The world of eating places and senior residing eating venues is transferring ever-closer collectively. With the arrival of the child boomers, they’re beginning to converge.
In 2025, extra senior residing operators are adapting their culinary companies to suit the preferences of the incoming era of older adults, the child boomers, who’re bringing tastes for brisker, flavorful and extra international delicacies. Senior residing corporations are exploring new strategies of hiring leaders, growing menus and implementing new expertise to help workers in offering a eating expertise for residents.
All of this was on show throughout Senior Housing Information’ DISHED convention held earlier this week in Atlanta at the side of QSR Evolution Convention from SHN sister publication QSR Journal.
“The dimensions of culinary is adapting to be extra like a restaurant, however our mindset additionally as administrators needs to be extra of a restaurant operator,” mentioned Precedence Life Care Company Director of Culinary Expertise Brian Gallo.
This transfer away from the “scoop-and-serve” mentality of senior residing eating is just not completely new in 2025, and operators have lengthy pressured the necessity to carry extra restaurant experiences to residents. However this shift is accelerating this yr as operators sharpen their culinary fashions staring down 2026.
An acceleration of culinary creativity means the aggressive stakes are larger than ever, and operators that fail to ship eating that feels indistinguishable from a restaurant expertise might danger falling out of favor with the business’s subsequent class of residents.
The best way ahead may lie within the strategy of corporations like fast-food hen sandwich restaurant chain Chick-fil-A.
Throughout a keynote on the QSR Evolution Convention, Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy recalled the Atlanta-based firm’s “second-mile service” customer support philosophy of going “two miles” even when solely requested for one. In different phrases, Cathy mentioned that constantly exceeding buyer expectations can construct relationships and loyalty.
Though Cathy’s feedback had been directed towards an viewers of quick-service restaurateurs, I consider additionally they apply to senior residing operators.
Simply as Chick-fil-A leans on exceeding buyer expectations to develop its enterprise mannequin, senior residing suppliers even have a possibility to do the identical. However they need to acknowledge that meals service is as a lot about individuals as it’s about meals on the plate. Coaching workers to channel this hospitality-first mindset in each interplay can remodel eating from a purposeful service right into a core aspect of operations that enhance a group’s popularity, and with it, resident satisfaction.
On this week’s SHN+ Replace, I analyze panel discussions at DISHED, hint the business’s push in the direction of hospitality-first eating fashions and supply the next takeaways:
- How operators are making the shift to hospitality and restaurant eating
- Developments guiding the shift in the direction of hospitality in eating
- The place senior residing eating is headed in 2026 and past
‘Restaurant-style’ not sufficient
Senior residing operators are eager to tout “restaurant-style” choices of their communities, however extra corporations are designing and working areas that perform as precise, working eating places, not simply areas modeled after them.
In the present day’s senior residing residents are accustomed to usually eating out earlier than they transfer right into a group, so it’s solely pure that they count on that very same stage of freedom and high quality to hold over locally they select.
Senior residing culinary service choices have generally struggled to beat a notion of getting a “scoop-and-serve” mentality the place operators present cafeteria-style eating for residents at a set time, in line with LCS Regional Director of Eating Providers Matt Garnett.
However these days are rapidly coming to an finish as operators depend on a number of eating venues, grab-and-go choices and customized menus to enhance resident satisfaction.
Residents themselves are sometimes evaluating what they eat in a senior residing group to meals they’ve had elsewhere at eating places. For instance, LCS’ group in Chicago, The Clare, competes with some actually top-flight eating places within the metropolis’s downtown space.
“We have to do a greater job of being progressive,” Garnett mentioned throughout DISHED. “We have to push the envelope, we must be inventive and we have to create a restaurant-style mannequin that’s an expertise, not merely a means for residents to return in and get fed.”
It’s clear that this shift in senior residing eating in the direction of hospitality should additionally embody bringing wholesome menu choices and extra selections to residents. Selection in eating is “the most important factor” that operators can do to enhance their eating to compete with at this time’s eating places, Garnett mentioned.
As an alternative of looking for to be ok, senior residing communities can match and even exceed what eating places do within the exterior world. Already, some operators promote their meals on supply apps like DoorDash beneath model names that don’t instantly evoke senior residing.
“We must be aggressive with eating places in downtown areas like Naples, Florida or Chicago,” Garnett mentioned. “It’s extra in regards to the expertise now.”
That additionally means extra vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices, together with small-plate choices and menus with extra selection and selection, he added.
Increasing menu choices to cowl vegetarian, gluten-free and international flavors exhibits residents that their distinctive preferences and dietary wants are seen and valued. I consider this could construct belief and loyalty in the identical means a favourite neighborhood restaurant earns repeat diners.
This shift in the direction of hospitality comes at a time when the shopper base continues to evolve, with Atria Senior Residing Vice President of Culinary John Hetzel noting that the “boomers are coming” and demand new dishes and expanded choices in eating from plant-based menus to wholesome choices.
“We’ve to have the ability to sustain with that,” Hetzel mentioned in the course of the convention. “Somebody in Kansas Metropolis desires to eat a unique meal than somebody in New York Metropolis, so we construct flexibility into our program.”
This flexibility comes within the type of bringing “genuine flavors and tastes” into menu growth, counting on worldwide delicacies and fusion dishes that pair wholesome choices with consolation fare.
Atria is within the coming 12 months getting ready to launch a partnership with Healthful Crave, a plant-based meals firm, to develop more healthy choices at its communities.
“The concept is that we give cooks the instruments to achieve success so that they don’t must work too laborious at it,” Hetzel added.
