Corporate Services
Food Services
Case Study

What can MDC do for your employees in the corporate setting?

MDC has experience and refined programs to suit a range of corporate needs and can:

Present seminars on a number of nutrition related topics including –“Being Label Savvy”, “Facts on Fats”, and “The Balancing Act”.
Conduct individual dietetic consultations to inform staff on ways to improve their food intake and health by giving participants individualised suggestions and recommendations.
Carry out cooking demonstrations -> interactive, stimulating, and FUN! This involves the participants and easily educates them on how to cook quick, easy and nutritious meals.
Conduct supermarket shopping tours with staff to provide them with relevant skills to select nutritious foods by understanding food labels.
Provide information at expo style stall. Engage visitors at nutrition or health expos (eg The Low-down on Glycaemic Index, Water for Hydration and Food Safety).

What can MDC do for you in the food service setting?

Undertake in-depth qualitative and quantative menu reviews, to assess the quality of food provided in meeting nutrition standards.
Make practical recommendations on how to better achieve nutrition-related standards, taking into account inherent logistics of different food service departments.
Work in consultation with food service staff to produce new menus that meet all nutrition standards and client group needs.
Educate food service staff on relevant aspects of nutrition (eg diabetes, coeliac disease), to keep them up-to-date with the latest information.
Report on quantities of wastage, providing ideas on how to better manage this and reduce the excess.
Produce diet guidelines for special diets (eg texture modified, low fat) to ensure that recipients requiring such are always provided with appropriate food.
Assist kitchens in developing standardised recipes and ensuring standardised serving sizes are provided.
Create standardised serving sizes to ensure nutritional adequacy and better allow food services to quantify food volumes thereby establishing regular food orders minimizing waste.

Food Service Manager to a city council

Problem
Robyn is the manager of the food service department within one of Melbourne’s City Councils. She is responsible for the Delivered Meals Program and ensuring that all recipients receive appropriate meals every day. The results of the latest customer satisfaction survey showed that many recipients were not happy with their meals, reporting little variety in the menu and finding that meal size was completely variable.

Process
Robyn engaged MDC to undertake an in-depth menu review. The first step was to meet with Robyn to gain an insight and details into the food produced and provided by the service. It also involved discussing the current menu and cooking procedures, viewing the workings of the kitchen and discussing inherent issues that the food service is regularly faced with. Random meals were taken for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

It was established that the current menu had been in place for the past 2 years, with little change during that time. The menu lacked variety, with many dishes repeated 3 times in the 4-week cycle. There was no alternative choice available for individuals who suffered intolerances or those who simply disliked the choice for that day. In these instances they received a frozen meal from earlier in the week. From the weighed analysis, it also appeared that there was no consistency in meal sizes served by staff members, with staff serving variable amounts each day. This meant that the minimum serving requirements set out in the HACC guidelines were frequently not being achieved.

From this, recommendations were made, specific to Robyn’s food service. First and foremost it was time to develop a new menu. It was suggested that a winter and a summer menu would be more appropriate.

The 4-week cycle was maintained, however, an alternative meal option was given each day. By rearranging some of the existing meals and adding in a host of other new appropriate meals, much greater variety of meals was achieved for meals each day and over the 4 week cycle.

To overcome the differing meal sizes, the minimum serving sizes of the HACC guidelines were taken as the benchmark, with serving utensils set to meet each of these requirements. This then allowed little discrepancy amongst different staff members when serving meals.

Result
After the new winter menu was into place, another customer satisfaction survey was undertaken. Recipients now rated the variety provided as much more acceptable and felt that serving sizes were more standardised.

Although it was a process of change and adaptation initially Robyn and her staff, reported it has been a beneficial process.

The kitchen is now running more efficiently, recipients are happier with their meals and are consequently meeting their nutritional requirements.




Corporate Services Food Services Case Study What can MDC do for your employees in the corporate setting? MDC has experience and refined programs to suit a range of corporate needs and can: Present seminars on a number of nutrition related topics including –“Being Label Savvy”, “Facts on Fats”, and “The Balancing Act”. Conduct individual dietetic consultations to inform staff on ways to improve their food intake and health by giving participants individualised suggestions and recommendations. Carry out cooking demonstrations -> interactive, stimulating, and FUN! This involves the participants and easily educates them on how to cook quick, easy and nutritious meals. Conduct supermarket shopping tours with staff to provide them with relevant skills to select nutritious foods by understanding food labels. Provide information at expo style stall. Engage visitors at nutrition or health expos (eg The Low-down on Glycaemic Index, Water for Hydration and Food Safety). What can MDC do for you in the food service setting? Undertake in-depth qualitative and quantative menu reviews, to assess the quality of food provided in meeting nutrition standards. Make practical recommendations on how to better achieve nutrition-related standards, taking into account inherent logistics of different food service departments. Work in consultation with food service staff to produce new menus that meet all nutrition standards and client group needs. Educate food service staff on relevant aspects of nutrition (eg diabetes, coeliac disease), to keep them up-to-date with the latest information. Report on quantities of wastage, providing ideas on how to better manage this and reduce the excess. Produce diet guidelines for special diets (eg texture modified, low fat) to ensure that recipients requiring such are always provided with appropriate food. Assist kitchens in developing standardised recipes and ensuring standardised serving sizes are provided. Create standardised serving sizes to ensure nutritional adequacy and better allow food services to quantify food volumes thereby establishing regular food orders minimizing waste. Food Service Manager to a city council Problem Robyn is the manager of the food service department within one of Melbourne’s City Councils. She is responsible for the Delivered Meals Program and ensuring that all recipients receive appropriate meals every day. The results of the latest customer satisfaction survey showed that many recipients were not happy with their meals, reporting little variety in the menu and finding that meal size was completely variable. Process Robyn engaged MDC to undertake an in-depth menu review. The first step was to meet with Robyn to gain an insight and details into the food produced and provided by the service. It also involved discussing the current menu and cooking procedures, viewing the workings of the kitchen and discussing inherent issues that the food service is regularly faced with. Random meals were taken for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. It was established that the current menu had been in place for the past 2 years, with little change during that time. The menu lacked variety, with many dishes repeated 3 times in the 4-week cycle. There was no alternative choice available for individuals who suffered intolerances or those who simply disliked the choice for that day. In these instances they received a frozen meal from earlier in the week. From the weighed analysis, it also appeared that there was no consistency in meal sizes served by staff members, with staff serving variable amounts each day. This meant that the minimum serving requirements set out in the HACC guidelines were frequently not being achieved. From this, recommendations were made, specific to Robyn’s food service. First and foremost it was time to develop a new menu. It was suggested that a winter and a summer menu would be more appropriate. The 4-week cycle was maintained, however, an alternative meal option was given each day. By rearranging some of the existing meals and adding in a host of other new appropriate meals, much greater variety of meals was achieved for meals each day and over the 4 week cycle. To overcome the differing meal sizes, the minimum serving sizes of the HACC guidelines were taken as the benchmark, with serving utensils set to meet each of these requirements. This then allowed little discrepancy amongst different staff members when serving meals. Result After the new winter menu was into place, another customer satisfaction survey was undertaken. Recipients now rated the variety provided as much more acceptable and felt that serving sizes were more standardised. Although it was a process of change and adaptation initially Robyn and her staff, reported it has been a beneficial process. The kitchen is now running more efficiently, recipients are happier with their meals and are consequently meeting their nutritional requirements. \| Home \| About \| Individual Consulting \| Aged Care/Hospital \| \| Corporate/Government \| Contact \| Links\|
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