Culinesse Merges Retail and Hospitality at Life Plan Communities to Connect People
The quality of food and service will always be important, but how residents “feel” when dining at their senior living community is the real driver of resident engagement. Dining experiences should be relational, not transactional. Community dining venues and options should feel familiar, not foreign or unfriendly. Effective marketing can attract residents to dining venues, but how they are made to feel determines whether they return… and what they share with others.
While resident satisfaction survey scores are helpful, they don’t provide an understanding of residents’ underlying feelings of acceptance, belonging, being valued, and personal connection. With that in mind,
- Do you “surprise” your residents with menu specials, limited-time-offers, and fresh and rotating assortments of made-to-order and take-out meals?
- Do your residents feel safe and secure in your dining venues because they sense that sanitation and safety are of utmost importance to you?
- Are your residents excited to interact with your dining associates because they’re friendly, patient, knowledgeable, and genuinely want to help them?
- Does your dining services reinvent itself periodically with new products, new displays, changing themes, and seasonal favorites?
- Do you offer “omnichannel dining experiences,” meaning that residents can order online, dine-in, take-out, receive deliveries . . . purchase and dine wherever they are at that moment?
- Are your physical spaces within the community conducive to bringing residents together with food-centered special events, culinary classes, lectures, and live entertainment?
Adding the elements of Retail Management to a Life Plan Community’s dining services builds resident loyalty, discretionary revenue, team member engagement, and “word of mouth” upon which 70% of prospective residents rely when deciding on their new Life Plan Community home.
Culinesse has the boutique hospitality experience both in leadership and through affiliated hospitality partners that can help you rise above the crowd by bringing smiles to the faces of your residents, team members, and extended family.