One of the best marketing studies in the retirement village sector is the job Aveo has done with food. It has been a four year journey but it all came together in 2018.

We asked Stephen Gook, GM Marketing, to tell us the story. This was his email response:

Everyone knows how important mealtime is for most families. It’s the time that stories are shared, and friendships are formed. Quality food obviously also serves an important part in staying healthy as well.  We identified a few years back that the opportunity existed to make the whole meal experience better for our residents. It’s easier said than done though, and has been quite a journey for everyone involved.

For our overall food objectives, this video tells the story:

We’ve come a long way over the past 4 years. Here is what we have been doing:

• Developed nutritional standards for the food we provide to residents, based on the needs of seniors.
• In-sourced all of our food services to get control of the quality and standards of food across all of our communities.
• Launched Nutrition Select food delivery service to residents
• Hired some of the best chefs in Australia to work for us, like Gillian Hirst and chefs who have cooked for the Royal Family, hatted pastry chefs… the works.
• Developed a range of materials that help educate our residents on cooking and nutrition
• We’ve even launched a Cook Book – it’ll be ready for sale in the coming week or so.
• We recently ran a series of events across over 30 of our communities, the Aveo Food Trail, which was a celebration of food and friendship in our communities

A key initiative during the process was the development of our Nutrition Select food delivery service to residents. We wanted to make sure that residents who didn’t have restaurants in their communities, could still access quality meals, designed for seniors.

The product is currently available only to Aveo residents or their families (who may wish to purchase for their loved one). There’s a web portal for ordering, and phone support as well for those who prefer to use the phone to order.

In many communities there are also fridges full of the product where residents can just pop down and buy one if they want on the day. (Sample menu: https://www.aveo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AVEO-934_Nutrition-Select_Menu_4pp-210x100_F_web-compressed.pdf )

We’re not done yet and have a number of other key initiatives in this space about to launch, including using pasteurised eggs to allow our aged care residents to enjoy a soft boiled egg without any health risks. This is a first in Australia!

What impressed us is the comprehensive job Aveo has done across all the communities. They identified the need and they have satisfied it.