Tae Fant, Senior Dining Services Director at Era Living, joins Suzanne to talk about creating a Fine Dining Experience in a Retirement Community. She’s based at Era Living’s University House Wallingford community.
Tae says, “Everyone’s perception of fine dining is different. For me, it’s a high quality service that usually incorporates multiple courses and formal settings. And when I mean formal settings, it’s silverware, it’s fine china, it’s the table linen… The servers are trained to create those experiences: friendly, personalized, memorable, that’s what we want. This is the residents’ home, they should always feel welcome and cared for. And for my staff, they always want to be warm, inviting and highly attentive.”
She adds, “By the time you move in, we’re already going to know your name. So we’re going to figure you out really quick, they’ll seat you with like minded people or re-introduce you to the table and then once you’re sat down, my staff members will come and introduce themselves. My staff are here to guide you through the the dining experience. We want to be patient, courteous, we’re here for you. Not everybody wants to utilize the fitness center, or go on a trip, or always need health advice, but everybody’s got to eat, everybody’s gonna come visit us. So we get to form those great experiences with them. And that’s when my staff do learn your preferences such as this person always has cranberry juice, or their BLT has to be toasted on sourdough. It’s very specific, all those little details.”
There’s more about Era Living at Answers for Elders and at eraliving.com. University House Wallingford is located at 4400 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA 98103, and can be reached at (253) 765-9985.
Suzanne: And welcome back everyone to Answers for Elders Radio Network. And we are here with the staff of Era Living, who has eight communities in King County in the greater Seattle Bellevue area. And I’m so excited we’re talking today about the dining experience. If you missed our first segment, I invite you to go check that out. But we are also here now with the Senior Dining Services Director and that is a wonderful woman by the name of Tae Fant. Welcome to Answers for Elders.
Tae Fant: Thank you so much for having me.
Suzanne: Now, you started out in the dining area in senior living, did you not? You’ve been in this world a long time, my friend.
Tae Fant: Absolutely. So from high school through college on, so I’ve been with this community for 18 years. I started as a food server. I worked my way up into the director role, and I’m still here.
Suzanne: Absolutely. In which community do you specifically work out of?
Tae Fant: I’m out of University House Wallingford.
Suzanne: Oh, I love that community. It’s been a while since I’ve been there. I’ve gotta come by and see you there. So you are the Senior Dining Services Director. So you oversee basically the service the staff, how your residents are treated that piece is that, do I have that puzzle piece?
Tae Fant: Yes, you’re correct.
Suzanne: And so tell me a little bit when you say fine dining, you know what does that mean specifically?
Tae Fant: So everyone’s perception of fine dining is different. For me, it’s a high quality service that usually incorporates multiple courses and formal settings. And when I mean formal settings, it’s silverware, it’s fine china, it’s the table linen, and then you have the finer details of, for me chairs pushed in, you don’t have linen draped over the handles, the finer details are what is important.
Suzanne: Sure. And obviously with these finer details, it’s that attention, it’s respect, it’s dignity. It’s how you, when you sit at a table, you are presented, your people serve you. So there’s this feeling of, when you’re in a community, you don’t feel like you’re in an institution, because you’re not, you’re truly in an amazing dining room, beautifully decorated, beautifully served, the food presentation is lovely. So it goes into the whole kind of experience that you’re having. So what it, how do you create all that? There’s so many details that are involved.
Tae Fant: Absolutely. So it all starts off with your training, and the servers, and who you have. So the servers are trained to create those experiences: friendly, personalized, memorable, that’s what we want. And I’m sure you’ve heard this multiple times before this, this is the residents’ home, they should always feel welcome and cared for. And for my staff, they always want to be warm, inviting and highly attentive. And my number one rule that most people learn, that anyone that’s learning their first steps of food services is the golden rule, is never reach across the table. You will be immediately corrected. So you do spend a lot of time in all different types of details as far as how to take care of us, the resident understanding what their likes and their dislikes are.
Suzanne: I remember when my mom was in senior living, it was crazy because I didn’t even realize it until one day. The dining services director said to me, “I don’t know why your mom is not eating her lunch.” And of course, my mom had a little dementia and I said, well, I don’t know. And I looked and I said, “You know what? She always has a glass of milk with her meals.” Just try that it, it made all the difference in the world. It was like one little detail that made the difference in my mom being able to eat. And I’m sure that feeling of, wow. Every time she’d sit at the table there was a, there was milk there and that was something special for her. So you guys I’m sure do similar kind of type of things for your residents. Little details that are important to them. Is that correct?
Tae Fant: That is correct, yes.
Suzanne: So your dining rooms, tell me about the experience, what happens when they’re greeted.
