A survey of 3,000 people aged 45-75 was recently carried out by Caterplus, the healthcare catering arm of Elior UK. As a result it published a report ‘The Future of Food – Trends Shaping the Care & Retirement Environments of Tomorrow’.
David Foad: Why does Caterplus produce healthcare reports?
Michal Seal: We are the market leader in care and retirement living having been formed in 1991 and later bought by Elior in 2016. The retirement living and extra care element has grown because it now includes those aged 55-plus. As a result, we feel that we’ve got a responsibility to understand the market and know that we need to dig a bit deeper to do so. Also we see this as an investment.
DF: What do you feel are the most significant changes in the 2024 one over the previous one in 2018?
MS: Many of the findings are not a huge surprise, but a few things stand out. The most stark was the importance of technology. It was at the forefront of everyone’s mind back in 2018 as a way to remove cost, but we’ve seen in the survey findings that tech isn’t wanted as a way to take out the human touch, but instead should enhance it.
There has obviously got to be innovation, and we’ve done that ourselves when we introduced Bellabot to clear tables. It talks to you, it’s interactive and when we trialled it the motive was not to remove front-of-house cost, but to free-up staff time to interact more with residents.
The other significant finding in the survey was around high street brands and the most popular, those that resonated most with residents, were Greggs and Costa. That was interesting and sets us the challenge of working out how we innovate and bring brands into the care home or retirement living centre.
In fact, we have already brought Costa into ready-to-serve retirement living, but with Greggs we know we need to do more.
DF: When respondents say they want personal dining options, do they mean a la carte?
MS: Ninety percent of respondents want a personalised dining experience with an emphasis on freshly prepared meals. We see that as a wish for more choice. We already have a pre-order system, using it to give residents the chance to choose meals 2-3 days ahead.
If someone wants fish and chips with a sausage then that’s fine, they can have that. But the system allows us to be cost-effective while still offering a personalised service.
In addition, we see that variety is also important. That’s good, because we want to encourage people to eat different things every day. We’re very focused on good nutrition and variety helps that. We manage this in several different ways.
We have theme days such as a curry night, for example, when in addition to the food staff and residents might dress up and there will be appropriate entertainment alongside the food. We also run pop-ups. One of the most popular is the Crumble Pop-Up, which is nostalgic and very customisable.
Chefs set up stands in the dining area offering different fruits, and a range of crumble toppings, plus a choice of sauce. It provides personalisation and adds an experiential element, which is so important.
My own favourite idea that we at Caterplus run is Resident of the Day. Every week or so we pick a resident and ask them for their favourite main course and dessert. This is then featured as the special of the day.
Everyone is offered the chance to choose it, and there is a photo of the resident on the menu that day, so they feel special and valued.
DF: What do you think survey respondents mean when they say they want more human interaction?
MS: Simply that they don’t want technology replacing human interaction. Mealtimes are so important, the highlight of the day for many people in a care setting, and they want to see the chef and the waiters.
DF: What do the survey findings suggest about future food and drink trends in the care sector?
MS: I would say that personalisation is the number one trend, followed by variety of cuisine, the high street influence becoming stronger, particularly in retirement living; and also health and sustainability – 70% said it was the most important consideration.
The findings also signal that nutrition will remain a real focus, along with sustainability, with the issue of food waste the most important aspect of sustainability. At Caterplus our pre-ordering system is already helping us to do that as far as possible. It’s interesting, too, that 36% of respondents said they wanted us to grow our own produce.
This is something we do already in a few homes where it’s really successful and helps residents. Some will even be involved in helping to look after such vegetable patches and herb gardens. It tells a story and encourages people to eat because they have a stake in it.
When it comes to plant-based dishes we find that demand doesn’t match the high street. Our residents want comfort and nostalgia, something they know, but we have Net Zero commitments so we are incorporating more beans, enhancing dishes with pulses and lentils while reducing the amount of meat we serve.
DF: The report highlights concerns about the use of AI and tech, but won’t they be important in an industry that has chronic staff shortages?
MS: We use a lot of technology back-of-house to simplify systems and tackle over-repetitive processes, but front-of-house we use it to enhance the resident experience rather that replace human touch. Our Magic Table [an interactive light projector designed to provide stimulation through specialised games] helps with dementia patients in particular.
Because food is an important way to bring people together the interaction can help foster that sense of community. At some of our homes clients use a giant toy bear that can give you a hug that feels warm and comforting.
We also have technology that can predict a fall or tell you when they have had one, so we see less use of it on the catering and more on the care side to enhance the care experience.
DF: The 45-75 age range of survey respondents suggests many who already live comfortably with technology. Why do you think they have voiced concerns?
MS: In our retirement living centres we do already use technology in a lot of things like food ordering, to enter competitions, and encouraging feedback by email. I think that even where there is a familiarity with it, though, there’s also a worry that technology could replace the human touch.
DF: What is Caterplus doing as a result of this latest report?
MS: Firstly, as it’s more important than ever to balance affordability and choice, we are tweaking menus. We serve a lot of cakes and we’ve started to add chickpeas to the mixture – it’s an extra protein and it helps with the cost, though innovation is the motivation, not saving money.
We already have Costa in the retirement living sector, and we’re looking to expand that. We are also focusing on food waste now, as this is an important issue for our residents. The pre-ordering system helps, as does personalisation.
Overall, we’ve learned there’s no desire to replace the human touch, but we still want to use technology where it can enhance the human experience, and use it for efficiency back-of-house.
DF: What is the Caterplus Provision Plan, and how does it work?
MS: It’s part of our culinary approach, to ensure that we meet the needs of residents with specialised dietary requirements, such as those with dementia or requiring texture-modified foods.
An example of this is the introduction of grazing boxes, which were developed by our head of nutrition and dietetics and executive development chef. The dishes are part of a four-week menu featuring balanced options to support digestive health, prevent weight loss, and address malnutrition.
The grazing boxes cater to a range of dietary needs, including texture-modified options, and are dementia-friendly. Designed as nourishing finger foods, they help to promote independence and regular eating and are served as alternatives or supplements to traditional meals.
Since their introduction, we have seen an improvement in resident weight gain and they have had a positive impact on both physical and mental wellbeing. They can be delivered up to three times daily or tailored for any time, day or night.
They are available as individual portions or sharing platters and allow our staff to monitor intake and customise for allergies, fortification, or fibre needs, and the sharing platters encourage social interaction and foster a sense of community among residents.
And Mandy Davies, our head of nutrition and dietetics won the Public Sector Catering Health and Nutrition Award for their creation 2022!
DF: More generally, what are the major issues Caterplus faces over the next few years?
MS: Staff recruitment remains a significant challenge, though with staff turnover at 33% against a broader hospitality industry average of 50%, we are in quite a good position. Cost inflation, too, has to be carefully managed, though it also forces us to be more innovative.
Overall, the sector is becoming more competitive, and this driving the trend of hyper-personalisation. And we know there’s more we can do in the way we treat our people and the training and the value they provide for clients.
DF: What single action could the Government take to help the care sector?
MS: The social care sector would benefit hugely from an exemption to the employer National Insurance contributions that have been announced. By extending this to social care, it would help us prevent more elderly people needing hospital care, which would in turn relieve pressure on the NHS. I believe there has already been representation from the industry to the Government on this point and we’ll wait and see what happens.
Caterplus, the healthcare arm of Elior UK, employs 3,000 staff serving 9,500 meals a day across its care and retirement living portfolio.