Improving Food Scores in Customer Satisfaction, Part 3

The third complaint that comes up most frequently is a lack of variety or choices.

It may seem more cost effective to buy items in bulk, don’t forget to consider the cost of having a poor reputation in the community—which can be substantially more.
Remember, most people appreciate good food.  And even if your resident has lost their appetite or sense of taste, their visiting family members will see or hear about the food you are providing, and they are the more vocal advocates in the community for  your facility.

“The food was typically the same, with little variety or fresh food.”
“They need to give her more choices in what type of foods she likes to eat, like peanut butter sandwiches. She loves those, but they will not give them to her."

I could list hundreds more comments just like these--but the point is made. Here are a  few comments from some facilities who are doing a great job:

“The chef told me if there was anything I wanted that they didn't have, he would cook it for me.”
“I did eat some of moms grapes from one of her meals. They looked so good. Their food is very nutritious. They serve well balanced meals including meat and a variety of vegetables."




I toured a facility a few weeks ago that consistently performs at the highest level in overall Customer Satisfaction. They have consistently performed  in the top 10% nationally across the board in all scoring. I asked the administrator, Bruce, about their meal program. "We've changed from 3 meals a day to 5 meals a day," he said, "And we've loaded the cupboards with snacks of all kinds, so any time they are craving something, residents can go have a snack--and the cupboards are open 24 hours a day." Little things like increasing snack choices and making them available have a tremendous impact on overall customer satisfaction. It's the little things like this that transform the "facility" into a "home". Bruce, has done a really effective job of seeing meal time through his resident's eyes.

Sometimes we just need a reminder--that for our residents, our facility is their home--and Meal Time has been a significant part of their lives.

Craig Christiansen
Pinnacle Quality Insight
801-293-0700