Blogs

NAFEM presents 2019 honorary DFS awards

By Kent Hamaker posted 6 days ago
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February 7, 2019 ORLANDO – NAFEM congratulates the recipients of its Doctorate of Foodservice (DFS) award, presented at each NAFEM show to allied hospitality association leaders in recognition of their contributions to the industry. Honorees were recognized at the All-Industry Awards Breakfast during The NAFEM Show, Thursday, Feb. 7, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla. Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF) Martha Rardin, MS, RDN, CD, FAND, President David Reeves, MBA, Immediate Past President Read more HER
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On the Up and Up - And Up

By Kent Hamaker posted 6 days ago
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By   Kelsey Nash   on Mar. 12, 2019 As the tough job market continues and the minds of operators across the country are distracted by thoughts of how to find and keep quality employees, it can sometimes feel like the only news on the labor front is the disheartening kind. But there are bright spots on every foodservice team. Here, we present 24 such silver linings:  FoodService Director’s  inaugural class of Rising Stars—a group of industry professionals whose energy, ideas and passion stand apart from the crowd, earning the notice of their peers. (Ed. note: Their responses have been condensed and lightly edited.) Read more HERE
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Foodservice Operation of the Month - How Hennepin County Medical Center built a foodservice program with staying power

By Kent Hamaker posted 10 days ago
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By  Julianne Pepitone  on Mar. 11, 2019 At Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), the foodservice philosophy appeatrs at first to be a contradiction in terms. The team is devoted to "stickability"-creating only initiatives that stick around for years-yet is also on top of the most current trends in food,  "On the menu side, we change things for the sake of changing things, because there's no reason to get bored with food," says Bill Marks, HCMC's director of food, nutrition, and environmental services. "But if we're going to create and invest in a program," he explains, "we don't do it unless we believe it has stickability-that it will be around five, 10 ...
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Eskenazi Health named 2019 Foodservice Operation of the Year

By Kent Hamaker posted 16 days ago
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By  FSD Staff  on Mar. 01, 2019 Working to boost the health of folks in and outside of the hospital has garnered Eskenazi Health the distinction of being named the 2019 Foodservice Operator of the Year by  FoodService Director (FSD)  magazine. Indianapolis-based Eskenazi Health was announced as the award recipient on Monday evening as part of  FSD’s  annual MenuDirections conference, held this year in Atlanta. The healthcare system was selected from a group of 12 operations, each of which honored as an  FSD  Foodservice Operation of the Month throughout 2018. Read more HERE
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Hospital Wastes A Third Less Food After This One Change

By Kent Hamaker posted 24 days ago
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Dana Gunders  Contributor; Forbes Food & Drink When it comes to wasting food, hospitals are one of the most egregious culprits, with two to three times more waste than other food service sectors. UC San Francisco Medical Center, however, has found that one change cut the amount of food it wastes by 30%. It now serves food on-demand. Most hospitals produce food in bulk and serve it at predetermined meal times, which may or may not be in sync with a patient’s appetite or the timing of health care services being performed. With on-demand, a patient orders food just like hotel room service—when they’re ready. “I don’t send you a meal unless you ask ...
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2019 Silver Plate Healthcare winner: Bill Marks from Hennepin Healthcare

By Kent Hamaker posted 30 days ago
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Bill Marks, director of food, nutrition and environmental services for Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, for his dedication to serving the needs of the downtown community. Marks transitioned the acute-care hospital from contract to self-op and truly made the hospital part of the surrounding community. The hospital’s food pantry is truly state of the art, helping to serve at-risk and at-need patients with healthy, free food. Read more HERE
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Operator Perspectives 2019

By Kent Hamaker posted 01-25-2019
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January 1, 2019  Janice Cha, Fe3 Construction issues.  Real estate challenges. Online delivery apps. Streamlining kitchens. Smarter equipment. These were just a few of the refrains we heard when talking to five operators—three commercial, Captain D’s, Nashville, Tenn., Checkers and Rally’s, Tampa, Fla., and Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, Homestead, Pa., and two noncommercial, Centra Health System, Lynchburg, Va., and Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.—about the year ahead. Most are optimistic. All are laser-focused on controlling what costs they can and mitigating those they can’t while working to expand and grow. Almost everyone we spoke with mentioned ...
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How chefs at St. Jude are cooking up feel-better fuel

