FOOD SERVICE EXPERIENCE QUESTIONS
Birgit Humpert
Initial impressions
1. What is the general atmosphere in the kitchen? Does it appear to be a positive work environment and
what led you to your conclusion?
The general atmosphere in the kitchen is very good; those employees I talked to described it as
a good work environment. I heard more praise and thanks from supervisors toward employees and also
among employees than criticism. And I also had the opportunity to look at an employee survey. The
food service department has the highest scores from all the departments when it comes to employee
satisfaction. In the whole organization - starting with the mission statement and going through the
guiding principles - employee satisfaction is regarded as very important.
2. What management style/s do the food service director and other supervisors use? Are they effective?
Why or why not? What do you like and dislike about their management styles?
The food service director and the supervisors I have observed so far use a mix of
democratic/participative leadership and a task-oriented leadership style. Input of staff seems to be very
much appreciated but the final decision is with the supervisors and is made in a swift and decisive
fashion to get the job done. The food service director at Kendal is a leader that stays in the background
and is not involved in the any hands-on labor. The supervisors in the kitchen, the café, the health center
dining rooms and the main dining room report to him. They are more hands-on but there are
differences between the departments. In the kitchen with mainly full-time employees that are trained
and experienced the kitchen manager does stay more in the background, in other departments with
more part-time workers there is more micro-managing, especially around meal times. The management
styles I have observed seem effective and appropriate for the different areas.
3. What methods do they use to communicate with their employees? Are they effective? What would
you suggest might make it better?
All the supervisors have an “open-door” policy and are approachable by staff at any time. In the
kitchen everybody comes together in the late morning to talk about the menu, what needs to be done,
what needs to be ordered, used up, repaired etc. This seems to be a good way to keep everybody on
track. Between the supervisors there is also some email exchange as needed. As far as I can see at this
point in my rotation the communication within the food service department is effective.
4. Do the managers have regular meetings with each other? Are there regular staff meetings? Do you
feel they are often enough?
The food service director and the supervisors meet once a month. There is a formal agenda for
these meetings which the food service director sends out in advance. The purpose of these meetings is
to work on long-time plans or project and address issues that go beyond the day-to-day operation. The
other departments (main dining room evening, health center dining, and cafeteria) meet once every
three or four month with all employees and the food service director. Other than that they have small
briefings or no meetings at all). Due to the high percentage of part-time workers in those areas regular
meetings don’t really seem feasible. But this also makes it hard to communicate with staff members.
Everybody is required to keep up with the communication log or with communication boards to stay up
to date. And for the most part this seems to work but it is challenging. For the most part I think there are
enough meetings.
5. Briefly discuss your overall first impressions of the facility?
Overall my first impression of the facility is very positive. Everybody seems very committed to
the mission of Kendal (“Together, transforming the experience of aging”) and the satisfaction of
residents and staff seems to be very high. I have seen this through my observation in the food
committee, where residents give feedback and input to the food service director and his staff and also
through the surveys of residents and staff I got to read. I’m looking forward to working more with the
staff and residents in the different departments. There are 50 staff members in the food service
department plus 40 high-school or college students that work as wait staff or in the dish room during
mealtimes. But everybody was really welcoming and seems willing to work with me.
Human Resources:
6. Discuss the facilities hiring process. Include all of the steps.
Recruiting is done through different avenues; for students who work as wait staff and dish
washers Kendal uses Craigslist. Other jobs are posted online (for example at careerbuilder.com) or in the
local newspaper. Once a year there is also a job fair at a local hotel and they also do some recruiting of
students through job fairs directly in schools. All the applications are collected by HR in a cloud-based
recruiting software program named iRecruit. The applications for the food service department (about
10/week) come to the food service director first. He reviews them and sends them over to the different
department managers if approved. The managers in the different departments then start the
interviewing process. Most full-time employees have to interview three times, first with 2 managers,
then with the manager and the director and if they are approved by the director, they interview with the
manager and some residents. Part-time employees usually only go through one interview with two
managers. All new employees go through a day of general training and orientation before they start
training in their respective departments.
