SEGMENT: SENIOR LIVING
2015 total resident capacity: 113, 002
2015 total properties: 1, 140
Headquarters: Brentwood, Tenn.
With memory care, independent living, assisted living, continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing care communities spread throughout 47 states, it’s fairly difficult not to find a Brookdale Senior Living community nearby. And the culture at those communities is changing—with baby boomers moving into senior living, operators are struggling to keep up. Here are three ways Brookdale is keeping up with those changing tides.
Training
Brookdale’s Culinary Arts Institute serves almost as an internal culinary school, bringing chefs into on-site classrooms to gain new cooking skills and learn about new cuisines—vital tools when facing a class of diners that is used to international flavors. A management training program also helps current employees develop their skills and take on new tasks, Joska J.W. Hajdu, former senior vice president of dining services, told FoodService Director earlier this year.
Menu variety
Brookdale’s culinary associates plan their own menus, which are added to a massive recipe database available to all facilities nationwide. This results in a resource that’s both regionally and ethnically diverse. The company’s memory care facilities follow the industry-leading Clare Bridge Dining Program; small dining rooms feature consistent seating, and menus focus on finger foods and weight loss prevention.
New spaces
Instead of constructing separate buildings for its first branded concept, Eat American Bistro, Brookdale found room for the multistyle concept within existing space. “You would almost need to envision a blend of a Starbucks coffee shop and a Panera soup-and-sandwich-type setup,” Hajdu said of the concept, which occupies a section of the lobby at a Dallas location. “In the evening, we have an element that would be similar to a Boston Market with a carving station.” Eat also features a full-service bar, and “really has become the heartbeat and the center of the community.”
"You would almost need to envision a blend of a Starbucks coffee shop and a Panera soup-and-sandwich-type setup.” —Joska J.W. Hajdu
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