“Some observations over the past year…

• Great employee relationships and open communication has been so key. Employees need to trust management is giving them the best information they had at the time and recognize that changes are inevitable as we work through unknowns. Many of us did whatever we could to help our employees feel safe such as plexiglass barriers and physical distancing even before those practices were recommended. 

• Flexibility is crucial. Not only have we been dealing with the pandemic changes, there have been major staffing and supply chain challenges. We also saw differences across the country and even regions of the same state have different restrictions at different points in time. In addition, healthcare and other noncommercial foodservice operators have had unique projects come our way. UCSF Health Nutrition and Food Services had to change our meetings spaces, implement several drive-thru COVID testing clinics and put COVID test kit vending machines in place under the “other duties as assigned” just to name a few. 

• Tested contingency plans are a must. There have been times when our staffing levels and other operational factors have not held true, but we had contingency plans. 

• Sharing and support was phenomenal among healthcare foodservice operators. The free flow of ideas and sharing were great, and UCSF Health was fortunate to have some standing meetings with our colleagues at the other UC Health system and other meetings with colleagues across the country.” 

Dan Henroid, MS, RD

Director, Nutrition & Food Services/Sustainability Officer

UCSF Health

San Francisco

“I’ve always known that food service employees are some of the most dedicated members of any campus community. An innate drive exists here on the campus of Virginia Tech in our Dining Services team members that support the overall university mission in pursuit of student success and wellbeing. The pandemic has steeled my belief in their dedication and commitment. As essential personnel they reported to work each and every day in their unwavering commitment to provide services, in a what ever it takes mentality. They were a team engrossed with finding means in continuation of services, scaling production volumes to meet the business demand as a result of to the ever-changing numbers on the campus all the while adhering to rigid health and safety practices in order to keep themselves, fellow team members and those they were providing services to safe. We have learned that new safety processes and PPE are here to stay. Advanced technology in ordering and payment systems are acceptable and welcome means of conducting business by our customer base. The pandemic quickened the conversion and use by our students over to significant levels using mobile ordering platforms. Menu engineering to gain streamlining efficiencies will be a permanent fixture post-pandemic in our methods of service. Lastly marketing will be a critical component in communicating to our current and future students in order to obtain pre-pandemic heights and business volumes.”

Ted Faulkner

Associate Vice President

Dining, Housing & Student Centers

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Va.

“What we learned—or rather were reminded of—was the importance of keeping the customer experience first. I think there was such a tendency to look inwardly at the challenges we were facing, but we really pushed ourselves to keep the focus on the customer experience first. Takeout meals, limited menus, lack of self-service—it could all lead to a stale, uninteresting experience for customers. Every dollar of sales counts more than ever, and we were reminded of how important it is to keep the customer experience as varied, interesting and customized as possible.” 

Nicholas Saccaro

President

Quest Food Management Services

Lombard, Ill.

“When looking back on the past year of COVID and how it has affected senior dining, we have realized that we will forever change processes related to sanitation and safety. Our residents are starting to return to our dining spaces as things open up and our Home Meal Replacement Program and Room Service Modules will be new and improved to allow our residents continued trust in regard to the food they are receiving. We know that folks dining in their homes and apartments is going to continue to be a popular trend and we will do everything possible to support that new form of dining for our residents.”

Michelle Duke

Director of Food Services

Rockwood South Hill Senior Living Community

Spokane, Wash.

“I think once you have been in the business long enough you think you know how to deal with all types of situations. Our team has a lot of experience, so we are really good about dealing with new issues but last year was different. We were now faced with reduced volumes and the curveball of mobile ordering. People who didn’t previously order things from an app started to do this in their normal lives and it carried over into their time at the office. So as restaurants throughout the community adapted to a new way of selling food they inadvertently started encroaching on our business and we saw more delivery of food to the hospital. For us the lesson is that you can never be complacent with your current structure and business model. Being agile and able to adapt quickly are critical pieces of every team.”

Mike Folino

Director of Support Services

Akron Children's Hospital

Akron, Ohio

"This past year our teams learned how to be flexible, pivot when necessary, and adopt new business practices—all in real time. The unpredictable nature of this pandemic ushered in a new reality—that technology will define the guest experience—and [made us] rethink how we provide services in a leaner and more agile environment. For those of us who opened our campuses in the fall, the learnings will continue to influence future kitchen design impacting the curated dining meal."

Chris Abayasinghe

Senior Director of Campus Dining

University of Notre Dame

South Bend, Ind.

“The strength of our team made all the difference in being able to adjust and adapt to the constant changes. Every team member had integral part to play to provide a service for our community and though they too were dealing with the stress of the COVID pandemic around them, they all stepped up and did what needed to be done to feed our community. It was a great feeling to see our teamwork through challenges and get the job done!”

