinner & Thanksgiving with families
55. Jerkfest – chicken, pork, fish
56. Christmas – 12 days of desserts
57. Resident choice meals themed with costumes
2. Maximizing Choices
1. Two choices
2. One choice plus a la carte (chili & beef stew) – lunch & dinner
3. Two choices for beverages
4. AM snack, difference choices of juice
5. Theme days and holiday menus
6. A la carte menu – prepped sandwiches
7. Team engagement (offer resident choice), second round asking available at all times
8. Offer between meals
9. Utilizing holiday menus / themed dining
10. Additional choice – plain meats as personal preference
11. Rotation of beverage
12. Change it up for resident preference
13. Resident choice meal
14. Cultural meals
15. Sampling new products
16. Personalized menu
17. Having a supply of tea and coffee in the common areas for residents and family to access
18. Retirement homes that have restaurants on site
19. Incorporating seasonal and fresh foods on the menu
20. Retirement – a la cart menu show plates
21. “As Other Menu” with the always available concept
22. Bistro – display case with pastries, coffee, to-go items
23. Hydration stations
24. Circle café – cookies & beverages
25. Tuck cart
26. Vendor shows
27. Resident council meetings – along with regular 4-week menu, home specific resident’s choice as always available menu : South Asian, Ukrainian, Italian, Mexican
28. Mix & match choices : entrée from 1st choice with salad or veg from 2nd choice
29. Travelling café cart to provide choices to seniors with poor accessibility
30. Table caddy with variety of seasoning/sauces to meet various resident preferences and taste palates.
2. Maximizing Choices
31. Two choices
32. Eight difference fluid choices
33. Breakfast club
34. Four choices
35. Continental breakfast
36. Room service app for families and residents (hospital setting)
37. Three-week cyclical menu, 2 choice and also available menu
38. Menu suggestions via poster board
39. Corporate menus to food committee
40. Leftover from meals are made into snacks
41. Liberalization / quality of life
42. Beverage cart
43. Build menu based on choices
44. Two choices of veg menu
45. Extra snack/fruits in basket in addition to nourishment
46. Understanding likes and dislikes
47. Variety of foods – multicultural dining
48. Incorporate resident council requests
49. Be flexible
2. Maximizing Choices
34. Individualized care plans
35. Sample plates (try out)
36. Serving both meal choices in smaller portions.
37. Offering beverages at point of service
38. Serving special beverages like soda
39. Diet crystals for juices, providing more than 10 choices
40. Two varieties of snack
41. Pub menu, dining room menu
42. Bedside choices prior to meals
43. Electronic menus with MealSuite
3. Timely Feedback
1. Staff - huddles – Monday & Fridays
2. Resident – food community meetings
3. Chef – ask resident personally – see what foods are left – food waste audit
4. Satisfaction surveys
5. Family committees
6. Team meetings
7. Connect with team and residents daily
8. Stay in dining room during meal service to see and hear what is being served and how
9. Family council meeting
10. Comment cards
11. Full team approach – D.A. do rounds – cook does rounds to get feedback
12. Audits at POS
13. Continuous feedback from residents
14. Utilizing students/volunteers
15. Email
16. Survey tablets – located in dining area for resident and family to provide immediate feedback following meal service
17. Family & resident satisfaction surveys
18. Dining room walk abouts with chefs and cooks
19. Suggestion box by resident’s council board
20. One to one with residents
21. Care conferences
22. “Through the grapevine”