Within Kendal there is also a program called “Stepping Stones” which spotlights high performing
employees for further promotion. And in addition all jobs will be posted internally for at least three days
before being posted externally.
7. Discuss the disciplinary process. Include all of the steps. Do you think it assures fairness? Is it labor
intensive or easy to use and understand. Would you as a manager feel comfortable working within the
guidelines of this policy?
For any disciplinary problems Kendal has a policy of “coach and counsel” to make it possible for
every employee to be successful in his or her job and meet the performance standards and behavior
expected at Kendal. The first step is a behavior and performance dialogue between the manager and the
employee. After the second infraction a written reprimand goes into the employee’s record and a
timeline is discussed to give the person time to improve performance or behavior. With the third
warning the employee is put on a performance-improvement plan that usually involves weekly meetings
with the manager.
With the high number of school-aged part-time staff that work as waiters and dishwashers absenteeism
and tardiness is a prevalent problem. There are certain policies followed depending on the work hours
per week. While full-time staff is only terminated after the tenth occurrence and three previous
warning, staff that is scheduled less than 20 hours per week is terminated after the third to fifth
occurrence.
I would be comfortable working within these guidelines because the employees are given clear
guidelines orally and in writing before starting work. It seems fair and consistent although I cannot
comment on the actual implementation. It is certainly labor intensive because the supervisor needs to
monitor and guide his employees but it is not hard to understand or to use.
8. What is the termination –for cause (firing) process?
Every termination has to be approved by the execute director. Termination can either follow as
the last step as described above. Under certain circumstances like theft, sexual misconduct or abuse the
employee is first suspended while an investigation of the incidence is conducted. Should the
investigation prove these serious allegations the employee can be fired immediately.
9. How is the scheduling of employees done? Who does it and how frequently? How are requests for
time off handled?
Scheduling is done by the immediate supervisor. Scheduling of the managers is done by the
director. It is done based on the needs of the facility and the staffing situation. For example staffing
might look different in the summer when a lot of residents go away on vacation or to second homes.
During this time there are also more college students available who like to work more hours. In the fall
with college students gone, all the residents coming back, and new high-school students settling into
their school and sports routine, scheduling can sometimes go through an adjustment period before a
new routine has been established. Requests for time-off will be granted if the employee has the
necessary vacation time and if the needs of the facility are still met. Request are done in writing and
signed by the employee, supervisor, and director if granted. Overall I got the impression that the
vacation policy is very generous compare to other facilities and that the managers are trying hard to
meet the needs of the organization and the needs of individual staff members. This might be a reason
for the high staff satisfaction.
10. Review a job description and job flow. Compare these to the employee’s actual workday. Comment
on any differences.
All job descriptions contain information about the department, supervisor responsibility, who
the employee reports to, FLSA status (exempt or non-exempt), mission statement of Kendal, and core
values. For all jobs there is also a job summary. For wait staff this would be: “provides services to
patrons at the Cadbury dining room”. Then the essential duties and responsibilities are listed. For
example: “assures high quality table service... and utilizes proper service techniques.” The job
description also lists competencies like customer service, interpersonal skills, oral communication,
teamwork, judgment, motivation, safety and security, attendance etc. The qualifications include
education, language skills, mathematical skills, computer skills, and physical demands. The work
environment is described (in case of wait staff for example slippery floors). All job descriptions also
contain values and expectations statement. The employee sign the job description and the values and
expectations statement separately.
In case of the wait staff the job flow is very similar to the job description. Depending on the scheduled
times the wait staff is responsible for set-up of the dining room (this includes for example stocking the
dessert stations, preparing the areas for food set-up, stocking the stations, getting the beverage area
ready. With beginning of the dining service they are responsible for table service (beverages, food if the
residents don’t get it themselves, coffee), after the patrons leave they are busing the tables and get
them ready for the next evening or the next patrons. After dining service they are responsible for
cleaning up the dining room, holding areas for food, their stations etc.
