Hospital Power Players: UPMC Presbyterian

13. UPMC Presbyterian, Pittsburgh

Licensed Beds: 1,571
Management: Self-operated
Foodservice Head: Susan Glessner, MS, RD, LDN, director of food & nutrition
Avg. Daily In-patient Census: 1,267
Avg. No. In-patient Meals/Day: 3,354
No. of Retail Dining Outlets: 13
Total Annual Retail Sales: $10.2 M
Dining/Nutrition Services FTEs: 440

UPMC Presbyterian encompasses three patient service operations, each with a distinct meal delivery system: traditional tray service, on-demand room service and bulk/cook-chill. It also provides bulk meal service to 280 patients at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics. The Presbyterian patient meal operation recently launched the B-Lean pod tray assembly and the Boost N Go meal delivery system from vendor Burlodge.

On the retail side, the hospital’s Starbucks store, now in its fifth year, is the third highest volume Starbucks unit in the state.

The bistro-style Hillman Cancer Center Café holds special food events in a partnership between the catering culinary team and the Hillman Cancer Center leadership. These events help increase communication and relations between patients, their families and UPMC staff.

As an example of the dining operation’s influence on the broader community, the MyHealth Café, on the 24th floor of the US Steel corporate headquarters building in downtown Pittsburgh, now offers a menu in which more than half of the options conform to the Dining Smart healthy eating program that UPMC developed and offers in its retail operations and vending at the hospital.