23. Touch the table – chef will go to the table with their full dress to talk to residents and get feedback
24. Frequent audits – ask for feedback from resident at the end of the meal
25. Review menu during care conferences to involve residents / POA / family
26. Team member survey – NPS surveys (net promoter score)
27. Resident feedback cards on every table (anonymous) so they can submit feedback at any time
28. Monthly newsletter
29. Menu tasting during meal service
30. Be present at meal service and chat with residents
31. Plate waste audit
32. Collect the data
3. Timely Feedback
33. MealSuite feedback form on menu board
34. Personalization of certain needs
35. Family meal audit and survey
36. Multidisciplinary rounds in dining room
37. Mini dining experience
38. Townhall meeting every month
39. Random cart audits to check items
40. Follow through – do what you say you are going to do
41. Satisfaction surveys
42. Meal acceptance report – chart format
43. Software feedback
44. Ask your staff
45. Being present – the whole community!
46. Engaging team members
47. Inviting family to attend food committee / resident meetings
48. Open door policy
49. Diversify options when collecting survey results – Google surveys, paper, phone surveys, volunteers with residents, townhall info gathering, QR codes, staff/management involvement in gathering data
4. Best Practices
1. IDDSI Standards 2. Conferences 3. Team huddles and check-ins 4. Patient satisfaction surveys 5. MOLTC
6. Up-to-date ministry guidelines 7. CSNM 8. School
9. Daily huddles
10. Posting CSNM articles
11. CE sessions
12. Monthly team meeting
13. Circle of care meeting (multi-discipline meeting)
14. Monthly food committee meeting
15. Meal round audits – in-the-moment education
16. Info from Sysco reps
17. MealSuite newsletters
18. Organizational newsletters
19. Education sessions
20. In-services
21. Shadowing other home’s practices
22. Networking with other Nutrition Managers
23. Policies and procedures
24. Professional development
25. Inservices – pleasurable dining by Sysco – dietitian in-services
26. Dietitians of Canada
27. Other professionals
28. Advocacy groups – OSNAC
29. CSNM magazine
30. OSNAC & FNAT website
31. IDDSI website
32. ECPS & (Sysco Resources)
33. Webinars & Seminars like the ones hosted by Sysco
4. Best Practices (cont’d)
34. “Recipe champions” – executive chef develops/tests recipes – residents complete score card – winning recipes are featured on the menus
35. Goal of reducing beef on menu to reduce carbon footprint
36. Update modules
37. Education
38. Audits
39. Surge Learning System
40. Monthly In-service
41. Staff education survey
42. In person training – outside speakers
43. Nutrition care manual
44. Diet consultant
45. CSNM & volunteering
46. BPSO – RNOA
47. Dietitians of Canada suggestions
48. Interdisciplinary conversations
49. Communication with cook and staff
50. Meeting with residents and family on move-in day
51. Registered Dietitian
52. Vida Dietetics
53. Season’s Care
4. Best Practices (cont’d)
54. Ministry of Health guidelines
55. Weekly quality calls
56. Pre-service meetings
57. Anti-spam legislation
58. MealSuite Touch
59. Health Canada handouts
60. O-snacks
61. Recall notifications
62. Consistent auditing
63. Sysco weekly updates
64. Mealtime huddles with team member
65. Task schedule
66. Corporate Consultant
67. Lean on outside vendors for resources
68. Public health inspections – a tool to improve
69. Connect with other communities
70. ¼ meetings, down to staff meetings, peer meetings – the more we can share, the better!
Four Questions (Part 2)
5. Positive Changes
What positive changes have you made in the quality of food service in the past year?
7.
How do you bring dignity to texture modified diets (not the “3 scoop special”) within your serving time restraints?
6. Resident Participation
How do you bring “resident participation” into your meal service? (inside & outside of mealtimes)
8. Actual Birthday
How do you celebrate a resident/pt’s birthday on their actual day? Tell us exactly what you do.