I had the opportunity to go through all the job descriptions with the food service director to update
them. This is done on a regular basis to make sure that job descriptions are as accurate as possible and
that they are a good basis for the evaluation process. For the evaluation they need to be written in a
way that those expectations can be exceeded. Due to the regular updates the job description and the
actual job flow are very similar.
11. What is the evaluation process? Do you feel it is adequate? How do you feel about their evaluation
tools? Are they specific enough? Do you feel that they effectively evaluate a person’s work
performance? Is there anything you would do differently?
New staff gets a written evaluation around the 90th day of employment. Otherwise evaluation is
done once a year. The job description is the base of the review process and the evaluation is the basis
for any increases in salary. If the employee meets competency in all his core duties he will get a 2%
raise, if he meets specific goals set by the employee himself at the review period the salary will increase
by an additional 1%. The evaluation is first done by the supervisor and then goes to HR for review. I
think the evaluations are very specific because the job descriptions for the different positions have a
high level of detail. And they are regularly reviewed and updated to make sure they are accurate. The
staff is aware of the responsibilities their position has. I also think it is fair because the raises are the
same regardless of position. Management at Kendal had discussed not connecting the increases in salary
to job performance with the goal to improve staff satisfaction even more, but this was not received
positively among the staff. I’m not surprised by this. Most people like to be recognized for good work
and would view it as “not fair” if a co-worker that does not meet his responsibilities would get the same
raise.
Financial Management:
12. What is the annual budget for your food service department?
The annual budget is about $ 3.2 million altogether. While I was working with the food service director
he walked me through the process of creating this budget. He uses a zero-base budgeting approach as
well as a traditional approach for this process. In the zero-base budget he creates a new budget without
referring to the previous budget, but instead every item is scrutinized and justified. He then takes the
current budget with the actual spending of the last three month and the projected spending of the next
nine month and factors in increases for the future budget. This budget and the zero-base budget should
be close. The budget then goes through different review steps.
13. How much is spent on average for labor?
On average 60 % of the budget goes toward labor.
14. How much is spent on average for food?
About $ 1.3 million is spend on food.
15. What other expenses do they track?
Repair and equipment, china, flowers and other decorations, office supplies, traveling, subscriptions,
shipping cost (are just recently tracked separately from the food cost) et al.
16. What is the average % food cost? If you need to figure it out yourself do so.
About 40% is the average food cost. All other expenses besides labor cost are rolled into food cost.
17. What percent of labor is cost of benefits?
About 50% of labor cost is cost of benefits. The benefits at Kendal are certainly above average,
they include Paid Time Off, holidays, group benefits for regular full-time staff (health and dental
insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, term-life insurance, a pension plan, disability
insurance, flexible spending and 403b retirement plan), tuition reimbursement et al.
18. Who tracks the financial data? How often is it done? What data do they track?
Depending on the type of data they are tracked on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The
tracking is first done by the assistant director in the food service department who reports to the director
who in turn reports to the director of marketing and resident services who reviews the data with the
finance department. Data that are tracked include expenses for food, equipment, office supplies etc.
through the purchase orders and invoices; inventory is also tracked on a monthly basis. On the other
hand revenue is also tracked on a regular basis. This includes meals that are paid by residents, guests,
staff, and catering events. Most residents who are living independently are on some kind of meal plan so
the revenue from this stream is fairly predictable (with seasonal highs and lows).
19. Discuss with the manager how they use their monthly numbers to assure they will meet their budget
constraints.
The monthly numbers are used to track variances from the budget. To ensure that food cost
don’t exceed the budgeted amount the kitchen coordinator has a close eye on the development of food
prices and the menu or the type of foods purchased (fresh versus frozen) are changed to ensure that
that budget constraints are met. To ensure that labor cost does not exceed the budgeted amount the
managers in the different departments track the work hours (for example for the wait staff) closely.
