Food

How Passavant Community engages senior-living residents with menu innovation and creative connections

General Manager Barbara Ferguson is taking the dining program to the next level with clever ideas and teamwork.

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Passavant Community is a senior-living complex in Zelienople, Pa., managed by Cura Hospitality, an Elior company. General Manager Barbara Ferguson, a former fine-dining chef, oversees Passavant’s dining program, which includes restaurants, retail outlets, catering and Cura’s newest initiative—Fresh at Home meal kits

Barbara Ferguson

The chef-curated kits include all the ingredients and instructions for a quick meal for two, but residents are using them to teach themselves cooking, gather with friends for a dinner party and much more. During the last year, Ferguson has taken Fresh at Home to another level, cooking of one of the recipes in an independent-living unit and videotaping the preparation to use as a marketing tool for potential residents. 

Listen as she describes the impact of this initiative and many of the other innovations she’s launched at the retirement community to engage both staff and residents.  

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