Puree Meals
5. Positive Changes
1. Seasonal fruits when available
2. Seasonal menus
3. Equipment review
4. Food prep
5. Software / technology
6. Cultural considerations
7. Resident feedback
8. One choice – fresh veg / better meat
9. Make more food from scratch
10. Fresh produce (salads / fruit)
11. Seasonal local items
12. Holiday desserts
13. Food forward (local foods)
14. Adding more finger foods
15. Dinner feedback (right away)
16. All fresh veg
17. Synergy/MealSuite implementation – enhancing dignity of meal service – show plates
18. Knowledge of food being served by dietary aides / servers.
19. Complimentary meals to family on day of admission (3 people)
20. Weekly event / meal calendar available at “guest services”
21. Recipe standardization/creation and scratch cooking
22. Improve temperatures: lots of education, small tips & wins
23. Batch cooking for two seating dining rooms, keep food quality & temperature
24. Providing choice – meal selections
25. Chef samples all three textures
26. Add resident feedback
27. Rotate eggs
28. MealSuite Touch – quieter dining rooms
29. Share best ideas with each other
30. Pre-thickened fluids
31. Bake items as close to meal service as possible
32. Rationale ovens
33. Always available menu: Italian & Indian food
34. Increased variety
35. Recipe reviews / taste panels
36. Bring cook to resident council
37. Recipe standardization
38. Replace frozen with freshly made
39. Align better with IDDSI standards
5. Positive Changes
40. Teaching in-services / skills to staff
41. More taste testing
42. More cultural variety
43. Change products
44. Grow fresh herbs / veggies
45. One option menu that is always available – cooks have more time, reduces waste
46. New placemats
47. Murals in dining room
48. Fresh foods vs. canned or frozen
49. Freshly made desserts vs. frozen
50. Lower sodium, more fresh herbs
51. Garnishing
52. Take meal order (MealSuite app) – pop up
53. Personalized recipes
54. Cooking techniques – French
55. Resources for plate presentation
56. Burlodge carts – improve food
57. Plateware to enhance offering
58. Less processed food
59. Added poached eggs
60. Toast and eggs made fresh to order
61. Cultural focus & expanding for cultural celebrations
62. Understanding residents needs socially & culturally
63. Make sure input and output is the same – follow up
64. Make sure staff are service oriented and trained
65. Involve staff as front line – they know residents better
66. Fresh produce – knowing the suppliers
67. Show plate – appearance, colour, shapes
68. Hot food best practices
69. Simple terminology
70. Digital show plate
71. Different types of meat cuts
72. Special meals serve non-alcoholic wine
73. Happy hour once a week
74. Scratch cooking
75. Batter own fish
76. Speak to vendors – get samples
77. Hired talented, quality staff
5. Positive Changes
78. Instant ordering or POS
79. Cooking closer to service time
80. Ensure food stays hot by using plate warmers
81. Chef goes around to different communities then develops the recipes with RD
82. Work with vendors for different recipe ideas
83. Modified recipes – purchase from different brand or vendor
6. Resident Participation
1. Resident recipes / resident exchange
2. Vendor day
3. Menu Committees
4. Menu item tastings
5. Cutting / peeling food items
6. Making pies / cabbage rolls
7. Food testing with team
8. Resident cook off / cookbook
9. Resident sampling new products
10. Kitchen tours
11. Sit in back of house
12. New recipe ideas
13. Community garden (using food in meals)
14. Cupcake days
15. Recipe contest
16. One on one feedback
17. Italian resident cooks pasta on pasta night
18. Activation staff cook / prepare meals with residents
19. Grocery shopping with residents
20. Before rolling out a new menu, do a food show of the new menu items that will be featured on that menu
21. Culinary Club: bring recipes to club meeting & trial recipe within home, could feature it on menu consistently. Find solutions together, find common ground and create recipes together.