20. Discuss the ordering process. Include who is responsible and how often. How are orders placed? Do
they use a perpetual or par system? What would you do to improve the ordering process?
The ordering at Kendal is done by a kitchen coordinator. This position was created to streamline
the ordering process and be able to keep a very low inventory while at the same time insuring that all
the necessary purchases are made on time. Produce and dairy is ordered and delivered on a daily basis.
Other food is ordered three times per week. A par system is used to determine the amount of the
different items that need to be ordered. After going through the different storage room (walk-in fridges
and freezers, dry storage), reviewing the upcoming menu and catering requests, orders are then placed.
Most of the ordering is done through an electronic procurement system from Sodexo, named Market
Connection. In this system a customized order guide is created from the catalogue. This order guide
contains the par amounts. The person ordering can choose from the main order guide as well as the
catalogue. Items like fresh bread, produce, and dairy are ordered by telephone.
The electronic ordering process seems to work fairly well. Problems occur when products are changed
and seemingly disappear from the order guide. There are also problems when items are blocked for
view by Sodexo because they are “pushing” other substitute items. Then special orders need to be
placed via email with the representative of the vendor which seems a little tedious. The ordering of
dairy by telephone also is prone to lead to mistakes. While I was in the kitchen the dairy company called
on two days, both days the supervisor or kitchen manager was not available and somebody else placed
the order which was wrong both times. This was quickly resolved by telling the dairy company to wait
for a call from Kendal.
By creating the position of the kitchen coordinator Kendal has optimized the ordering process while at
the same time saving a huge amount of money on food cost. Aside from the problems with the dairy
order I don’t see any areas of improvement.
21. Who are the facilities main vendors? How often do they deliver? How are vendors selected?
The main vendor is PFG Performance Food Group, that delivers food through Northcenter
Foodservices three times per week. PFG is one the nation’s largest foodservice distributors. Its catalogue
is connected to the Market Connection software from Sodexo which allows a fairly easy ordering
process online. With its wide range of products it can deliver the quantity and quality that is needed.
Produce is delivered daily from Black River Produce, a large local distributor. By choosing a large vendor
that can deliver daily, high quality of the produce can be achieved. There are other vendors for fresh
bread (Fantini), and dairy (Hood). All vendors are selected based on their ability to meet the facilities
needs for quality, quantity, and timely delivery. Even though the vendors are big companies the kitchen
supervisor complained that he cannot get the same variety of produce, especially vegetables, he used
to. He could probably get those from smaller local vendors or farms. I would like Kendal to look more
into local food. To make the ordering easy it would be great to have those products available through
the normal produce company. I know that in Vermont there is a lot done to improve the connections
between farm and table. It would also help if this was an issue that the residents felt strongly about and
push for through the food committee.
22. Discuss the inventory process. Include who does it and how often inventory is used to order? Is it
used for financial tracking? How is the dollar figure of product in stock assessed? What would you do to
improve the inventory process?
Inventory is done on a small scale every day by the kitchen supervisor or the kitchen
coordinator. He does a walkthrough every day before putting in his order to assure that all items are
brought up to par. Once a month a more thorough inventory is done. Every item in the store rooms is
counted and the number recorded in a list. The data then goes to the assistant of the food service
director who tracks the data. She can pull out the data from the inventory spreadsheet to figure out the
value of product in stock. She then hands over this data to accounting, and from there it goes to the
controller. It is important that the inventory is done by 2 different people to assure segregation of
duties.
23. Discuss the organization of the storage facility. Who is in charge of the storeroom and what does
their job entail? How are stores issued and tracked? Discuss the layout and efficiency of the various
storage locations. Include refrigerators, freezers and dry storage locations. What would you do to
improve this process and layout?
