Creating food menus for hospitals and nursing homes requires
Clinique Générale Sainte-Anne, a leading private clinic in the canton of Fribourg, has been delivering excellent care since its establishment in 1932. With 88 beds, 90 registered doctors, and 120 employees, the clinic has always been dedicated to maintaining a high standard of service, including the dining experience for its patients.
Continuing its tradition of excellence and innovation, the clinic decided to implement Menutech's meal planning and menu distribution software in 2018, followed by the adoption of Menutech's digital order-taking solution in 2022. The aim was to further enhance the quality of the patient dining experience and modernize their food services.
Menutech's software, with its unique features like real-time menu updates and an intuitive interface, enabled the clinic to enrich the patient dining experience for all insurance groups. Additionally, it offered a streamlined order-taking process for the nursing team, reducing their administrative load and allowing them to focus more on patient care.
Implementing the digital solution also significantly reduced the paper usage in the kitchen, supporting the clinic's sustainability goals. This adoption of a digital solution is a testament to the clinic's commitment to constant improvement, innovation, and prioritizing patient needs and experiences.
The results have been outstanding. Patient satisfaction with the dining experience increased remarkably, while the nursing team appreciated the efficiency of the new system. This successful transformation demonstrates the benefits of adopting digital solutions in enhancing the quality of healthcare service delivery.
Automatically personalised and designed order card on the Clinique's patient tray.
Placing the patient at the heart of the digital meal ordering project
At Clinique Générale Sainte-Anne, the central kitchen and nursing teams face the complex task of catering to a wide range of dietary profiles and requirements across diverse medical areas. These include orthopaedics, traumatology, hand surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, gynaecology, ear, nose and throat (ENT), oncology, and analgesia.
Introducing Menutech provided both teams with a straightforward visual system to offer suitable food and beverage options to patients. The kitchen team is provided with a meal planning access to independently fine tune the meal offering based on seasonality and supplier changes - thus ensuring a diverse, healthy and cost-effective food service for all patients.
All menu planning information is published in real time for the nursing team to communicate relevant meal options to patients. Moreover, the system offered the flexibility to enrich the meal offering information with additional details, such as ingredient lists and dietary breakdowns. This way, the order-taking process remains agile whilst building the foundation for continuous growth and excellence.
Doubling down on patient food services − without hassle
Providing meal options that are tailored to specific diets, operations, and insurance plans at Clinique Générale Sainte-Anne is a complex task that requires attention to detail. To make the process more efficient and hassle-free, the Menutech customer success and technical support teams worked closely with the clinic's Executive Kitchen Chef and with the Manager at the Intensive Care Unit (ICUS). Communication was scheduled on a weekly basis, and the project was launched in three phases: a test environment launch with real meal plans for fictional patients, a soft launch on selected floors, and a full launch on all floors.
Gone are the days of paper-fiddling at the pass, replaced by Menutech's intuitive order reporting. To match the brigade's work methods, the kitchen reports were fine-tuned to provide relevant information: a Dietary Breakdown PDF report summarizes all order quantities and highlights orders for patients with special diets. An Order Summary by Floor interactive report that filters orders helps preparing trays placed in heated delivery trolleys. Order Tickets printed in A5 format and placed on individual trays ensure that all meals reach the correct destination. All data is saved and updated in real time, and an Excel Accounting Report is forwarded to the accounting team to expense upsells.
Menutech order summary filtered by Service and by Floor, in action. There is no more paper-fiddling at the pass.
The impact of introducing Menutech's digital meal ordering system was profound and immediate. Within the first three months of implementation, food service revenues across the clinic saw a significant increase of 63%. As such, it boosted Clinique Générale Sainte-Anne's bottom line, proving that quality patient care and operational efficiency can indeed go hand in hand.
Preparing for the Next Generation of Digital Natives
Menutech's digital meal ordering system has emerged as an indispensable asset for Clinique Générale Sainte-Anne. This system serves as a unified source of information for all patient groups, enhancing the speed and accuracy of order-taking, reducing human error, and freeing up nurses to spend more meaningful time with patients. Furthermore, the system establishes a foundation that is ready for the next generation of tech-savvy staff hires and patients.
Patients like to write kind words for the Kitchen team on the Order Card that were automatically designed and personalised on Menutech.
The clinic is already paving the way for the integration of the next generation of staff hires and patients. This is done through digital self-learning materials for new staff hires, that enables them to onboard quickly and effectively. For patients, scannable QR codes allow them to browse and discover menu options at their leisure throughout their stay. These digital food service channels are not merely solutions for today but stepping stones for future innovations. They hold the potential to further enrich patient experiences and offer even more personalized care.
