It’s been said that living at Coburg Village is like being on a cruise ship 365-days-a-year. With 287 apartments and an average of more than 330 residents, it takes a sizeable, coordinated crew to keep things on course. Have you ever stopped to think of what goes on behind the scenes each day to provide Coburg Village’s extensive complement of services and amenities?

Let’s take a sneak peek at our Dining Services Department. Coburg Village offers delicious chef-prepared meals 7-days-a-week. On weekdays, they serve an average of 330 dinners per day while weekends tend to be a little quieter as many residents are out and about. The department also serves breakfast and lunch and provides meals for Coburg Village staff.

Dining Services offers an extensive catering menu and caters five to ten events per month for various community activities. Rentals spaces are available for residents to host family and friend gatherings.

Dining Services Director, Danielle Wagar, has been with the department for 18 years. She started as a morning breakfast cook in a dining venue called The Café and continued to serve in various positions in the front of the house, including Assistant Dining Services Director, before being promoted to Dining Services Director.

Danielle attributes her longevity and job satisfaction to the pride she feels in the team that has evolved over the years. She explains that it takes years to cultivate the right blend of people.

Danielle, a young mother of two, also appreciates the work-life balance Coburg Village offers. She explains that it’s much better than a traditional restaurant in that Coburg Village offers holidays and benefits, and staff is able to go home at a reasonable time. At many traditional restaurants you may not get home until after midnight.

Danielle is not the only Dining Services team member with longevity - Executive Chef, Chad Viall, has been with Coburg Village for more than fourteen years and Debbie Walsh has been with the community more than 18 years.

The department employs between 60 and 70 people, half of which are part-time. It is divided into the front of the house which includes waitstaff and managers and the people customers meet while dining, and at the back of the house, our chefs. On a given day there are about 20 people serving the front of the house, nine people in the kitchen and five dishwashers. Many servers are local students, adding an intergenerational flare to the overall dining experience.

At just about any hour, there is someone working in Dining Services. The day begins at 6:30 am when the Bistro cook arrives in preparation for its 9 am opening. Most staff arrive between 9 am and 2 pm to prepare and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Preparation for dinner begins at 11am.

Coburg Village is unique to many independent living communities in that they prep and prepare all food in-house. Soups and sauces are made from scratch as are the fresh breads, cookies, and muffins baked each day. There’s a certain sense of pride and quest for quality that comes with the distinction of preparing our food in-house. It also gives us the flexibility to nimbly make changes based on feedback from our residents.

Danielle and her team are committed to consistently offering high quality, healthy and varied menu options to please the diverse palates and dietary needs of a majority of our residents. There are a number of ways they continually seek feedback to improve Coburg Village’s dining experience.

The Dining Committee is made up of twelve residents who serve as representatives for all residents and meet with Danielle each month to share feedback about Dining Services. At mid-year, the department also conducts an annual resident satisfaction survey, the results of which are used to enhance services. Residents are also invited to attend Danielle’s monthly Food Forums during which she provides updates and answers questions – the date and time is listed in your Monthly Activities Calendar.

Dining Services uses a computerized system to aid in determining how much food to order and prepare each day. All our recipes are loaded into the system which tracks the items served; adjusts the recipes using logged counts; helps determine what to order; and provides daily production numbers for our cooks. They are constantly recording the amount of food prepared and served to help minimize waste. Our dinner specials rotate on a five-week cycle. By analyzing the number of items on the menu ordered, they are able to determine what to order when they are served again. Danielle describes it as “a constant dance.” We are always working four weeks ahead. Each week the team has a menu meeting to see what changes they want to make. Ben Alden, the production and inventory specialist, then logs those changes into the system and Danielle does the costing. After checking the current inventory, the product order is placed through our vendors. Deliveries are made on average of two times per week. The system generates nutritional information for our menu items which our dietician, Lora Hyde, also uses for her weekly Nutritional Newsletter. As a side note, residents with special dietary requirements can reach out to Lora for guidance about what to select from our menu.

Jody Rokjer, who manages the front of the house updates the weekly paper menus and the slides for the monitors found at various locations throughout the community. She also updates the menu items in Full-Count, our resident facing ordering system.

Breakfast and lunch are served in our Bistro 7-days-a-week, with brunch served on Sundays. Monday through Saturday, dinner guests arrive in either our Bistro or 46&Birch to enjoy a delicious meal selected from our extensive menu. And, just as easy as that, dinner is served!