As a culinary service director, you have to be on your toes at all times. The last thing you need is someone calling you out of the blue and asking for help. A few weeks ago, that’s exactly what happened to me. I was sitting in my office when the phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number, but I answered anyway because it could’ve been one of our residents needing something urgently.
An important part of the culinary service director job is knowing their residents.
One of the most important parts of being a culinary service director is knowing the residents and having a good sense of what their wants, needs, preferences, and story are. The culinary director is responsible for providing quality food that meets their residents’ dietary needs.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of managing kitchen staff and maintaining equipment, but it’s also vital that you know what your residents want when they sit down at the dining table. You have to be able to anticipate which meals will appeal to them so that you can plan accordingly when deciding what ingredients go into each dish.
The culinary service director was perplexed by the call.
You’re probably wondering why I called the culinary service director. I have a simple question for you: Do you know what the culinary service director does?
The call was unexpected, but not unwelcome. It was from someone who claimed to be the granddaughter of one of our residents and asked if he could help with an unusual favor.
Luckily, a culinary service director is never caught without a plan.
You’re a culinary service director. You’re always getting calls from the front of the house, the back of the house, and everyone in between. You’re prepared for everything and though it’s difficult to be fully prepared for any scenario, you’ve got at least a basic plan ready to go in case anything comes up.
You’ve been running your kitchen for years now; you know what works and what doesn’t. You learned how to handle all sorts of situations long ago, it’s part of the job description. While other people panic over unexpected events, an experienced culinary service director will take care of them before they even have time to think twice about it!
You are the culinary service director at an assisted living facility. You receive a call from someone who identifies herself as the granddaughter of one of your residents, asking you to get them their favorite candy. The caller says that her grandmother is upset because she does not have any of her favorite candy, which has made her lose weight and become ill. She seems to think that getting some will help improve her grandmother’s health and happiness.
The culinary service director should be prepared for surprises at all times.
You never know what might happen in your job as a culinary service director, so it’s important to always have a solution on hand and be ready to help your residents, fellow employees, and family members as needed.
Being ready for anything will help you make the best decisions possible. When faced with a problem, it’s important to be able to think clearly and stay calm so that you can come up with a solution quickly. This is especially true if there are residents in your facility who have special needs or medical issues that require extra attention from time to time.
The culinary service director was happy to help.
They thought it was wonderful that the residents were so happy with their meals, and were glad for the opportunity to do whatever they could to make them feel even better.
The culinary service director sent out an email to all of the residents who had rated their meal, asking them why they had given it such a low rating. She was hoping that she could find some way to improve them so they would be more satisfying for everyone.
Conclusion
The culinary service director was happy to help and will always do his best to make sure that the residents are well taken care of. It’s a good idea to be ready for anything at any moment. Straight to the culinary service director.
