NaCCRA Forum: Dining

Our community in Washington, DC, charges about $800 per person per month for prepared food in the dining and lunch rooms – whether we eat there or not. And the meals, provided by Sodexo, are pretty pedestrian in quality.

I would be interested in knowing if other communities have the same type of dining plan or some other alternatives, such as a pay-as-you-go option or a tiered system that allows for a choice of days when residents can eat in the dining facilities.

My wife and I prefer to cook in our well-equipped kitchen and watch the evening news instead of spending two hours in the dining room being served lackluster meals.

Any information others can provide will be appreciated!

The monthly price doesn’t seem too unreasonable. At our CCRC - Vi at Highlands Ranch (a for-profit Corp) - 30 meals are included in monthly fees. Extra meals are $24; guest meals are $31. That would suggest about $720/mo in our fees. We get a $6 meal credit for any meal we don’t take. The difference is that all labor and fixed costs are included in pricing meals; the credit is essentially the food cost.

Our community has a new flexible food plan that began in 2014 contracts. There are now 3 levels. The main one is you pay $340 / month and get credits for $435 (so a discount on the full price). You can spend your credits in any community venue, even poolside. If you use it for only dining in the main dining room, it equals about 23 dinners a month. This is great for those like me who eat breakfast in my residence and skip Sunday mid-day dinner. Any purchase beyond that, you are charged the full undiscounted amount. You can opt in or out or back into the food plan any month.

Alternatively, there is another popular level for half of the above. The accommodates those who choose to eat elsewhere often, including cooking in their residence or go out to a restaurant.

Also, there is a level that is higher than the above. This would better accommodate a couple in a residence.

There is the original food plan that stopped in 2014 contracts, where 2 meals a day (breakfast and dinner) were included in the monthly fee. The cost of that food plan is not shown separately. You cannot reliably compare the monthly fee of these residents with those using the above replacement flexible plan.

Breakfast and dinner have always been all-you-can-eat buffet style with several entrees and a massive serve-yourself salad bar, vegetable bar, dessert bar and soup/appetizers/bread bar. There is also a grill if you don't care for the night's selection. This is changing to ala carte, so you will pay separately for each item you purchase. This is good for those like me who do not usually eat things like soup, roll and dessert. And it actually saves money as portions are large and you can take home what you do not eat Those on the old dining plan that has 2 meals a day included in the monthly fee, were given a "buy-out" to their contract where they are given $32 a day and they can now spend that anywhere in any venue. It is calculated to cover all breakfasts and dinners with a few dollars left over that might be used for lunch or a snack. So, they get one heck of a great deal.

-Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

We have the same problem. We're charged approximately $600 per month for one meal a day. We may opt for 20 meals per month for a $60 credit. We have been having the same problems since I moved her in 2015. Over the years I found that the community meal criteria had no limits on sugar. The nutritional info provided was never complete, and often inaccurate. For example a soup served in on restaurant was listed as having half the saturated fat of the other. I later discovered both restaurants got the soup from the same pot. Repeated communications to the Resident Advisory Council (RAC) and the Dining Committee had no impact. At RAC, contrary to its own guidelines the issue wasn't even placed on the Agenda. For several years we were told we may go to a system of charging for individual item instead of a whole meal. That hasn't happened. The whole system has declined instead of getting better.

I live at Heron's Key in Gig Harbor, WA, a level A LifeCare Community. We pay only for meals we eat and ONLY for the cost of the food. Staff and preparation cost are included in monthly fees. Our menu is extensive and the meals are wonderful. Although many of us love to cook, we find that it's cheaper to eat in our dining room and with the variety of choices and excellent food quality, there is something that satisfies everyone. We also have an extensive vegetarian and vegan menu. We have very few buffets and meals are cooked to order with substitutions welcomed. Guests prices are slightly higher, but still very reasonable and far below what you would pay in a restaurant.

Our menu's look excellent. It's when you eat what is served that an item may rate from 1 to 5.

Dining alternatives-I did not see anyone mention that they are on a points system for their dining program. At Cypress Cove in Ft Myers FL we are transitioning to a points system from a one meal a day plan. This will give us greater flexibility where and when we want to eat (which restaurant, eat a full meal or just appetizer, soup or salad etc) and we can carry over points each month if we do not use our allowance in full each month. Currently, if we do not eat a full meal each day we do not get to carry over our meal number into the next month.

Has anyone else completed this transition recently-would love to hear from you?

Thanks

Roberta

Hello,

We received about 500 points, per person, per month and can use them in one of three restaurants at any time those restaurants are open. Many people have a challenge using up all their points during the month. We cannot carry them over. We can use the points for guests for 4 dinners. After that, we are charged about 16.00 per person. Entrees for dinner are 10.00. Vegetables are no points. Salad is 2 points. Hershey's Ice Cream is 2 points. So high value for the money.

Just last month, a half-plan was introduced. Instead of a month of points, one gets 2 weeks of points and a 75.00 dollar deduction from their monthly fee. It includes using points for 2 guests.

Claire Hassid

Peconic Landing, Greenport, NY

Medford Leas, a CCRC in Medford New Jersey, gives each resident about $500 each month. That money can be used for dining in any venue or as takeout from the Medford Leas Marketplace (milk, eggs, cookies, and lots of other stuff.) Table service is available at a price of $19 per meal. The dining dollars are much more than most people need.

Friendship Village Tempe, a non-profit CCRC in Arizona, provides each independent living resident with monthly "dining dollars" equal to $16 times the number of days in each month. These can be spent in any of six restaurants to eat-in or carryout or on items from a convenience store area such as milk, paper towels, and convenience foods. Meal delivery is available at no charge for when residents are ill or recovering, or at other times for $4. Unspent dining dollars do not roll-over to the next month.

Norm Wagner

Greenspring Village is a non-profit CCRC in Springfield, VA. Residents in AL get one "flex-meal" per day of the month. A "flex meal" consists of 2 "starters" (soup, salad, fruit), an entree, 2 side dishes, a desert and a beverage. A meal is valued at $26.50 (what is charged for guest or paid meals.x mels can be used for guests, except for about 8 "holidays" during the year. All meal credits need to be used by month end, no carryovers. Flex meals can be used for breakfast, but based upon ala carte pricing, dinners are the best deal.

Residents can opt for a "20 meal plan", but giving up 10 meals per month only gets you a $65.00 credit on your monthly fees, so not a great deal. Many residents bring some left-overs home for lunch the next day. When my wife and I pick up lunch, there is plenty of food to feed us for both lunch and dinner that day. A mea a meal, no difference between dine-in or carry-out. Delivery is also available, at an extra charge.