Michelle Drake

Director of Nutrition Services

Elk Grove USD

Elk Grove, Calif.

“What we’ve confirmed over the past year is that our team is a very creative and resilient group. Out health system peaked with over 1,200 COVID inpatients in early April 2020 and has cared for more of these patients than any other health system in Michigan. Our department was able to quickly respond with process changes to overcome the obstacles that COVID-19 presented. Both patient and retail services had to change dramatically. What would normally be years’ worth of planning and implementation for a department in an eight-hospital system happened in a few short weeks. As the healthcare community learned more about the virus, it required continuous re-evaluation of our practices to ensure the health and safety of our patients, staff, and retail customers.

Maureen Husek MA, RD

Senior Director, Nutrition Services

Beaumont Health

Southfield, Mich.

“From the start of lockdown and all throughout the academic year, the Boston College Dining Services (BCDS) team came together to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff and fellow workers. We worked hard to show students that we were doing everything possible to keep everyone safe while serving delicious food and realized that strong communication was key to keeping both parents and students informed. Our team balanced enhanced safety protocols (plexiglass, sanitization, new space configuration) while introducing innovative services such as smart lockers, contactless payment, mobile ordering, pizza delivery, an outdoor farmers’ market, CSA farm shares and outdoor pop-up events. Behind the scenes, BCDS was also fulfilling the University’s mission of “Men and women for others” by preparing and packing meals for those in need in the greater Boston area. Our team came together and were there for each other both in our work and with emotional support for each other in the most challenging year of my career.”

Beth Emery

Director of Dining Services

Boston College

Cherry Hill, Mass.

“The last year really shook us to our core. We were forced like others to take a good look at our services and delivery models and adapt almost overnight. The thing that was the most impressive to me and that I am the proudest of is that immediately hospitality and service still carried on no matter what the pandemic threw at teams. Our staff adapted quickly to make sure guests had meals, groceries, drinks, masks, gloves, sanitizer—really anything they needed in the initial moments of uncertainty. We quickly realized that flexibility was the name of the game and adapted to provide solutions that worked within an unstable supply chain and provide meals in and away from the cafe as well as a slew of virtual events and in-home experiences.”

Bill Billenstein

Senior Director of Food Excellence, Americas Region

ISS Facility Services, Inc./Guckenheimer

San Antonio, Texas

“Being a chef in an assisted living home, we were faced with not only the food and supply issues caused by COVID-19, but also caring for an extremely vulnerable population. Mealtimes are such a huge part of the resident’s lives. They don’t just come down to eat; this is a huge part of their social lives. They catch up with friends, they invite family for dinner, they get to interact with staff, they even get that glass of wine we all need after a long day. So, when we had to shut down the dining room and switch to room service, it was a difficult transition for both staff and residents.

This past year has taught me a lot. Being prepared, flexible and creative has helped maintain a good dining experience for the residents even when they had to eat in their rooms for three meals a day. Even with supply issues, we were able to maintain the same (if not sometimes increased) quality of meals. What I’ve really taken away from this past year though is 1) Good food can fix almost any bad situation and 2) The importance of sharing meals with friends and family. When we eventually fully reopen the dining room, I really want to elevate the food and overall dining experience. I have always envisioned a 5-star dining experience for the residents, but this has motivated me even further to really push for that excellence. I want to continue to buy fresh and local products when possible. I think also having an expanded wine list and even a rotating selection would be so cool and unique. We are also changing our server uniforms to something a bit more modern, something you would see at your local hip spot you’d go to on a Friday night. Hopefully sometime in the near future we will have the greenlight to reopen, and we can have a truly special experience for everyone to come back to.”

James Pijewski

Chef-Manager

Youville Place Assisted Living

Lexington, Mass.

“The past year is further evidence that the healthcare foodservice industry displays innovation, resilience, teamwork and leadership especially in times of uncertainty. Our OSUWMC Nutrition Services team remained laser-focused on what was most important: Our patients, the safety of our practices and environment, the needs of our caregivers, the well-being of our staff and communities. I am personally incredibly proud of our work in the past year, solving problems, creating efficiencies, making quick decisions and adjustments adding value in our organizations.”

Julie Meddles, MS, RDN, LD

Director, Health System Nutrition Services & Gift Shops

Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

Columbus, Oho

“A year in the rear-view mirror: COVID-19 brought on a year of unknowns, however, there is one thing I know for sure: The food service industry is resilient. We have pivoted, turned around, worked in a fluid manner, remained nibble, all while providing food to those we serve.  Our industry pulled together to collaborate and support one another through times of uncertainty, we could not have done it on our own. Food Service Strong.”

