A lot of dietitians are probably thinking ‘ this sounds expensive !’ - has it actually resulted in reduced costs ?
Sally : Absolutely . The reductions you see in waste flow onto reductions in costs . We ' ve seen about a 20-25 % reduction in food costs over the years since we ' ve implemented room service , and that ' s the case for reinvesting that money into higher quality food for patients . Food is not just a nice-tohave in the healthcare setting , it ’ s part of clinical treatment and is just as important as medications , blood products , surgery , chemotherapy …
Luke : Getting a chef involved is not going to affect the food cost . Yes , chefs do fancy stuff in restaurants , but food just needs to be simple and cooked well . We don ’ t need to use truffles , foie gras and caviar ! Most chefs are cost conscious already .
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So where to from here ?
Sally : We have always designed our successive Luke Mangan menus focusing on the nutritional and environmental benefits of using local and seasonal produce . And so , our latest menus are using produce that we have grown in our own kitchen gardens – you don ’ t get much more seasonal and local than that ! We have partnered with Vegepod to install indoor kitchen gardens growing micro herbs and greens . We have also installed some outdoor Vegepods which we are using to conduct a pilot research project looking at the nutritional and mental wellbeing benefits of edible gardens . Our pilot group consists of nutrition and foodservice staff , and we are hoping that our findings will assist us in rolling out a larger project that includes a broad range of healthcare staff .
© Dietitian Connection 14 Infuse | October 2022