The main storage facilities are in the basement close to the receiving area. There are two walk-in
coolers, one walk-in freezer, one room for dry storage and one room for paper products, vending
machine items and ice-cream. All the store rooms are roomy, provide enough circulation and space for
the needed products and are kept very tidy. On the main level there are two more walk-in coolers that
hold foods that are used during the day/next day in addition to prepared food and opened containers.
There is also another room for dry storage on this level that has access from the cafeteria area and from
the catering room. Cleaning supply is kept in a closed store room away from the kitchen/food area. The
kitchen coordinator and the kitchen supervisor are in charge of the storerooms and are tracking
inventory on a daily basis. Items are taken out of the store rooms by all employees as needed. The
layout of the storage facilities seems very efficient. Due to the low inventory they are very easy to
access, it is easy to find things, and employees work hard to keep the storage areas neat.
24. Discuss the receiving process. Who does the receiving? What is the process for dealing with
order/delivery errors?
Receiving is done by the kitchen coordinator or another kitchen employee. Cold food needs to
be in the cold storage within 45 minutes and all other items are also dealt with in a timely fashion. Many
delivery errors are already caught during the receiving process because the kitchen coordinator is in
charge of ordering and can spot mistakes quickly. Sometimes items are mixed up with another
restaurant that uses the same vendor. The delivery of wrong items will be refused if this mistake is
caught early enough. But sometimes it also means that something was not delivered so the person in
charge of receiving most go through the list to find the missing item. Overall this seems a very good
system to minimize mistakes. The position of a kitchen coordinator seems to be a good way to minimize
errors and the subsequent hassle.
25. What are MSDS sheets? Where are they located in your facility? Select one and discuss briefly what
is on it and why it is required to be on hand?
MSDS sheets are Material Safety Data Sheets. They are an important tool to communicate
chemical and physical dangers of materials, safe used, and measures in case of misuse for all materials
used in the facility. All MSDS sheets are available online from different computers and also as a print-out
in the office.
MSDS sheets are important because they give more detailed information then the label, and they are
stored for 30 years (to give information what was used should issues arise later).
For example the MSDS sheet for Purell lists product name, company name and contact information.
There is also information on the ingredients in the product (including CAS-number, OSHA permissible
exposure limits, and other numbers concerning the ingredients. In the hazard identification section
there is an overview (no safety issue if used according to directions) and then a more detailed list of
health effects (eye contact, skin, inhalation etc.). Next is the First Aid Measure section that tells how to
deal with unsafe use (for example “don’t induce vomiting when ingested”). There are also sections
about firefighting measures, accidental release measures, handling and storage, exposure control,
physical and chemical properties, stability and reactivity, toxicological information, ecological
considerations, disposal considerations, transport information, and regulatory and other information.
26. Does your facility use standardized recipes?
Yes standardized recipes mostly from Sodexo are used.
27. What portion control tools do they use?
Kendal does not use any portion control tools like spoodles. Customers are served according to
their preference if they are not serving themselves. The majority in the main dining room participates in
the self-serve buffet. Here detailed nutrition information, for example per ounce are given. For people
who want to keep a close eye on their portion it might be hard to estimate an ounce with the provided
utensils, but Kendal would be willing to provide different utensils should this be wished by the residents.
In the health center were people are usually served, they are either given average portions, are served
based on known preferences, or are served according to their wishes. My conversations with the
residents revealed that this can sometimes be a problem. If they request a “small portion” of ice cream
from their teenager waiter they get a portion that might be small for the teenager but not necessary for
the resident. I think in this area some improvements could be made, either with more portion control
tools or with more training.
Quality Assurance:
28. Discuss the theory behind Total Quality Management (Continuous Quality Improvement). Does your
facility practice this? Discuss with the manager how TQM in the food service department fits with the
entire facility’s indicators (state surveys, self-monitoring).