Jill Horst

Executive Director of Campus Dining 

Housing, Dining & Auxiliary Enterprises

University of California Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, Calif.

“Although this has been an extremely challenging year, there were many positive changes that came as a result. Removal of salad bars and self-serve food concepts has been a goal for some time and the pandemic helped to support these changes. Remote-ordering apps have proved difficult to justify until now and should be a powerful tool in changing our industry. Using app ordering in non-traditional ways will create additional benefits for our programs in the form of labor savings, increased offerings for all dayparts, food delivery, home meal replacements and guest tray orders.”

Angelo Mojica

Senior Director of Food & Culinary Services

Johns Hopkins Health System

Baltimore, Md.

“One thing I have learned over the past year, managing the challenges we have been faced with, is how talented the group of people we have at ISU Dining. I am confident that our team will continue rise to the challenge to serve our Iowa State community.”

Mohamed Ali

Director

Iowa State University Dining

Ames, Iowa

“As a food service operator in healthcare, I have learned now more than ever what it means to be resilient, resourceful, think on my feet, innovate, create and think outside the box. COVID also was a time to be a very dedicated, compassionate leader and be there for staff who were going through very challenging times in their personal lives. Resources were stretched and times were tough, self-care and connection to those closest to us was important for all to refuel our tanks. I am so thankful that my team and I came out of COVID healthily. We learned so much, and I hope to find new ways in 2021 to challenge myself and my team post-COVID.”

Michelle R. Harris, CDM, CFPP

Food Service Director

Confluence Health Food Services

Wenatchee, Wash.

“Our philosophy over this very challenging year has been to achieve excellence in student dining; we must align our performance with our vision in good times and in bad. Our goal has been for the dining halls to be an oasis for students from many of the other negative impacts of COVID. We wanted to provide the best food and customer service to students as most other parts of their life on campus were not very good due to COVID restrictions. The team rose to the occasion and worked hard to enhance our menu and offerings in the to-go format. I can say the response from students and university senior leaders has been overwhelmingly positive. Probably some of the most positive feedback we have ever received. With our philosophy of making the dining halls an oasis for students it has really paid off for everyone. Students often tell us this is the bright spot of their day. It continues to take a lot of work and effort, but Stanford also continues to recognize the critically important role that Stanford Dining has in improving student’s health and well-being.”

Eric Montell

Executive Director, R&DE Stanford Dining

Stanford University

Palo Alto, Calif.

“I really appreciate our Florida Department of Agriculture’s guidance for our programs. I sincerely hope that USDA decides before August 1, for the school term FY22, regarding the Universal Meals. Florida starts school in mid-August and moving to NSLP created a chaotic pivot to curbside and face to face meals. In Orange County, Florida, the non-congregate supper meals allowed thousands of students in school to also collect a supper meal. Our bus drivers reported only minor incidents, and usually did not allow students to eat until they arrived home.”

Lora Gilbert

Senior Director, Food & Nutrition Services

Orange County Public Schools

Orlando, Fla.

“The University of Connecticut’s goal was to continue to give our students a positive dining experience with plenty of scratch-made options and extended hours while maintaining a safe environment for both our staff and students. We adjusted our menus from cook to order that could result in lines to assemble to order that enabled the students to customize dishes without a long wait. To keep things positive on campus we did pop-up monotony breakers every other week with free giveaways and these giveaways would always put a smile on a student’s face!!!”

Dennis Pierce

Executive Director of Dining Services

University of Connecticut

Storrs, Conn.

“Things I learned through COVID:

1.      Always be prepared

2.      Not getting what you ordered, needed or requested

3.      Be flexible and adapt to change

4.      Keeping sense of humor, this will help you with stress”

Asha Faulkner

Food Service Director

Saint Francis Healthcare System

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

“We knew there was food insecurity throughout the city before the pandemic.  As stores and restaurants shut down or ran low on inventory, school meals became even more vital to the community. Under normal circumstances, outreach organizations would fill the gaps, but many of those were not operating.  A delicate system prior to COVID became even more fragmented.  We must rebuild a stronger infrastructure.” 

Chris Burkhardt, SNS

Educator/Executive Director, School Nutrition

Cleveland Public Schools

Cleveland

“I am finding that staff and customers are much more understanding of the sacrifices that we, food services, have to make during these unprecedented times. Things like the reduction of operational hours, the limitation of certain menu items and changes in work-flow processes.   Secondly, I feel there is a more heightened awareness of how technology can help us reach more people for less labor. Our hiring environment is extremely tight with very few applicants.”

Lisa Gibson

Director of Culinary Services

Sanford Health

Fargo, N.D.