How Joshua Fels is turning small ideas into big change

At a Glance

Joshua Fels
Director of Culinary & Nutrition Services
Banner—University Medical Center Phoenix

$5 million - Annual culinary division revenue at Banner University Medical Center—Phoenix Campus

733 - Beds at the hospital

238,000 - Annual outpatient visits

Accomplishments

Joshua Fels arrived last fall at Banner — University Medical Center’s Phoenix campus to a host of problems. The 733-bed facility had been without a foodservice director, executive chef or clinical nutrition manager for months. But BUMCP’s freshly minted director of culinary and nutrition services first focused his attention on a seemingly small problem: room-service carts.

The hospital’s carts were old and rickety, with wheels that wouldn’t turn. After a period of neglect and lack of leadership, employees had stopped asking for updated equipment and were making do with what they had. “Beyond the duct tape and chewing gum, the carts were held up by hopes and dreams,” Fels says. “We simply replaced all the broken-down carts with new carts that actually functioned and rolled right and did not fall apart if you looked at them wrong.”

Related:Banner Health gives vending machines a makeover

The carts were an easy fix that went a long way to improve morale, and they kick-started Fels’ goal of turning the struggling culinary division into a flagship operation within Banner Health, a network of 29 hospitals in seven states.

Last year the division brought in slightly less than $5 million in total revenue through its main cafeteria, Bistro; on-site coffee bar and deli Miss Lulu’s; and Corner Bistro, a satellite coffee kiosk in the lobby of a neighboring office building. Foodservice revenue is up 6.6 percent in the first nine months of 2015, on track for $5.3 million in revenue. The catering program and physicians’ dining also have improved, bringing in another $1 million, thanks in part to an online ordering program that went live in July and enhanced physicians’ dining specials such as crawfish boils, hand-rolled sushi and smoked salmon.

Related:Banner Health plans partnership, overhaul of food

“Attention to details in the general cleanliness and culture of service are also having ripple effects of improving the overall perception as we work towards our flagship status within the organization,” Fels says.

Changes for the future

Formerly Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, the 104-year-old hospital was renamed earlier this year after Banner Health merged with the University of Arizona Health Network. A teaching hospital with eight residency programs, BUMCP is the largest Arizona hospital in Banner Health with more than 238,000 annual outpatient visits and 38,600 inpatient visits.

Given the medical center’s size, history and community reputation, the culinary division needed to reflect the same high standard, says Fels, who took the struggling division under his wing long before he became its director. He first joined Banner Health’s board of culinary division directors in 2012 while working at Banner Del E. Webb hospital in Sun City West, Ariz. After learning in early 2014 that BUMCP had lost key leadership positions, he rallied directors, chefs and nutritionists in the network to set up a schedule for other executive chefs to help guide BUMCP’s staff.

“Josh is an outstanding leader,” says Mark Milek, culinary and nutrition services director at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz., who serves on the same board. “He handles tough and sensitive situations with calmness and confidence.”

Fels, 37, learned just about every restaurant position on his way to working in health care, from a part-time job at Macaroni Grill to opening stores for Hooters, managing the bar at a Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery and working as assistant manager for a Red Fish restaurant.

“Here, there are true 40-hour work weeks, exceptional benefits and paid time off,” Fels says of working in health care. “And the food we prepare and the care we provide does make a difference in someone’s life.”

Many kinds of service

That’s a point Fels and his staff impress upon culinary and hospitality students at college job fairs. In July, he began a partnership with Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale, Ariz., setting up externships in the culinary division as well as internships for dietetics students at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

“Oftentimes students go to culinary school to become the next great chef without knowing there are phenomenal opportunities in health care,” Fels says.

Those opportunities go beyond jobs in the hospital cafeteria. Last year, Fels supervised and mentored clinical nutrition managers across Banner Health’s culinary divisions in creating a diagnostic tool to help determine patients’ nutritional needs during admittance. Catching and addressing signs of malnutrition early not only improves patient health, but can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for the hospitals, Fels says.

“Josh is a great supporter and visionary,” says Michelle Daniels, senior manager of patient services at BUMCP. “He says, ‘Go for it. Let’s see if we can do it. Let’s wow them. Nothing is unattainable except what you don’t allow to happen.’”