Environments for Aging - Fall 2019 - 36

Left: The Grid Iron café at Liv Generations
Pinnacle, designed by Thoma-Holec Design, offers
grab-and-go food options, made-to-order salads,
sandwiches, and pizzas. Below: Rightsizing dining
at Patriots Colony in Williamsburg, Va., involved
expanding the casual bistro and relocating the
chef's stations from behind the scenes. The
project was designed by RLPS. Opposite: Blend
Café at Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort
Myers, Fla., designed by Wegman Design Group,
is a quick casual venue where residents can get
coffee and other light breakfast and lunch fare as
well as afternoon snacks.

evolve out soon) and rebrand it to be not quite
as formal, all while keeping some of residents'
favorite elements. The carving station, she
suggests, could perhaps appear only two
nights a week. "It's a way to address everyone's needs in the community and not just
the younger folks coming in, and yet still have
varied experiences," Wegman says.
In a greenfield project, designers agree
that the bistro setup is the way to go from day
one, while additional peripheral options may
include a coffee shop with grab-and-go food
options or a pub as additional casual dining
venues. "It's all about choice. People don't
want to be told they have to sit in a certain
place, that they have to go to a certain room.
They want to have three or four choices with
every meal, depending on how they're feeling
or how they're dressed," McRoberts says.

Making it work
Supporting more options operationally is
fairly easy, too, with satellite venues generally
feeding off the main kitchen, coolers, storage,
etc., and blending into existing operations and
kitchen support without much effort, Wegman
says. Rather, the biggest challenge tends to
be staffing. LuAnn Thoma Holec, principal
at Thoma-Holec Design (Mesa, Ariz.), says
one solution is to locate a café, for example,
adjacent to reception/concierge so the receptionist can assist. Even if it's not staffed all the
time, it can remain open throughout the day
with someone jumping in as needed.
Another perk to adding a coffee shop
in the lobby, says McRoberts, is activating
first-impression spaces. "It gets more activity
there and is a great solution for many who are
36

EFAmagazine.com * Fall 2019

trying to bring the outside public in," he says,
noting one client that regularly has local police
officers and high school students stopping in
for a cup of coffee in the morning.
Another important element found in new
dining approaches is the open or exhibition
kitchen, a great solution to engaging residents
with staff. In fact, Thoma Holec says about 75
percent of communities she's working with
are doing exhibition kitchens, or at least a
view kitchen. "Residents love to see the chef
and everyone working back there. It creates
connections between them. They perceive
their food tastes better because the chef is
paying attention to them individually," she says.
However, there can be some concern regarding noise, adds Wegman. "We've come up
with ways where you get that experience, but
it's partially enclosed. We're doing some with
sliding glass doors and partitions," she says.
A final operational piece that must be
considered is understanding the types of
equipment, such as wood-fire pizza ovens
and rotisseries, that will be necessary when
transforming dining experiences. Exhibition

kitchens and these add-on elements can lead
to ballooning square footage that designers
need to manage. One helpful solution can be
found back-of-house by replacing decadesold kitchen equipment. "The equipment today
is so much more efficient, and we can do it
in so much less square footage," McRoberts
says, adding that oftentimes a single piece
of equipment like a combi oven can perform
several tasks that required multiple pieces of
equipment before.

Layout and finish
The square footage issue can be a factor in the
dining areas, as well, where designers struggle
to support necessary resident capacity and
ensure everyone can be accommodated
when they want to use these spaces. "We've
come up with clever ways to divide and create
variety in seating-for example, banquette and
booth seating is a very efficient use of space,"
Wegman says. Thoma Holec reiterates the
point, noting that despite popular belief, many
seniors without mobility issues prefer booth
seating over a table. Additionally, she works to

MARK BOISCLAIR PHOTOGRAPHY (LIV GENERATIONS); NATHAN COX PHOTOGRAPHY (PATRIOTS COLONY)

dress or jacket to eat dinner each night-and
they might still like a buffet with carving station, too. Her solution: downsize the formal
space (a necessity because it will certainly

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