AHF recently launched its first Coffee Talk, a new 30-minute microlearning series where participants hear from an AHF operator member on a relevant and timely industry topic. The first Coffee Talk took place on February 3 and was sponsored by Hormel Foods, focused on menu flexibility.
Participants heard from Matt Obergfell, Hormel Foods and Chef Dusty Cooper, CEC, Johns Hopkins Health Systems, discuss ways operators can partner with vendors to add flexibility to their patient manus. Recently, Chef Dusty and her team went through an extensive exercise to define their order guides and menu mix that has allowed them to make changes more easily to their ordering or patient menu at both the system and individual facility level.
This exercise included three components, which included, identifying what products they were using and what they needed, better utilizing the tools and resources from their existing vendors and finally, including the whole team in the process to make sure everyone is on board with the plan from the beginning. They also created a multi-tiered patient menu and auto-sub system to further their flexibility when unexpected changes occur. Having already started this process, when the pandemic hit in 2020, Chef Dusty and her team were able to better adapt to and pivot when unexpected shorts occur in the supply chain, and they have continued to develop new ways to adjust in this ever-changing environment.
AHF’s Online Learning Center has a new look! Check it out today! AHF members can watch a recording of this webinar, along with all of our monthly webinars online here.
Be on the lookout for our upcoming webinars, Coffee Talks, and events on our website.
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