By Kent Hamaker posted 01-09-2019
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By Lynn Freehill-Maye January 2, 2019 Not long ago, chef Rick Farmer got a call from a mom who was desperate. Her little boy was being treated for cancer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. And he hadn’t eaten in seven days. Farmer offered to prepare the young South Korean patient a taste of home. But the boy’s mother was sure he couldn’t get the ingredients or flavors right. Her son loved black-skinned chicken stewed with ginger, garlic and carrots in a clay dish with healing properties, she said. There was just no way a chef could do that in the middle of Tennessee. Read more HER
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Hospital system changing menus, changing minds

By Kent Hamaker posted 01-02-2019
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After streamlining its systems and re-thinking “hospital food,” UCHealth in Northern Colorado wins fans for its restaurant-style meals. Jennifer Crain   |   Dec 12, 2018 In two northern Colorado communities, people in search of a good meal can drop into one of the UCHealth facilities and get a restaurant-style, made-to-order meal. At Poudre Valley Hospital and Harmony Campus in Fort Collins and at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, visitors might choose from carved ham and sweet potatoes, an orange chicken wrap and shrimp etouffée. Or potato-crusted cod, a nicoise salad with tuna and a pork tortilla. Patients might order a hot turkey ...
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NewYork-Presbyterian adds research muscle to Meatless Monday

By Kent Hamaker posted 01-02-2019
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NYP departments collaborate on creating meatless menu items, analyzing data and educating the community while serving delicious plant-based food in the process. Tara Fitzpatrick   |   Dec 07, 2018 NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP), one of the nation’s most comprehensive academic healthcare systems, will be putting its dietary, science and research muscle to work with a new series of Meatless Mondays, slated to start in February at several NYP campuses. NYP has participated in Meatless Mondays in the past, but this is the first time they’ll be integrating it to such a big extent across hospital groups and beyond. A joint research study between NYP, ...
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Eisenberg Transitions to a New Healthcare Challenge

By Kent Hamaker posted 12-20-2018
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Longtime Swedish Hospital executive chef now oversees dining services at Rogue Valley Manor senior living facility. Mike Buzalka   |   Dec 12, 2018 Eric Eisenberg has been a prominent figure in the healthcare foodservice community for a long time as executive chef at Swedish Hospital in Seattle and as a fixture in Association of Healthcare Foodservices (AHF) conferences and culinary competitions. Now, while he remains in the healthcare field, he has transitioned to a whole new kind of operation: a high-end CCRC called Rogue Valley Manor in Medford, Ore., which is one of 13 high-end senior living communities operated by Pacific Retirement ...
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11 Noncommercial Operations Named Best Places to Work

By Kent Hamaker posted 12-17-2018
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Of the companies named on  Glassdoor’s  list of the  100 best places to work in 2019 , 11 slots belonged to noncommercial operators. Ten hospitals and one contract feeder landed on the yearly ranking, which is based on employees’ evaluations of their jobs, work environment and employer practices for the preceding year. Read more HERE
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Eskenazi Health: The Hospital That Gives Back

By Kent Hamaker posted 12-10-2018
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By  Julianne Pepitone Meet the FSD: Tom Thaman,  Director of Food and Nutrition Services, Eskenazi Health Q: What are your goals for the coming year? A: We’ve made great progress in increasing local procurement, but we want to go even further and continue to promote Indiana commerce. We’re also looking at opportunities to add more storage space, as well as create a succession plan for my position. I’m not retiring tomorrow or anything, but because I’m at the back half of my career, I want to make sure we’re well set up for the future. Read more HERE
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Food as Medicine

By Kent Hamaker posted 11-07-2018
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The connection between wellness and food is getting more obvious all the time. Here’s how foodservice professionals are walking the walk and helping their customers get balanced and feel great through better-in-every-way, expertly marketed, clearly communicated, fully functional nutrition. Tara Fitzpatrick   |   Nov 06, 2018 Famous ancient doctor Hippocrates once said, “Let your food be your medicine.” But somehow along the way, that message seemed to be lost to the sands of time. Within the last few years, though, it’s being rediscovered. The medical community is looking to foodservice professionals to essentially “keep the doctor away,” but it’s ...
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FER Will Honor 18 With Industry Excellence Awards

