How Chef Matthew Thompson is meeting the needs of today’s senior living resident one dish at a timeHow Chef Matthew Thompson is meeting the needs of today’s senior living resident one dish at a time

The world of senior living dining is constantly evolving, and operators are always on the lookout for the next big thing in the segment. 

For Chef Matthew Thompson, chief culinary officer at Restaura Hospitality Group, a new food management company that caters to the senior living segment, that means finding ways to constantly raise the dining bar for residents.

“[One of the big trends in senior living] is that elevated dining experience with the evolution of your traditional cafeteria tray line experience to more of a highly personalized restaurant experience,” says Thompson.

One of the main ways that he and the team at Restaura tries to heighten mealtimes for residents is by taking them around the world when they sit down to eat.

“As other generations are beginning to age into that demographic, we are experiencing a much more worldly view, if you will, where people have traveled the world and expect to have those experiences in their later years of life as well,” says Thompson.

One of the ways Restaura is trying to elevate residents’ dining experience is through introducing different restaurant menu concepts, almost like a restaurant within a restaurant, that are offered for a limited time and highlight a different cuisine. 

“We've got a separate menu card, a separate dining experience, a separate look and feel, different china, different everything,” says Thompson. 

One of the concepts the team is testing right now is called Aaliyah which features Mediterranean offerings like a Turkish coffee service that are intended to engage residents and offer them a unique dining experience. 

“That one has gone over really well during our testing,” says Thompson. 

Another large focus for Thompson and the team at Restaura is using food to improve not only residents’ physical health, but their overall wellbeing. Thompson says they try to lean away from more traditional approaches to such as promoting a particular food’s health labels. 

“Oftentimes food with labels doesn't get people excited. When it's, ‘Hey, try this salad dressing. It's low calorie.’ You're immediately thinking, probably not for me, I'm not going to enjoy it,” he says. 

Instead, they focus on small ingredient swaps in recipe. In their chocolate mousse for example, heavy whipping cream is swapped out for heart-healthy rich avocado and maple syrup is used in place of refined sugar. 

After residents try the item, the team then shares the benefits of the ingredient swaps and educates diners on why they were made. 

Weaving in tech

Building a dining program that incorporates functional foods and provides a heightened dining experience takes a lot of moving parts, and the team has leaned on technology “not to replace the human touch in the hospitality moment,” Thompson says, “But to supplement.”

One of the biggest ways tech comes into play, he says, is having an electronic record for every resident that lists not only their dietary restrictions, but also their personal food preferences as well as if they have a birthday, anniversary or other celebration coming up.  

Knowing this additional information allows the dining team to better serve residents and tailor their dining experience to them. If they know a particular resident enjoys Italian food, for example, they can help guide them toward other dishes or specials on the menu that they believe the resident will enjoy. 

Technology is used in the back-of-house as well. 

“Everything for us is tablet based,” says Thompson. “So when it comes to associates who are reading recipe cards, they've got recipe cards, they can see videos of how to produce it and the final plating diagrams”

The tablets also allow staff who may not speak English as their first language to translate things into their native language. 

Catering to varied tastes 

While there are many diners who embrace new foods and dining experiences head-on, there are still some residents who are more hesitant to try new things and enjoy the flavors that they grew up with.

Trying to find the right balance between meeting the needs of both traditional-leaning diners and adventurous-leaning diners “is really critical,” Thompson says, and the team makes efforts to still make sure residents who may shy away from unfamiliar options still have a voice. In the case for the rotating restaurant concepts, for example, diners still have access to the traditional menu if they’re looking to stick to their tried-and-true favorites.

“In my mind, it's always helpful to remember that this is the residents’ home and what would you expect to have at home? You'd like to have a ready, but sometimes you just want the old stand byes,” he says. “What can we do to help elevate those and make them really exciting?”