Kind Dining® is the most important 60 minutes in your business day.
Why?
Because every mealtime is the most important 60 minutes of your residents’ day.
Think about it. Up to 60% of a resident’s day is focused on mealtimes. They are either anticipating a meal, preparing for a meal, eating a meal, visiting with friends, or returning after a meal.
And it’s about a lot more than the food
Don’t get me wrong, good food is important. However, the real reason mealtimes are so critical to your organizational success, is the opportunity for residents to meet their emotional needs at the table.
You have experienced what they are seeking. Recall your favorite meals. Maybe the times you shared cold sandwiches with your dad in a fishing boat. Or the family dinners at your grandmother’s house with everyone talking loud and cracking jokes. Or an intimate supper with someone you like while you were falling in love. Savor, for a moment, what makes those memories so special. It’s not just about the food, is it? No. It was the emotional connections that satisfied you so deeply. In hospitable circumstances, people bond over shared meals.
Build community around the table and you will reap benefits in all aspects of your organization. Residents in your community come to the dining room every day seeking a bonding experience. When they find it, they feel at home. Your community becomes their community and their sense of belonging leads to greater satisfaction and happiness.
Research shows when residents are highly satisfied with dining, overall satisfaction scores rise as much as 26%.[1] In fact, dining is a top concern for consumers choosing a senior care community. [2] Once they’ve moved in and gotten settled, dining becomes the second most important factor in overall satisfaction.[3] In residents’ eyes, only administration is considered more important than dining—not competence, activities, or even the environment they live in.
Happy dining equals happy residents equals a more successful senior care community. Happy residents refer their friends. Happy residents don’t move out. Happy residents are healthier and experience greater overall well-being. Happy residents provide positive feedback to your staff, which fosters job satisfaction among your team. Happy residents brag about their community and invite friends to come for lunch.
And yes, you can provide dining experiences that result in happy residents. Your staff’s behavior will determine the kind of community you have, and your training program will determine the kind of staff you have. Training that does not change behaviors is a waste of your time and money. I developed Kind Dining® curriculum for that exact reason: so you could turn your serving staff into one of your biggest company assets. Teaching servers to foster an ambiance of genuine hospitality in the dining room can quickly and fundamentally impact the collective psyche of the entire community in ways that positively impact your results.
Kind Dining® is a direct route to improved outcomes. What goals does your business intend to achieve this year? Are you working to improve service quality standards? Working to meet Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QUAPI) standards? Transitioning dining service from tray lines to a restaurant-style approach? Or focusing on improved financial performance? Kind Dining® can help you meet—even exceed—your goals.
Right now, award-winning senior living communities across the country are using Kind Dining® to:
- Build satisfaction, health and well-being among both residents and staff
- Reduce resident move-outs and staff turnover
- Meet the new regulatory and industry standards of care
- Stand out from the competition and win industry awards
- Increase guest meal revenue
- Attract new residents and build a thriving community
Call 503-913-1978 today to learn how you can turn mealtimes into your biggest company asset. That’s my personal cell number—not some distant call center. Let’s visit about the power of Kind Dining®.