Client Success Story - The Peter Becker Community

Choosing a Food Service Software Provider

Management at the Peter Becker Community began looking into dietary software to find an accurate, convenient way to replace an old plastic card system that was difficult to keep sanitary and up to date. They wanted to improve accuracy with resident meal preference and tray delivery and were hoping to find an affordable software solution. The Peter Becker Community found that many demo programs were confusing and cumbersome to use, in addition to being expensive. Ginny Henderson, RD, Director of Dietary Services at the Peter Becker Community, was involved in the choice of a dietary software provider and recalls, “GeriMenu® appealed to us because it is user friendly, comes with excellent support services, and solves problems we were having with tray card accuracy and sanitation—all at an affordable price.” The Peter Becker Community purchased the first GeriMenu module in 1991 and later expanded to include the second module.

A Variety of Uses for GeriMenu

The Peter Becker Community now uses GeriMenu in a variety of its daily routines. “GeriMenu is a very important part of our day-to-day operation,” explains Henderson. “On days the network is down, we all look at each other and remember how we accomplished our tasks without GeriMenu—and don't wish to return to that time.”

The Peter Becker Community uses GeriMenu to organize and plan meals according to two menu cycles that each run five weeks. Recipes are standardized, easy to follow, and can easily be factored to the number of portions needed, reducing waste. In the skilled-nursing and assisted-living settings, tray tickets are used to reflect each resident's dietary needs and preferences, taking decision making out of the hands of line staff. “The ability to input resident food preferences and allergies into the system is invaluable,” says Henderson.

GeriMenu is also used in skilled nursing and assisted living to track and graph resident weights and keep progress notes. The software makes it easy to see which residents have had a significant weight change over a period of time. State surveyors who visited the Peter Becker Community have even commented on the records printed from GeriMenu.

In addition to menu planning and resident progress, all inventory tracking in all levels of care is done with GeriMenu. “It is accurate and convenient to quickly determine supplier, case size, and cost of a product,” explains Henderson.

All receivables are recorded in GeriMenu, and monthly inventory is run to determine the value of stock on hand using GeriMenu's handheld Palm device. “GeriMenu keeps us organized,” Henderson explains. “We literally don't know how to live without it!”

Seeing the Results

The Peter Becker Community has observed measurable results in weight tracking, meal costs, and number of meals served, attributing these improvements to the use of GeriMenu software. The software has also saved countless hours formerly spent on inventory tracking, menu planning, and recipe configuration.

Reliable Support When it's Needed Most

One feature of using GeriMenu that continues to surpass expectations is the level of client support provided. “Tech support has been wonderful,” Henderson reveals while telling how GeriMenu representatives coached the site on how to set up the software and work through any difficulties. “I'd say we're on a first-name basis with the support team,” she finishes. The Peter Becker Community remains satisfied with the software after more than fifteen years, and according to Henderson, they “have and will continue to recommend GeriMenu to other facilities.”