Blogs

FEDA Tech Committee Takes Deep Dive Into Data Initiatives

By Kent Hamaker posted 2 days ago
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July 8, 2019 FEDA’s Industry Technology Committee, composed of distributors and dealers, manufacturers, service reps, and sales rep partners, met last month to discuss data initiatives recommendations proposed in a new   FEDA   member assessment report. The committee discussed data standardization between the groups and agreed to look at how various types of data might be addressed through a standardization process, how ERP systems would be considered, what the short and long-term cost to companies would be, and whether using a pilot group to test initial steps might be helpful. The group will work with AutoQuotes and DATAgility to review this information ...
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10 best children's hospitals, ranked by US News

By Kent Hamaker posted 27 days ago
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Mackenzie Bean  -  Tuesday, June 18th, 2019 Boston Children's Hospital earned the No. 1 spot on   U.S. News & World Report 's Best Children's Hospitals   rankings   for the sixth consecutive year. To compile the 2019-20 list,   U.S. News   examined   191 children's hospitals nationwide, ranking the top 50 centers in 10 specialties. The ranking is based on hospitals' clinical outcomes; the level and quality of hospital resources tied to patient care; healthcare delivery; and expert opinion from pediatric specialists. Here are the 10 hospitals on   U.S. News ' 2019-20 Honor Roll, which had the highest rankings across all specialties. ...
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Fast-paced Formats and Tech Topics on Tap at 2019 Noncommercial Foodservice Conferences

By Kent Hamaker posted 06-03-2019
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May 28, 2019    Kelly Killian  Tight budgets and organizational policies mean noncommercial foodservice operators typically must be very discerning when choosing what conferences to attend. Just in time for the kickoff of the noncommercial conference season, FER has scoured through the agendas and interviewed the planners of the summer’s events for college and university, healthcare, K-12, business and industry and correctional foodservice operators. Many of the 2019 conferences promise faster-paced speaker formats and insights on topics ranging from the design process to sustainability to technology. If purchasing or upgrading kitchen equipment or ...
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Editor's Take: Conference Calls

By Kent Hamaker posted 06-03-2019
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June 1, 2019  Kelly Killian June kicks off  the noncommercial national conference season in earnest, and this year’s event offerings for college and university, hospital, K-12 foodservice operators and more promise faster-paced speaker formats and insights on topics ranging from the design process to sustainability to technology. A few to note: Association for Healthcare Foodservice, Aug. 6-8, Scottsdale, Ariz. AHF has introduced a new session format called FISH (Food Innovation Service Hospitality) Talks. The first such "talk" will focus on sustainability—including how healthcare foodservice operators can meet sustainability goals and reduce food ...
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Hospital launches food pantry to combat patients’ food insecurity

By Kent Hamaker posted 05-31-2019
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UNC REX partners with Food Lion and food bank to provide healthy groceries Amanda McCorquodale   |   Mar 01, 2019 Inspired by similar programs at hospitals from around the country, UNC REX in Raleigh, N.C., opened the UNC REX Healthcare Food Pantry Nourished by Food Lion Feeds in November. “We realized that there's some patients that may have to choose between medication and food, and we just want to make sure that our patients weren't faced with those decisions,” says Tara Freeman, manager, UNC REX Food Panty. “By opening a food pantry, we could care for our patients once they leave the hospital.” According to a recent report by the American ...
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FER Management Excellence Awards

By Kent Hamaker posted 05-20-2019
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Cynthia Clampitt ,   Rita Negrete-Rousseau, ,   Michael Sherer , and   Rob Townsend What makes a company  or organization exceptional? Hiring the right people, providing a culture in which they can thrive and letting them not just do their jobs, but excel at them. And without exception, well-run companies and departments have strong leaders who understand that their team members’ “job” is taking care of customers— whoever those customers may be. These are the common threads we found in the seven honorees for the  FER  2019 Management Excellence Awards.... Management Excellence Noncommercial Operator University of California San Francisco ...
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One On One With: Hospital food pantry

By Kent Hamaker posted 05-14-2019
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In our latest edition of Food Management’s podcast, we speak with Jim McGrody of UNC REX Healthcare about starting a food pantry and creating a culture of culinary excellence at a hospital. Becky Schilling   |   May 13, 2019 Editor’s Note : Welcome to One On One With, Food Management’s podcast. Every two weeks we’ll share an intimate conversation between an FM editor and an industry icon or thought leader. We’ll cover topics from hiring, new concepts, consumer trends, management and menu development. Or hear how an operator is increasing participation or meeting changing customer expectations. These one-on-one interviews provide peer learning ...
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2019 Top Achiever—Operator: Angelo Mojica, Senior Enterprise Director Food and Culinary Services, Johns Hopkins Health System

By Kent Hamaker posted 04-15-2019
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Published: April 1, 2019   Written by   Caroline Perkins Johns Hopkins ’ patients, employees and visitors benefit from Angelo Mojica’s vision. His lifelong love of food comes through loud and clear in his role as a healthcare operator. But, he might have taken a different career path if it hadn’t been for his brothers. As the middle of five boys, Mojica grew up in the projects in Brooklyn, N.Y., where survival meant being tough. Mojica loved shopping and cooking with his mother. When he turned 16, he wanted a set of pots for his birthday. To this day he remembers the bruises his older brothers gave him when they learned Mojica had asked for pots. ...
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Reading Hospital's Marge Kipe looks back on her foodservice career

By Kent Hamaker posted 04-09-2019
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By  Benita Gingerella  on Apr. 03, 2019 Marge Kipe came to Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pa., as a clinical dietitian in 1977. Since then, she has held numerous roles on the nutrition and dietetics team, finally becoming the hospital’s foodservice director, a position she’s held since 1987. This year, she plans to retire.  FoodService Director  talked to her about how her role has evolved through the years and what tips she has for other operators. Q: How has your role as foodservice director changed over the years? Back in the day, when you came in the morning you had to call vendors and you had to make sure there would be food for tomorrow’s ...
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Hospital’s retail cafe rewards healthy choices with price cuts

By Kent Hamaker posted 04-03-2019
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A new food court offers plenty of options, from composed salads to pizza, including meatless options every day at each station. Mike Buzalka  |  Apr 01, 2019 The multistation retail café in the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center complex in Baltimore not only features seven modern cuisine stations emphasizing customization and to-order preparation, but they also promote healthy and plant-based dining through both the menu approach and the pricing structure. Healthy dining is encouraged by offering discounts based on the meal components chosen by customers while plant-based dining goes beyond the “Meatless Monday” approach of single-day promotion ...
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NAFEM presents 2019 honorary DFS awards

By Kent Hamaker posted 03-15-2019
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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 03-15-2019
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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 03-11-2019
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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 03-05-2019
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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 02-25-2019
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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 02-19-2019
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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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