By Kent Hamaker posted 11-06-2018
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A McDonald’s veteran, Bloomin’ Brands, Shake Shack, and TriMark are only a few of the 18 recipients of   Foodservice Equipment Reports’   2019 Industry Excellence Awards. The honors go to seven organizations for Management Excellence, six Young Lions, and five Industry Service leaders. Management Excellence Awards   recognize excellence in the management of unit and facilities development, design, E&S purchasing and maintenance functions in commercial and noncommercial foodservice operations; in the delivery and performance of E&S functions and services by E&S dealers and distributors; and in the delivery of services by foodservice consulting ...
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Where do Foodservice Operators Go for Inspiration?

By Kent Hamaker posted 10-23-2018
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A recent healthcare conference provided some insights. By   FSD Staff During the recent   Association for Healthcare Foodservice Annual Conference in Minneapolis , a session attendee chimed in from the crowd to share the main place she looks for foodservice inspiration—and it wasn’t a fellow senior living community. The audience member, who was attending a talk on shifts in senior dining, said she turns to college foodservice to get a handle on what’s trending. As a result, the cycle menu at her Philadelphia-area community—which is largely made up of independent living and has a population   that’s about 50% baby boomers —features 16 different ...
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Association for Healthcare Foodservice Names Leah Reily, CAE, Executive Director

By Kent Hamaker posted 10-16-2018
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Washington D.C., (October 10, 2018) – The Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF), the premier organization for self-operated healthcare food management professionals, announced today that, Leah Reily, CAE, will be its new Executive Director. After a lengthy search process, Reily was unanimously selected by the AHF board and executive search committee. Founded in 2009, the Association for Healthcare Foodservice is the premier professional society dedicated to serving professionals in the self-operated healthcare foodservice industry. AHF believes self-operated foodservice increases food quality and customer satisfaction. AHF members are committed to ...
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ASSOCIATION FOR HEALTHCARE FOODSERVICE CELEBRATES HEALTHCARE FOODSERVICE WORKERS WEEK

By Kent Hamaker posted 10-02-2018
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TUESDAY, OCT 02 , 2018 The week of October 7-13 Will Honor Those who Provide Nutrition Services to Promote Health and Wellness McLean, VA (October 2, 2018)  – The Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF),  www.healthcarefoodservice.org , will continue it’s tradition of celebrating National Healthcare Foodservice Workers Week™, October 7-13, 2018. The week is set aside annually to honor healthcare food and nutrition professionals in self-operated facilities--the teams who demonstrate every day why self-operation is the industry's best practice. The theme for 2018 is “Excellence in Every Meal.” AHF operators are excited and ready to celebrate ...
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Vegan dish takes top prize at Association for Healthcare Foodservice culinary competition

By Kent Hamaker posted 09-19-2018
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By   FSD Staff August 28, 2018 A pair of senior living chefs swept an   Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF)   culinary competition last week, earning the top prize for a vegan dish they crafted using a mystery ingredient revealed just ahead of the battle: local craft beer. The competition, held during the Association for Healthcare Foodservice’s annual national conference in Minneapolis, pitted teams of healthcare chefs against one another in a bit of friendly sparring. The winning dish, a take on elotes dubbed 30th Street Corn Risotto, was crafted by Robert Navarrete and Diane Menzie of Rogue Valley Manor in Medford, ...
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Culinary Champs

By Kent Hamaker posted 09-17-2018
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BY   TAMMY ASNICAR FOR THE MAIL TRIBUNE   September 16, 2018 Rogue Valley Manor residents are going to be eating even better than usual. Manor chefs Robert Navarrete and Diane Menzie brought home a gold medal last month from a nationwide culinary competition in Minnesota for a dish they invented — 30th Street Vegan Corn Risotto — and now it’s on the Manor menu. Teams from five hospitals and long-term care facilities from all over the country made it to the finals of the competition sponsored by the Association for Healthcare Foodservice, and they competed to create the best meal from original recipes, with judging based on organization, culinary skills, ...
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