Culinary
Feeding the Cultural Heartbeat of Your Community
With Dining Services for Senior Living
Our approach to food is simple. Wholesome meals, innovative menus and engaged associates improve everyone’s wellbeing. Your dining program will be rooted in the culture of your community, respecting both your heritage and modern taste trends. Your menus will be rooted in our food philosophy – putting flavor, nutrition and service at the heart of everything we do.
We believe that shared meals and special events serve as the heartbeat of your community’s culture. Whether your residents are dining together or alone in their rooms, your community’s menus and service options should enable them to “personalize” their culinary experience with an array of offerings that support their dietary needs, preferences, schedules and moods.
Excellence in All Levels of Care
Residents at all levels of care deserve culinary excellence. So do your visitors and associates. It’s central to today’s satisfaction and the brand you project for tomorrow’s residents. It involves not just the plated food, but the way it’s served, the environment of our dining spaces, and close collaboration with the wellness team. It’s a “whole-team” strategy that takes into account what we need to do immediately and where we want to head in the future.
Menu variety, venue options, attention to nutrition – these are the keys to drawing residents to the community. That care and artistry we present in the main dining room will extend to every dining venue and residents in all areas of care. This approach helps us achieve one of our top goals: resident satisfaction and minimizing the use of supplements.
Menu and Venue Options for Senior Dining
Building venues and menus that meet the needs of the whole community and each resident is both an art and a science – and its key to resident satisfaction.
Whether they’re dining at in your main dining room, at a bistro or in your memory care dining room, your residents deserve properly balanced menus that allow them to personalize their dining experience.
After assessing your residents’ dining preferences, our frequently rotating menus are designed specifically for your community and generally include:
- Healthy and indulgent, comfort-food options
- Venues offering everything from grab-and-go options to casual “bar food” and chef-crafted cuisine
- Easy-to-understand ingredients that inform diners of allergens and taste profiles, such as “spicy”
- Dishes that accommodate dietary preferences, such as vegan and vegetarian
- Options for people with special dietary requirements, including low salt, dairy free, sugar free and low fat
- Reference to local and sustainable food sources
- Handheld options for those who have difficulty using utensils
- High-quality purees and texture-modified options for those with difficulty swallowing
Sourcing Expertise
A partnership with Morrison Living gives you tremendous purchasing power, along with supply chain stability and safety through Foodbuy. As the largest food procurement company in the country, and sole sourcing partner for Compass Group, Foodbuy helps us drive down costs, provides operational insights and audits and streamlined product selection and expert usage of USDA Foods.
Sustainable Dining Options
We respect the earth and the food we take from it. We’ll buy fresh, local proteins and produce when we can. It’s healthier for our residents and the planet. We’ll also use Imperfectly Delicious Produce, which includes grade A fruits and vegetables that aren’t pretty enough for the grocery store, but great for chopping and cooking. This is just one slice of our commitment to sustainability. You’ll find more information here.
The sustainable practices we follow include:
Poultry produced without the routine use of human antibiotics
Fresh yogurt and milk free of growth hormones rBGH/rBST
Sustainably sourced seafood
Certified humane cage-free (shell) eggs
Local produce whenever possible
Our job in crafting your menu is twofold
To make food that’s irresistible, and to make it easy for your Residents to make healthy choices
Your reputation for offering an excellent dining experience not only determines resident satisfaction, but can be a defining factor for prospective residents. Menu variety, venue options, attention to nutrition – each of these elements draw residents to the community.
Special Events
We constantly look for ways to excite your residents so that they’ll look forward to seeing their friends and enjoying a meal. That’s why we love special events. We use them to spark new experiences and among other things, trigger the taste memories that have marked special times in their lives.
Your dining services team can plan their own events and also draw on a plethora of easy-to-execute resources. Here’s a sampling of recent dining programs for your Residents:
Cooking with Celebrity Chefs
A visit by one of our Celebrity Chefs can give your residents a truly spectacular experience and your community an opportunity for public relations. Think about marketing events and fundraisers. Or create a fun night of entertainment with renowned chefs like Jet Tila (Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen), Aarti Sequeira (Food Network), and Bal Arneson (The Spice Goddess) or leverage our local chef network bringing the best of your city into your community.
Community Teaching Kitchen
Teaching Kitchen brings the fun of hands-on cooking classes to residents. These lively sessions can be conducted in person with your chef or virtually for those who prefer to participate at a distance, in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Whether they are looking for recipe inspiration, seeking to “chop like a pro,” or cook along with family and friends, residents can follow along with our celebrity chefs and community chefs to create delicious meals and snacks.
Honoring Milestones and Holidays
Sometimes it’s taking that extra effort to make an everyday meal special. Birthday celebrations, Sunday brunch, Mardi Gras, Halloween. How about a farmer’s market to celebrate the fall harvest? Or a wine pairing event? There is no limit to our special events and private catering options.
Monthly Themed Events
Preparing for special events are a joy for our teams – and also present an added challenge on top of already-busy schedules. That’s why Morrison’s Executive Culinary and Marketing Teams create party kits that make it easy to execute well-planned and resourced events. Each year we develop a theme that is supported with a full year of programming. The kit includes recipes with menus, posters, teasers, table décor and ideas like music and guest artists to further deliver on the theme. Here’s a sampling of recent programs:
Encore
This program combines the best of dining and performing arts. Each dish served during this event is inspired by a performance.
Heirloom
Our Heirloom events provide a chance for residents themselves to get involved. This program features residents and some of their favorite recipes passed down from generation to generation.
A Meal in the Life
Take a year-long journey through world cultures! Participants will learn about the culinary practices of peoples across the world, as well as their connections to traditions and customs.
When Distancing Matters
We’re all now aware that there will be times when residents can’t gather together in person. Here are some of the ways we can “make someone’s day” for those times when residents are home-bound.
1. Cart deliveries can be themed for holidays, special events or just for the fun of it, as servers deliver snacks, cocktails, cooking kits or meals.
2. Tray cards can include uplifting messages or wellness tips.
3. Personal and specialized trays can be delivered to celebrate personal milestones.
4. Remote cooking shows and demonstrations can bring the excitement of the kitchen and dining room directly into residents’ homes.