CDM, CFPP of the Month - March 2024
Job Title: Regional CDM, CFPP and Culinary manager for SWLTC, Northwest Nursing Center
Employer: Northwest Nursing Center
Job Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Years at Current Facility: 4 years
Years in Current Position: 2 years at Northwest and 2 years as Regional
CDM, CFPP Since: October 2022
Why did you decide to become a CDM, CFPP?
I can use my culinary passion and experience to help people extend their quality of life and make them happy.What are your main responsibilities in your current position?
Make orders, schedule labor, collect information to assist the dietician, all while teaching and motivating a kitchen crew to make food to look good, taste good and smell good. I also over see other buildings and teach the DMs to enhance the dining experience for our clients.
How do you organize your time at work to make sure you accomplish all your responsibilities?
Time management is a huge skill to master. I organize my task in order of importance till everything is accomplished.What is an example of an innovative way you have made change at your facility and how did you implement it?
We have a full culinary excellence dining experience program in our facility. This includes plate garnishment and plating, dessert cart, table-side drink cart, and decorative restaurant style dining room. When our company RVP came up with this program, I used all my years in the restaurant industry to drive this idea. We worked very hard to get front of the house dining as well as back of the house dining to fit this goal. In return we have happy clients and a huge drop in weight loss percentage.
What was your first job in the foodservice industry?
I made pizza at our family pizza place “Patman’s Pizza.”
Who has been your biggest mentor in foodservice and how have they helped shape your career?
Chef Albert Lajoie. He taught me that it’s never the menu that customers don’t like, it’s the recipe!What are the biggest challenges you face in your position and how do you handle them?
Poor appetites! One on one interventions and tweaking meals to client satisfaction.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Cooking and teaching my kitchen crew.
How do you stay up to date with current innovations and trends?
Go out to eat and read EDGE magazine!!
How do you envision the foodservice industry changing in the next few years?
I see it going in the direction of restaurant service dining, and client choice to break the feel of institutionalizing.
What is your advice to those just getting started in the foodservice industry?
Keep going in education, learn how to communicate with the clients, and above all this is a “calling” not a job!!!!