3 Ways to Improve the Dining Experience at Retirement Homes

Experience, in many aspects of life can impact and influence one’s perception of a person, place or thing significantly. There is a quote from Maya Angelou, “They May not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.” This statement can be applied to the service and experience residents receive in retirement homes.

ContinYou Care has always been based around the goal of providing resources for improving the day-to-day experience of residents.  Our new survey product allows homes to get customized and anonymous feedback from their residents on more than just the dining experience. Residents will rate and provide feedback on the: service, food quality, cleanliness and selection (among a few pieces of information we can collect). The data collected is essential in evaluating the current experience residents receive and providing suggestions on improvements to specific aspects in order to improve the overall experience.

This type of survey is similar to what a restaurant would use to analyze the customer experience from greeting to seating and closing out the experience.

Here are a few ways that retirement homes can emulate a more restaurant-like experience with ContinYou Care:

1. Make residents feel important. Imagine being able to greet residents by name, which is made much easier with Continyou Care, resident pictures are tied to their profiles (to help them potentially learn names)

2. Collect feedback from residents constantly. Similar to a restaurant environment, knowing what you are doing well and what areas need improvement ensures that everyone from staff to management understand what residents look for to strive towards the “11-star experience”.

3. Ensure orders are taken correctly and delivered in a timely fashion to residents. Continyou Care provides accountability and transparency on this issue as homes often have a gap here.  Diet restrictions and food preferences are also an important element to consider here.

The focus is on the residents and that’s how it should always be.

ContinYou Care was created with the goal of helping a business deliver a fantastic experience to its customers.  We want homes to be able to provide the opportunity to select a meal based not only on dietary restrictions or recommendations but on personal preference. Residents in retirement homes are served a majority of their meals in a dining room setting and for them, essentially they are “dining out” for each meal.  Expectations may include: timeliness, quality of the meal, taste and satisfaction. The satisfaction of residents is incredibly important as this is part of their day-to-day routine and for some, one of the most exciting times in their day.

Would you say that your experience when dining out is more important than the actual meal you receive? Share your thoughts on Twitter with us here.