TQM is a management approach that tries to improve the quality of a product or a service. This
is an ongoing process that involves using employee participation to achieve positive changes and some
kind of assessment to measure the achieved quality. It is based on the systems approach, which views
an organization or facility as a system with certain inputs and outputs. Within the organization there are
subsystems (ordering, production, service etc.) that are connected to achieve the end goal (in this case
satisfaction of the residents with the food). For a manager that means that he looks at the whole system
and his interrelated parts when quality needs to be improved. Important for TQM is that it is
approached on a long-term basis, it involves the development of human resources and the involvement
of all employees, and that it uses a strategic approach. All this is done with a focus on the customer.
Kendal does practice these principles and does a lot of quality management to achieve a high level of
resident (and staff) satisfaction. The food service director is currently working on a Six Sigma project to
improve quality. He looks at suppliers, input, processes, output, and clients to identify points of pain and
improve quality. In addition there are quality management systems in place. Some things are monitored
on a daily basis (temperatures, sanitation solution etc.), a weekly basis, monthly, or yearly basis. For
example the most comprehensive self-inspection is done once a year. In addition to the self-monitoring
that is done Kendal is also audited by two outside companies, the city of Hanover, the state, and the
Department of Health and Human Services. The self-inspections are very comprehensive and can ensure
that other surveys are going very smoothly. In addition to self-inspections the facility also relies on
outside help. For example in the dish room the temperatures and sanitation solutions are monitors by
employees, but also by the company that provides all the equipment and solutions for the dish room.
29. What type of customer satisfaction programs does your facility run? Discuss the evaluation process
and how interventions are determined, implemented and followed up on.
Kendal has different customer satisfaction tools. A yearly survey looks at the overall satisfaction
with the facility and also includes satisfaction with food. A more immediate feedback is provided by the
food committee. This is a group of residents that meets with kitchen staff once a month to state
complains, ask questions, and request changes. I was able to attend one food committee meeting. There
were about 15 residents, and all participated in giving feedback. They discussed for example their
request of chicken and other meat without antibiotics. This had been requested in an earlier meeting
and all chicken since then had been antibiotic-free, other meat (due to low supply) not. Interventions
that are requested from the food committee are implemented as soon as possible and follow-up is
usually done in the next meeting. Another customer satisfaction tool is the use of comment card.
Residents can fill those out and they are discussed in the meetings also.
30. Do you feel your facility is doing enough to meet their customer’s needs? What would you
recommend they do to improve their process?
The food committee seems to be a very effective way to get input. They represent the residents
and everybody who wants to can participate. If there are any complains these can be brought to the
food committee. For the management it is also a great tool because their decisions are backed up by the
committee.
31. Are sanitation audits completed by managers?
Yes, the manager completes a weekly sanitation audit and a comprehensive annual audit. A
monthly audit is also done by the Sodexo district personnel.
Production Quality:
32. Do they have a formal process for evaluating food quality before service? Is taste testing of the foods
encouraged?
Yes, all food is tasted before service and results of the taste test are usually documented.
Tasting of the food is encouraged but the cooks don’t like to taste and criticize each other’s food.
33. What other ways can food quality be evaluated?
Other aspects of food quality are appearance, texture, temperature. Temperature is monitored
in all the holding areas and test temp trays are done on a regular basis. The texture is evaluated
together with the taste. Appearance is usually not formally evaluated but everybody is making sure that
the food looks good that is going out, is appropriately garnished and the holding areas are in an
appealing state.
34. How are food temperatures assured?
Temperatures are usually measures during cooking and in the different holding areas (café,
health center kitchen, remote kitchens) before service. Regular test plates are also conducted.
(Temperature can be an issue if food is delivered to resident’s apartments and wait staff has to go
outside to deliver.)
35. What did you discover when monitoring fridge, freezer, serving line, and dish machine
temperatures? What could be done to correct any issues?
All temperatures were within normal limits. Only one of my test trays had temperatures that
were too low, due to the fact that the food portions were very small. This can be an issue if residents
request trays with small portions, they might get small portions that are already too cold or they get
bigger portions they don’t really want.