What does it take to be a Head Chef of an Aged Care Facility?
Preparing meals for Aged Care residents is a rewarding role, yet not without its challenges and learning curves.
All the menus are prepared by on-site Chefs and Cooks and are nutritionally balanced to meet the needs of residents. Chefs cater for the personal preferences of residents and incorporate local or seasonal produce where possible.
One of the first things I noticed when I started in Aged Care as the Executive Chef was the notes next to residents’ names in the dietary folder. It quickly became evident I need to take note of the particular requirements and request of our residents. All our residents had different diet needs, different likes and dislikes and my position was to ensure every meal met those individual requirements.
I had previously worked for the Royal family, 5-star hotels and catered for many celebrities, so I was accustomed to catering for special unusual dietary request. Although I have never experienced catering to specific individual preferences on a huge scale. It was a challenge and a lot to take onboard.
165 residents, everyone likes to have food prepared exactly the way it was cooked at their home.
Food is very important to people. The role of catering for the elderly is listening to their needs and understanding what’s important. The whole hospitality team is focused on knowing what everyone likes or dislikes when it comes down to food.
Many of the residents know about food themselves and have their favourite recipes. It helps if you learn everyone’s specific needs and tastes. They would be quick to tell you if you haven’t done it the right way
Challenges of meeting quality and time:
Some of the major challenges in an Aged Care kitchen is the responsibility of making quality food with limited time. Food is prepared and served from morning until night and the team needs to work seamlessly from prep to service to keep to schedule.
Working in Aged Care is interesting, and you definitely learn a lot. Managing time restraints and personal preferences can be the biggest challenge, but with a great tea, the work is enjoyable. It gives you a good feeling to serve the residents their favourite foods.
. Communication and time management is crucial in an Aged Care.
Having a great strong team makes all the difference. This really takes the pressure off the Head Chef and makes the whole day more rewarding.
For Chefs who are looking to take on more responsibility and take a head Chef / executive Chef position at an Aged Care facility, there is a lot more than food to master!
Running an Aged Care kitchen can be a complex process, planning menus, keeping multiple stakeholders such as residents, families, dieticians, facility management, and accreditation authorities happy. Head Chefs are also required to manage budgets, as well as hire, manage, motivate, and train staff.
And there are meals to prepare!
There are 5 key areas to master to keep a smooth-running kitchen and happy staff.
- Kitchen and Food Safety Standard’s
There are understandably many requirements for food safety in Aged Care. Facilities are reviewed regularly, and it is part of the Head Chef’s job to make sure the current standards are being adhered to in the kitchen.
The Head Chef is also responsible for ensuring their staff are also aware of the necessary procedures and following them accordingly.
Catering staff need to know their safety is your priority. Make sure each new team member receives a formal induction into the procedures and safety standards of the kitchen.
Offer regular training and update, when necessary, place posters to remind staff of the steps they must take to prevent burns, cuts and falls.
- Resident Led Service
The latest Aged Care Quality Standards (July 2019) has highlighted a change in the way residents are prioritised, bringing them to the forefront of all the services and treating them less as ‘patients’ and more as customers, residents.
As the new standards are implemented, facilities will have developed processes and procedures which fit both their facility and the updated their standards.
For Aged Care Chefs, depending on the current way of providing meals for residents, there may be changes to the dining room, food service and customer interaction.
- Texture Modified Foods
Texture modification requirements are specific to the needs of individuals and are likely to change over time.
The IDDS (International Dysphagia Diet Standards) helps clinicians, Chefs and kitchen staff maintain consistent levels of texture modification. The IDDSI website has free resources which can be printed, easy to understand articles, downloads are free and may be used in the kitchen.
Texture modification can be a steep learning curve for aspiring Chefs, new to Aged Care. All Chefs need to learn as much as they can about how to prepare a menu for a soft and pureed diet, including how to plate it so it looks appetising. Molded foods.
One of the hardest things I had to learn was to cook food to be extremely soft. Chefs are traditionally trained, not to over cook food to avoid it becoming soft. Crunchy texture is such an important part of the experience of many foods, but if you don’t have teeth or have difficulty swallowing, it must be soft.
I ask my Chefs / cooks to test the food with a completely new perspective. I would ask to do a chew test in preparation. If I could eat and swallow the food easily using only your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then you will know it is safe for the resident.
- Special Diet are a challenge
My new appreciation and empathy for the elderly. Some residents lose their ability to chew, some lose the sense of taste. Chefs and cooks definitely need empathy to work in Aged Care.
In summary:
- Take time to get to know every resident’s personal likes and dislikes
- Be flexible about the menu, and make sure to keep favourite dishes all year round
- Be midful of special diets and restrictive diets, while retaining loads of flavour
- Learn to food to a very soft and smooth texture
- Have empathy, some residents may have lost their sense of taste or struggle to swallow.
- Be prepared to work within tight timeframes
- Build relationships and have good communication with your hospitality team
- Staff Management
Potentially one of the most time-consuming tasks for Aged Care Head Chef is staff management.
Putting together a strong kitchen team you can rely on day in and day out – and over the weekends requires ‘soft skills’ not often taught.
Scheduling shifts, ensuring a high standard of food quality, consistency of preparation and presentation, and managing staff motivation and teamwork are all part of running an Aged Care kitchen.
Strong planning and people skills are important.
There are cloud-based programs like Shiftboard, Humanity and When I Work available. You can use them to create a roster and set them up to notify your staff when they have a shift coming up. These systems allow staff to swap shifts amongst themselves or put their hand up when there is an extra day’s work available.
- Leadership
Being the Head Chef of an Aged Care kitchen puts you into a leadership role, however, many people working in Aged Care don’t see themselves as leaders.
Surprising!! Aged Care Chefs who are passionate about creating an amazing dining experience for their residents, who care about their staff, and have pride in their work often already carry the traits of a good leader.
Knowing how to manage expectations and keep staff motivated are simple yet very effective skills which empower everyone in the kitchen to do the best they can.
This is My Story Jeffrey R. Gear
Chef Jeffrey Gear 