Caring for its community since 1946, Strode Park Foundation is a charity working to provide high quality care services for young people and adults with disabilities to help them live the life they choose.
Strode Park Foundation’s three values of Care, Inspire, Together are the heart of all the work it does; caring for residents and working as a team to deliver the highest quality care.
The Foundation has residential homes across Kent in Canterbury, Herne, Faversham and Rainham, where it offers both nursing and non-nursing care to a diverse mix of residents, from children to elderly residents.
One of its homes, Lady Dane Farmhouse in Faversham is currently home to 14 residents aged between 23 – 65 years old who have complex medical needs, which range from epilepsy and learning difficulties to physical disabilities. The home, managed by Claire Dante with her team, work hard to deliver high quality care, whilst helping its residents to live as independently as possible.
For many years the group had chefs in the kitchen, but this came with challenges including lack of consistency, variety and for Lady Dane who had agency chefs, often unpredictability.
Moving to apetito
Strode Park Foundation wanted to ensure its catering operation was producing high-quality and consistent meals, that were suitable and safe for it diverse residential needs explains Claire:
“Our care has to be very person-centered and very specific to each individual resident’s care needs, and that runs through every element of care from supporting their physical needs or serving them safe food.”
The Foundation turned to apetito, a leading meals provider in the health and social sector, which delivers high-quality prepared dishes which can be easily cooked from frozen and served in-house by the team in September 2022. Eight months later, apetito’s service had been rolled out to Lady Dane Farmhouse and is helping the home effectively cater for all residents says Claire:
“Here at Lady Dane, we’ve got lots of residents with different requirements, preferences, dietary needs and diverse palates but with apetito we’re easily able to cater for this.
“Working with apetito made such as difference. Previously we used an agency chef however the meals were repetitive and boring, and they certainly didn’t meet the diverse palates we have at Lady Dane. It is also important that any modified meals look like what it is so when all residents eat together in the dining room everyone feels that they are being included with the same choices.
“Before apetito was introduced to Strode Park Foundation, I always believed that fresh was best. But before launching apetito held a tasting, giving me and other staff the opportunity to try some of their meals and I was really impressed by the quality, taste and look of the food.
“Since we’ve had apetito in place we’ve been able to consistently provide a good variety of well-balanced meals, which are far more visually attractive than what we were previously serving residents. It’s made a real difference to the quality of our food.”
Outstanding levels of service
It’s not just the high-quality, delicious meals that sold apetito to Strode Park Foundation and Lady Dane. One of the big benefits Claire and one of the home’s kitchen assistant Stacey has found is the outstanding levels of service that come with partnering with apetito.
Each apetito care home customer has a dedicated Client Development Manager (CDM), who’s always on hand to provide support, assistance, and advice which makes a world of difference explains Stacey:
“Duncan, our CDM is amazing. He’s been there every step of the journey since we partnered with apetito. If I ever need help, he comes out and goes through everything for me. He’s always helpful, whether that be answering a question or supporting with deliveries.
“With other companies, often the support you get is all automated. What is wonderful is knowing that Duncan’s just a phone call away and is always a really good point of contact.
“The apetito customer service team are also always fantastic. If I’ve ever had any problems, they run through everything with me and always get it sorted. It nice to have that support from a company from the moment you come on board.”
Ensuring food is safe and tasty for residents
Across Strode Park Foundation’s Homes, there are lots of residents who required texture modified meals and Lady Dane is no exception. The home currently has three residents who need Level 4 meals and three who need Level 5 and apetito has really made catering for them so much straightforward.
“Having apetito had made life a lot easier for us, especially when it comes to catering for residents who need texture-modified meals. It’s such a specialised field and whilst we were trying our best before, serving blended food wasn’t very appealing for residents and there really wasn’t a lot of variety.
“Since partnering with apetito means we’re able to provide residents with so much more choice when it comes to texture-modified meals. Not only that but having the pre-prepared texture modified dishes look so much better than the blended food we were serving before. We have one resident who absolutely loves fish and he’s on Level 4, so we’re able to give him texture-modified fish dishes, which he absolutely loves.”
“Knowing that we’re able to have tasty, visually appealing dishes, which are a safe and appropriate texture for our residents who need texture modified food is wonderful and isn’t something we could have ever had without apetito.”
A real variety of food for all palates
With a chef in the kitchen, Lady Dane found they were struggling to serve its residents a real variety of high-quality meals. However, that has all changed now that apetito is in place explains Stacey:
“Before apetito, it was clear the chef had run out of ideas about what to serve and it was just the same few dishes being served. Now there is so much more variety for residents and the food goes down so well.
“Since the introduction of apetito meals, all residents weights have stabilised and we have not needed to make any referrals to dietitians due to concerns of weight loss, which is amazing. You can tell they really enjoy the food. The Roast Beef is definitely one of their favourites. We had it yesterday and it literally melts in your mouth.
“We also have a couple of residents who love having vegetable mains, so they really enjoy some of the vegetarian dishes, like the Vegetable Lasagna or the Cheese and Onion Pie, which we’re serving today.
“What’s great is that it is really easy to modify the menus to suit all the residents’ preferences. We regularly get feedback and input from residents through surveys about what they’d like on the menu. I then sit down and once a week go onto myapetito, the ordering system on my tablet to make sure all the menus are as they should be and incorporate any feedback. And if I ever need to change anything it’s a breeze.
“One of our residents really likes lamb, so I’ve recently added a few more lamb dishes into our menus – it couldn’t be easier. Having much more of a variety when it comes to the dishes we’re serving has made a real difference and the residents are happy with the food they’re having.”
Not only has the quality and variety improved but the kitchen has also managed to reduce food waste.
“Another benefit is that our food waste has massively reduced compared to when we had a cook in the kitchen. Now it’s so much easier because you know exactly how many portions you’ll get out of a dish and how many residents you’re able to serve.
“We also find that having apetito just really takes the pressure off. You don’t have to stress about if you’ve ordered enough ingredients, not cooked enough portions or panic if you’ve forgotten to get a certain ingredient – it makes life so much easier.”
A real partnership
With apetito, Lady Dane and Strode Park Foundation has found a real partner explains Claire:
“We’ve got such a great relationship with apetito. There is no way we would ever return to what we were doing beforehand. Having apetito, means catering for residents is one less thing for us to worry about.
“Previously, when the chef went off sick, it was a real issue. Now we have all the staff trained on how to cook and serve apetito’s food, so if our kitchen assistants like Stacey are ever off ill or on holiday, then we know we’re still always going to get a delicious meal out to residents.
“I’d describe apetito as reliable, professional, and good value for money. Not only is the variety of the food great but the resources and training you get are fantastic. We know there is always either Duncan or apetito’s Customer Service on the other end of the phone and they’re always going to help. Like I say I’ve only got to call Duncan and say I need your help and he’s like yes, I’ll come out at this date and this time – it’s that level of service which is incredible.”