Hospital Power Players: Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta

38. Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta

Licensed Beds: 953
Management: Morrison
Foodservice Head: Alan Levine, director of food & nutrition services
Avg. Daily In-patient Census: 525
Avg. No. In-patient Meals/Day: 1,500
No. of Retail Dining Outlets: 3
Total Annual Retail Sales: nr
Dining/Nutrition Services FTEs: nr

Morrison recently renovated Grady Hospital’s main cafeteria at a total cost of $1.5 million, adding a number of concepts including So Deli, with freshly baked breads daily; 2omatoes, menuing freshly made traditional and flatbread pizzas, calzones and a pasta of the day; Austin Grill, specializing in Southwestern cuisine such as made-to-order tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos; and Global Cuisine, featuring themed cultural menus on a daily basis. It also retains its Chick-fil-A Express unit. The retail cash register system was also upgraded to provide speedier customer service at checkout. Options include payroll deduct as well as employee meal cards for settlement purposes.

The cafeteria’s dining area is currently undergoing renovation, adding a new floor, new tables and chairs, televisions, Wi-Fi and docking stations. The main kitchen is scheduled for overhaul over the next year to add a new floor, ceiling, lighting, ductwork and equipment.

The patient dining program utilizes Morrison’s Catering to You spoken menu platform, which gives associates greater interaction with the patients and enables them to take ownership of their area while building relationships with families and nursing staff. This is assisted by the typical 12-hour shift that allows associates to serve their patients for all three meal periods. All catering associates participate in a customer service boot camp to hone customer service skills through exercises like role playing, scripting and learning to understand serving the patient from the patient’s perspective. The training incorporates healthcare consultancy Studor Group’s AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explain, Thank You) patient interaction model that allows catering associates to keep the patients informed about their care from the nutrition services department.

As a reward for exemplary performance, associates whose scores for their floors are within the 99 percentile receive gift cards and are acknowledging during morning lineup meetings as well as through having their scores posted throughout the department.