"'It was the smell of the food that caught my attention" says Steve Geach, owner of Oakview Care Home, Hampshire. "We were at the Bournemouth Care Show and not looking to review our food offering but the smell was too good to resist. We literally followed our noses and discovered apetito. The encounter has not only led to an improvement in the quality of our food provision, but has also added around £30k annually to my bottom line."
Having worked in and around care homes since the age of 14 when his father made his first care home purchase, Steve understands the complexities of the business.
'Food becomes important once the first impression is a positive one. A clean and nicely decorated bedroom with en suite, along with the lounge and garden areas come top of most people's list when considering a care home for relatives or themselves. If these boxes are ticked, only then does the choice and quality of the food come under scrutiny.
'The challenge for care homes is balancing the cost of chef, ingredients and facilities against the overall fees. Food plays an important role in the emotional and physical well-being for our residents. Nutrition and well-being aside, good quality food also adds value, helps the resident to feel satisfied and reinforces to relatives that the decision has been the right one.
'apetito was an interesting avenue for us. Having tried other suppliers in the past and been less than impressed, using a specialist frozen ready meal provider wasn't an obvious one. But the proposed solution appealed: a combination of quality food, nutritional planning, breadth of range and a system that could be easily implemented within our existing facility.
'However, putting business rationale to one side, the solution also had to work for our residents. apetito worked with us to host a Family Evening at which residents and relatives could smell, see and taste the food and the company could answer any questions that they had. We used the opportunity to highlight the breadth of menu. There are over 200 dishes available and apetito can cater for special dietary needs such as low fat, diabetic or pureed, as well as cultural and religious meals. The provision of apetito Nutridata as part of the service enabled the catering team to plan individual diets and ensure that all residents enjoy a nutritionally balanced menu over the course of a menu cycle.
'The verdict was unanimous and we agreed to switch.
'The Cook Freeze system provides total flexibility around the time of service. No preparation is required and usually meals can be cooked in 90 minutes, so the food is always service piping hot and at its nutritional best. The smell and visual appeal of the food stimulates our residents' appetites, which greatly encourages consumption. In addition, cook freeze enables staff to offer food at times to suit individual residents if they are rehabilitating or unwell.
'An added bonus of this leap in quality and flexibility has been the massive reduction in our wastage. Prior to working with apetito, we had around half a bin bag of food waste left on residents’ plates each day and this has now been reduced to virtually zero.'
Food is moving up the CQC agenda
The guidelines for food provision outlined in the Care Standards Act 2000 give very general guidance to care home owners. With 21,500 care homes nationwide and 380m meals served per year, there is huge discrepancy in the food provision from one care home to the next. The guidelines rely upon the integrity of each care home to deliver 'a wholesome appealing, balanced diet in pleasing surroundings at times convenient to them'.
'For many homes, food isn't top of the priority list and old systems are still in place which can’t address nutrition in detail or ensure a nicely presented, tasty dish, says Geach.
'Tackling the issue has been further compounded by the recession. Like many other sectors, care homes have been hit as residents' equity or savings have diminished and demand for state supported places increases. The funding from local authorities doesn't allow the majority of homes to invest in new facilities or improve existing ones. So, having established that apetito could not only deliver appetising, nutritious food, we were delighted to discover that the cost of implementing the Cook Freeze system was minimal. Not only that, it would improve efficiency within the business and deliver a direct cost benefit back to the bottom line.
'The size of our kitchen facility has been reduced and an additional 15ft bedroom with en suite and patio has been added to Oakview, which has obviously increased the turnover and the value of the business.'
Care Homes need to think smarter. With an aging population - over 1.3m people in the UK are now aged 85 and over – demand for care services are increasing, yet budgets are not. This combined with the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s review next year, which is likely to press for improved quality or food provision, will put increasing pressure on care home owners.
'Most importantly, our residents are very satisfied with their food. But beyond that, apetito's Cook Freeze system has enabled Oakview to deliver above the CQC guidelines and increase our profitability, an unforeseen but very welcome bonus!' concluded Geach.