The best way for seniors to enjoy foods at their long term care facility is for them to have a say in what’s on the menu. With that idea in mind, Maple Leaf Foodservice teamed up with Leisureworld Senior Care to present an array of new menu options to the residents.
The ‘Residents Have a Choice’ event was held at Maple Leaf’s ThinkFood Culinary Centre in September 2011. Seven or eight residents from each of six Leisureworld centres attended the event, accompanied by assistants from their facility.
And what they were met with upon their arrival at ThinkFood was a marvel of new tastes to please their palates. In addition to four products from Maple Leaf, there were also foods from 11 other manufacturers, including High Liner and Campbell’s. As the guests browsed the event and tasted new foods, they had the opportunity to evaluate each item and vote on whether they’d like to see it added to the next menu cycle.
Some clear winners from Maple Leaf included the reduced sodium Beef Pot Roast in Gravy, which was artfully served on mini-slider buns, and the new Chicken Dippers, which is a battered whole muscle chicken breast piece that was served with plum sauce.
After this event, the mini-food show took to the road and presented a similar display of food samples at seniors’ residences in Scarborough, Gravenhurst and Brantford. At all of these events, the residents were very glad to be included in the process of planning the menu and enjoyed sampling new foods as part of the process.