Nevertheless it’s not a lot about having a vegetable entree on the menu, it’s vital that operators additionally create “thoughtfully ready” dishes to accommodate vegan-type diets that “are being requested for” at communities nationwide, in line with Discovery Senior Residing Vice President of Culinary John Vogelmeier.
“We’re taking a look at issues like clear components, clear labels,” Vogelmeier mentioned throughout a panel dialogue at DISHED. “The residents are asking for this stuff and it’s our job to not solely present that, but additionally be on the forefront.”
Vogelmeier mentioned operators should change their mindset and get leaders to “change the way in which they assume” about how they strategy eating companies. For instance, Discovery has carried out pop-up eating occasions like summer time barbecues with themed occasions or including a day wherein meals vans go to a group to make eating “a enjoyable occasion.”
Senior residing operators can not depend on outdated eating practices and count on to extend census or enhance buyer satisfaction. Operators should innovate and rethink their eating fashions to perform extra like a restaurant and fewer like a cafeteria, or danger irking residents that results in decrease buyer satisfaction.
“We deal with our eating rooms like eating places,” mentioned Northbridge Corporations Director of Procurement Matt Tremblay. “We rent restaurant cooks. Our culinary administrators come from the restaurant enterprise.”
Northbridge has used visitor meals, the place household or pals of present residents at Northbridge communities dine collectively. Doing so has created a brand new income stream throughout the eating phase and improved resident satisfaction, Tremblay added.
On the finish of the day, I believe a hospitality-first senior residing eating program can set a group aside in a crowded market, enhance buyer satisfaction and in the end affect occupancy progress. Communities that make investments on this restaurant-style mannequin are serving extra than simply meals, they’re serving an id that resonates with at this time’s and tomorrow’s clients, much like how Chick-fil-A approaches its eating efforts.
Balancing generational tastes, pushing towards hospitality
Operators should cater to each older residents that grew up on conventional and seasonal fare whereas additionally assembly the expectations of youthful, incoming older adults who’re health-conscious and adventurous. It is a robust steadiness that may solely be achieved by correct price management, workers communication and a shift in mindset when getting ready menus. Trying to steadiness these two tastes in eating is a problem that every one operators should face.
The Springs Residing, based mostly in McMinnville, Oregon, is working to “steadiness these two markets” of residents by offering extra selections on menus for residents to select from, in line with Meals and Beverage Director Jake Johnson.
“We need to be sure we will steadiness that consolation meals that adjustments on daily basis together with one thing that’s extra elevated and extra like restaurant-style eating,” Johnson mentioned throughout DISHED.
This steadiness is the place hospitality turns into a differentiator. Consolation meals alone gained’t impress the following wave of senior residing residents, however too-adventurous menus may alienate different clients. Framing eating as a restaurant expertise the place familiarity and new dishes are introduced concurrently will enable operators to fulfill each ends of this generational spectrum.
To realize this, Johnson depends on The Springs Residing cooks to supply extra leafy greens, vegetable-based entrees and choices that meet the wants of shoppers at this time as selection in senior residing eating is a continuing that “at all times pops up.” This requires operators to constantly change menus, usher in new objects to clientele which can be the identical day-in and day-out.
Fixed change mirrors the Chick-fil-A hospitality strategy the place rotating menu objects present diners one thing new to return again for. Adopting this restaurant cadence exhibits to residents their group is protecting tempo with fashionable eating expectations somewhat than remaining stagnant.
Cathy mentioned Chick-fil-A eating places goal to automate facets of operations “behind the scenes” whereas enhancing the “general interplay” with clients.
“We will train them make a Chick-fil-A sandwich, however they’ve to return to the desk with actually sturdy management abilities,” Cathy mentioned. “We actually need to be sure they know what they’re entering into in addition to how laborious this enterprise is.”
Within the months forward, Johnson envisions a senior residing eating expertise that’s targeted round wholesome choices and extra in the direction of an “allergy-free program,” writing menus which can be “all inclusive for everyone.”
Carrying this mindset into senior residing reinforces the necessity for operators to assume extra like a restaurateur.
Some operators with smaller footprints are already reaping the advantages of making these customized eating choices for residents. Dallas, Texas-based The Sage Oak, with its small-home assisted residing and reminiscence care mannequin, depends on cooks to create experiences which can be extremely private to a resident’s previous journey or life experiences, in line with Sage Oak Govt Chef Larry Atwater.
“Menus can be fully customized and possibly throw in elevated consolation meals with some worldwide dishes delivered to you by personal cooks in open kitchens,” Atwater mentioned throughout a DISHED panel.
Forward for profitable operators in 2026, Vogelmeier mentioned, is specializing in wellness and vitamin inside menus and eating packages. Discovery is engaged on a brand new program that can launch subsequent yr to incorporate some ideas that refocuses eating round wellness and vitamin in a nod towards “Blue Zones” the place older adults dwell longer than different locations, he added.
Wanting forward, Garnett famous that operators ought to think about eating repositioning initiatives, overhauling conventional eating corridor areas into divided and distinct choices that embody bistros, wine bars and rooftop pubs.
“The times of the 150-seat foremost eating room are behind us,” Garnett mentioned in the course of the panel.
Communities that embrace this shift won’t solely meet present resident wants, but additionally win over the following era of older adults who count on eating to be vibrant, inclusive and memorable–similar to any high quality restaurant. Operators that cling to previous methods danger being left behind in a sector the place hospitality is turning into a key a part of a senior residing supplier’s worth proposition.