Tae Fant: So the expectations that I have of my staff that we want: you will get a very warm and welcoming greeting from our host or hostess. And by the time you move in, we’re already going to know your name. So we’re going to figure you out really quick, they’ll seat you with like minded people or re-introduce you to the table and then once you’re sat down, my staff members will come and introduce themselves and they’re here to help answer any questions that you have. So, my staff are here to guide you through the the dining experience. We want to be patient, courteous, we’re here for you, and it’s when and seguing into, food servers, not everybody wants to utilize the fitness center, or go on a trip, or always need health advice, but everybody’s got to eat, everybody’s gonna come visit us, whether you’re sitting down, you’re grabbing. So we get to form those great experiences with them. And that’s when my staff do learn your preferences such as your glass of milk, or this person always has their cranberry juice or, like their BLT has to be toasted on sourdough. It’s very specific, all those little details.
Suzanne: And then as your residents come in through and they have these experiences, these are where friendships are made. I would imagine a lot of people make friends in the community around a meal.
Tae Fant: 100%. It’s their big social hour, since a majority of the meals are taken at the community, that’s their big social time, whether they’re like I said, grabbing it to go, they’re socializing with staff, a lot of staff for me. You know, they’re more about the connection, like it reminds them of their grandkids or, because I have servers from all different backgrounds, from just starting out to people who have been in the industry for a while. And so, and it’s not just the socializing interaction, it’s the atmosphere, it’s the ambience that is created when everybody comes together and dines. You know, it’s lively, it’s fun. It’s enjoyable. Who doesn’t like to party?
Suzanne: Right. When you go down to eat, can you go down and be casual? Can you do get dressed up? What normally do people do when they come to? How are they dressed?
Tae Fant: It could be every day attire. No pajamas. I’m gonna tell you that right now. But you know, comfortable like you, it’s pretty, it can be casual, or you can dress up, however you feel the need to. But what’s fun is when we do special events such as, for instance, we have Cinco de Mayo or Mother’s Day or have art gala dinners, fancy dinners, we make it known: hey, this is going to be upscale, it’s going to be fun, come join us in the festivities. Why don’t let’s be festive? So let’s wear the same colors, let’s dress up, let’s wear a dress, let’s, let’s just have fun.
Suzanne: Exactly. And so having that type of an experience, I can only imagine when they walk in and they’re meeting friends. There’s this element of this is my joy time. What kind of stories do you have to share? Of friendships that have been made in your communities?
Tae Fant: Surprisingly, a lot of people have met in college or they were in high school together, especially for residents. There’s a lot of residents who are like, oh, I’m an alum of Lincoln High School. The class of so, and so, and so you see those connections that are made by just having a conversation at the table and then on top of that too, like they really connect. I’m huge on mentoring in the server. So I’m gonna refer back to this and that, that generational gap is so interesting to see and how they socialize with each other. And the residents love the servers. They, they cannot stop talking about them, because they’re going to school. They’re doing this, and it’s such a beautiful connection and a sense of community that it’s almost like an extended family. It’s also a chance for youth to connect with elders, which is so vitally important. And they’re just so involved in the activities and wanting to get to know everybody that it’s a beautiful connection and I have that’s why I’m still here 18 years.
Suzanne: I can only imagine you built friendships through your history of the past 18 years. Tell us a little bit about your experience just in your career there.
Tae Fant: So for me, it’s a huge reason why I’m still here. It’s because of the residents and their back stories and just how knowledgeable they are, and that we all work together to create this home that we have and this sense of family and community and that we’re all in it together. And for me, I’ve had a lot of relationships here that have been so fantastic, and helped me grow, and they challenge me, and it’s fantastic, and then I’ll challenge them as well. But it’s that beauty of that relationship and the connection and it’s not even just within the community walls. You know, people sometimes go to a higher level of care, and we make that effort to go and visit you wherever you are, like you are our family, we want to be there for you.
Suzanne: Speaking of family, I’m sure that there’s a lot of family members out there that are thinking, I’d love to have to share our help, my mom or dad discover senior living. Maybe they live alone, they’re isolated, something like that. What’s some guidance that you could give to them as far as helping them to maybe get their mom or dad to come and experience this?
Tae Fant: So food is a huge motivating factor for a lot of people. Our community relations team is so helpful and they’ll answer all your questions. But I think there’s nothing like coming down, sitting down, having a nice meal and seeing what it truly is like. And so you get greeted by my servers, I have a lot of long-time servers as well, that you’d be surprised that you come back, month after month to take a meal here, and just really come sit down, experience in the food because that’s a huge factor in a lot of a lot of decisions.
Suzanne: It sure is. And I always see with the whole aspect of, especially with their living. So many of your employees have been there for over 10 years. You know, this is amazing and you don’t see that in a lot of other communities. And so certainly that tells speaks volumes to the quality of the culture that you have there. So Tae, thank you so much for sharing the information, and for each and every one of you that are interested, please reach out to eraliving.com, or you can go on your favorite podcast platform, and Era Living has a bunch of podcasts that you can learn a little bit about their culture, and certainly the dining culture. And if you go to University House Wallingford, you’ll get to meet Tae. So thank you again for being with us.
Tae Fant: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
