LTC, Acute care hospitals cater to demands for quality coffee

Sponsored by Smucker Away from Home

Serving great coffee doesn’t have to be challenging for dining directors in the long-term care (LTC) and acute care hospital segments.

In fact, by using on-demand brewing equipment and nationally recognized coffee brands, satisfaction can be simple and fast. Coupling the speed and efficiency of the former with the superior flavor and consistency of the latter is the key to a successful coffee program. Healthcare facilities that take this approach increase satisfaction for residents and patients, please visitors and staff and boost overall business.

On-demand coffee systems dispense fresh, hot coffee one cup at a time with just the push of a button. By using a flavorful liquid concentrate these systems deliver high-quality coffee cup after cup without the labor or inconsistency of other brewing methods. Which makes them the perfect fit for serving LTC and acute care populations. Good coffee can provide a bright spot in the day for residents and patients and the family and friends who visit them. Likewise, it is a well-deserved moment of pleasure for the hardworking professionals who staff these settings.

Enhancing Satisfaction

A LTC coffee survey conducted by Food Management found that three out of four (76 percent) dining directors agreed that an upgraded coffee program enhances customer satisfaction by making coffee a more enjoyable and social experience for residents.¹ It is logical to assume that upgraded coffee has a similar positive effect on acute care patients too.

In the survey, 81 percent of directors reported seeing at least a “moderate” demand for improved coffee quality. Most (60 percent) also believe that compared to other beverages, coffee is “very” or “extremely” important to LTC residents.²

Nearly all respondents (95 percent) in the survey reported seeing a change in demand over the previous two years for fresher, more varied and higher-quality food and beverage offerings.³

Exploring On-Demand

Just under half of the respondents (42 percent) in the LTC coffee survey said they saw advantages to using a liquid-concentrate, on-demand coffee system.⁴ They cited such reasons as:

On-demand brewing has a loyal following in the healthcare community. “The machines are very easy to use,” says Mark Whalen, Director of Dining Services at Asbury Methodist Village. “They’re easy to keep clean. They do not break down. You get the same pour every single time. And there is no waste, no grounds, no filters to deal with and you use 100 percent of the product.”

Jesse Baedke, Manager of Food and Nutrition Services at CoxHealth, puts it this way: “With the liquid system we have put in place, you get a consistent cup of coffee every time.”

Speed Thrills

With LTC and hospital staff facing an extraordinary workload these days, serving coffee in a quick, efficient way is more important than ever. On-demand dispensing takes just seconds to pour a fresh cup of coffee. This has made it popular in high-volume settings like hotels and convention centers where throughput and speed of service are imperatives. Coupled with the extreme ease of operation—no training is required to operate it—on-demand dispensing also makes sense in settings like LTC and acute care where coffee quality and temperature consistency are critical and labor is carefully managed.

The Select Brew^® Advantage

The Select Brew Coffee System is an on-demand coffee solution for high-quality hot and iced coffee, made fresh any time of day with a trusted national brand of coffee that delivers consistent, high-quality flavor.

In addition to saving labor, Select Brew enhances quality and consistency by reducing the variables that occur when employees brew coffee manually. For example, with Select Brew, the coffee-to-water ratio is pre-programmed and perfectly balanced. The grind size, water temperature and brew time are always just right. The result is consistently great-tasting coffee. However, consistency suffers when multiple staff members in a facility make drip coffee in their own individual ways. This can result in waste and a dramatic variation in taste.

Less Waste

A single carton of Folgers^® Liquid Concentrate coffee equals 50 pots of traditional filter-brewed coffee. Because you brew it on demand, every drop is fresh and flavorful. You don’t have to dump stale, wasted pots of coffee down the sink. In addition, you dramatically reduce the amount of spent coffee grounds and used filters that go into the landfill.

For all the above reasons, it pays for LTC and acute care facilities to leverage the speed and efficiency of on-demand brewing with the superior flavor and consistency of a familiar coffee brand.

For more information about making the switch to on-demand coffee brewing, contact Smucker Away From Home at www.smuckerawayfromhome.com or (877) 693-6543.

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