The aged care chef’s dilemma – Part 1
One with the lot; hold the onions, cheese, tomato and of course the egg.
Aged care catering is like creating the world’s best burger, standing on one leg with your hands tied behind your back! In this article, we examine the layers of complexity in providing a food service in an aged care setting.
Eight food textures, four fluid thicknesses, 15 cultures, 100 intolerances and allergies – 6 times a day, 365 days a year.
At every meal service, aged care chefs must potentially cater for up to eight different food textures, four different fluid thicknesses, 15 different cultures and over 100 different intolerances and allergies, all while striving to make every meal an experience for every resident.
That’s a Big Mac in anyone’s language, don’t you think?
But managing diverse resident dietary needs is just one of many internal factors aged care chefs need to consider.
Imagine a commercial kitchen where the chef doesn’t know the cost per person of her recipes. She has no measure of recipe yields, scale up or portion sizes. The value of over production or food wastage is unknown, as is the cost of the food order placed.
If you factor in rising food costs, tightening budgets and growing accountability, it’s easy to see that providing a food service that is not only fit for purpose, but operationally efficient is becoming harder, not easier.
Creating the best burger
Aged care chefs and hospitality managers deserve the right tools to help them address these challenges.
SoupedUp’s easy-to-use software allows kitchens to digitise menu planning and costing, as well as create online resident dietary profiles, which can be accessed by clinical and catering teams instantly.
SoupedUp’s bank of over 1,400 adaptable recipes with nutritional information and allergen labelling means chefs can cater for dietary requirements and allergies with confidence. Menu planning is simplified, while at the same time allows residents to exercise greater choice and independence around their meals and dining experience.
We help ease the burden of creating the best burger.
In our next article, we’ll examine the external factors that impact food service delivery in aged care, including the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the introduction of the new Aged Care Quality and IDDSI Standards.
About SoupedUp
SoupedUp is Australia’s leading catering software and online training provider to the aged care industry. Our proven technology solutions save facilities time and money^, while reducing the risks associated with food service quality and delivery in an aged care setting. To learn more about SoupedUp’s solutions visit www.soupedup.com
^ Time and cost savings based on an aged care facility of 80-90 beds, including subscription fees. Source data based on average time and costs spent by 24 facilities switching from paper-based system to SoupedUp Catering.