22. Husking corn
23. Strawberry hulling
24. Making their own breakfast
25. Pizza making day – residents make their own
26. Residents put out clothes protectors
27. Residents can clean tables
28. Residents can volunteer at café tuck shop
29. Review menu before approval
30. Cookbook with resident recipes
31. Get residents involved in meal prep and service (wrap wonton, setting up dining room)
32. Bake apple pies with residents for Christmas dinner
33. Residents decorate cookies for snacks / holidays
34. Chili cook off – most votes gets recipe on menu
35. Meals from home
36. Chef demo – 20 people – limited menu
6. Resident Participation
37. Judging contest – pumpkin carving
38. Ice cream cart between meal service / hot chocolate carts
39. Baking programs for resident
40. Breakfast club
41. Residents cut up veg and send to mission services / communities
42. Gardening
43. Request family recipes
44. Residents choose soups on menu
45. Residents plan holiday menu
46. Resident’s participation in seasonal prep
47. Vendor food show for residents
48. Entertainment in dining room (music)
49. Cook with chef
50. Residents make their own sandwich
51. Include private dining with families
52. Give residents the opportunity to provide feedback before new menu launches
53. Have resident choose meal of the month
54. Show residents how modified textures are made
55. Chef demonstration – homemade spring rolls
56. Cultural day – pierogy day that are homemade
Puree Meals
1. Plating
2. Avoid monochromatic plates
3. Tell resident what they are eating
4. Individual needs/tolerance
5. Puree shapers / moulds for special events
6. Piping for pureed texture
7. Correct texture
8. Condiments on textures
9. Nice packages
10. All different colours
11. Garnish
12. Decorate plate (paprika)
13. Add extra flavouring to some pureed foods, garnish – bread : jam. Add more colour
14. Taste before serving to ensure it matches regular
15. Plate presentation / layering
16. Pre-formed pureed food from Sysco
17. Make plating more appetizing – sandwiches & desserts
18. Making fresh / from scratch
19. Layered pureed shepherds pie
20. Puree every food item including condiments / garnishes
21. Plate layout same as regular
22. Thickened ice
23. Use different serving utensils
24. Sauces in squeeze bottles
25. Vibrant coloured veg – keeping their colour
26. Dishes on dishes – presentation – fork texture
27. Eliminated pureed sandwiches because residents weren’t trying it. Offered cheese / yoghurt
28. Layering vs. scoops
29. Using small dishes (ramekin) for pureed foods
30. Garnishing & seasoning
31. Pre-formed items – apetito / Hormel
32. Don’t mix together
33. Puree with broth vs. water (flavour)
34. Enough assistance when needed – PSWs
35. Lipped plate for easier service while eating
36. Describe the meal
37. Sauces and garnishes – sour cream, chipotle mayo, lemon sauce, butter
Puree Meals
38. IDDSI quality check
39. Education and training software
40. Food shapes – staff training on how to plate
41. Find a way to get scoops that are shaped like food your serving
42. Using proper products – puree quiche if quiche is on the menu
43. Don’t use just water to puree
44. Gravy / sauces on the side
Actual
1. Birthday cupcakes (decorate)
2. Resident birthday cards
3. Decorating resident door / picture
4. Collaboration with activation
5. Special meal / meal items
6. Sing happy birthday
7. Birthday placemat
8. Special birthday dessert
9. Birthday days away and take out meals of their choice
10. Individual dessert
11. Display screen showcasing resident’s birthday
12. 2 bite cupcake at table and staff sings
13. Battery candle
14. Sysco placemat at setting
15. Individualized cupcake given at lunch, everyone sings, placemat and candle.
16. Robot in dining room sings happy birthday to resident.
17. Ask what their favourite cake flavour is and purchase a small cake, catering to the person celebrating
18. Flowers with cake
19. Lava cake
20. Floor party for resident
21. Leadership team sings happy birthday with staff
22. Post birthday list in kitchen
23. Print / highlight on tray ticket
24. Send up birthday cake slice to their room/unit
25. Sign on table with resident’s names
26. Birthday party surprise – invite families and friends
27. Residents bake cake / cupcakes
28. Page singing so whole room can join
29. Birthday Bundt cake with candle on it
30. Sparklers / Poppers - care partner, PSW, RN, program aide
31. Special banana ice cream
32. Muffin party
33. Discuss birthdays at stand up to get team support & present to resident day of
34. Rec looks after corsage.
35. Chinese birthday party 1 x yearly
36. Birthday props: hat, crown, balloons, signs on the door
37. 100th birthday – BIG DEAL!
38. Everyone gets a special dessert
39. Ensure there is a candle to blow out.
40. Serve first
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