Hi fellow, past, and future dietetic interns!
Several weeks ago I wrapped up my Food Service Management rotation at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center (SNHMC) in Nashua, New Hampshire. I’ve had the pleasure of interning at this site in addition to being an employee there for two years as a DT. SNHMC is a community hospital with approximately 120 beds in the heart of the city where not only employees but families, and citizens congregate to enjoy wholesome food in our spacious cafeteria. As a dietetics intern learning retail management and operations , I functioned as a helping hand to each customer whether it was checking out a customer at the register, or reviewing the allergy list on particular food items to ensure food safety for each customer.
In the first few weeks of the rotation, I noticed a trend and a popular conversation with employees, staff, and customers – food allergies and lack of available options. I developed this into my retail marketing and wellness project! I reviewed our allergy friendly section in the cafeteria, and noted every item that was gluten, soy, peanut, nut, egg, shellfish, and fish-free… and what I noticed was, there was nothing except for soy milk for individuals who could not have dairy! Being severely lactose intolerant myself, I decided to create a menu item incorporating in-season foods, with no trace of dairy. The genesis of Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup came about using whole-fat coconut milk to preserve the rich creamy taste that traditional heavy creamer provides, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, chicken stock, cooking sherry, spices, and canned pumpkin! I didn’t stop there; I really wanted to provide a learning experience rather than just host an event in the cafeteria. So I created a tri-fold board explaining the difference between dairy intolerance and dairy allergies while providing information on dairy-free alternatives for ice cream, creamers, milks, yogurts. And I provided a list of smartphone apps to assist with finding allergy friendly restaurants and food items at grocery stores!
I also created pamphlets based on the tri-fold board; that way, customers would be able to bring it home and read it thoroughly. The pamphlets were such a hit I had to rush out during my break to print more copies. To my surprise and great satisfaction, the clinical RD’s use these pamphlets for their patients on the floors, and for their outpatients.
The event had two tables with the recipe cards and soup on the warmer to distribute samples prior to purchasing soup in the cafeteria. This lunchtime event was a great way to kick off fall and got the staff and customers excited to see a new menu item that was completely different from what they’ve seen in the past. The day after the event I went over the results of the event with my Operations Manager: Dairy Free Sweet Potato Pumpkin Soup sold more than their most popular soup of all time, French onion! The soup did so well that employees, staff and customers requested it to be put on the menu. No surprise that the guys working in the kitchen who gave me a hard time saying “Who wants to have cream soup without cream?” were the same guys taking seconds! So the Executive Chef added it to the fall cycle menu. I was truly gratified by all the positive feedback and very appreciative of the amount of help the operations manager and staff put in to help with the success of the event. The icing (or should I say dairy-free icing) on the cake was I was able to share my passion for nutrition education and personal experience with lactose intolerance to a larger audience, not just patients. Click below for the recipe!
kirstin_hybsch_recipe_cards.pdf
Several weeks ago I wrapped up my Food Service Management rotation at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center (SNHMC) in Nashua, New Hampshire. I’ve had the pleasure of interning at this site in addition to being an employee there for two years as a DT. SNHMC is a community hospital with approximately 120 beds in the heart of the city where not only employees but families, and citizens congregate to enjoy wholesome food in our spacious cafeteria. As a dietetics intern learning retail management and operations , I functioned as a helping hand to each customer whether it was checking out a customer at the register, or reviewing the allergy list on particular food items to ensure food safety for each customer.
In the first few weeks of the rotation, I noticed a trend and a popular conversation with employees, staff, and customers – food allergies and lack of available options. I developed this into my retail marketing and wellness project! I reviewed our allergy friendly section in the cafeteria, and noted every item that was gluten, soy, peanut, nut, egg, shellfish, and fish-free… and what I noticed was, there was nothing except for soy milk for individuals who could not have dairy! Being severely lactose intolerant myself, I decided to create a menu item incorporating in-season foods, with no trace of dairy. The genesis of Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup came about using whole-fat coconut milk to preserve the rich creamy taste that traditional heavy creamer provides, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, chicken stock, cooking sherry, spices, and canned pumpkin! I didn’t stop there; I really wanted to provide a learning experience rather than just host an event in the cafeteria. So I created a tri-fold board explaining the difference between dairy intolerance and dairy allergies while providing information on dairy-free alternatives for ice cream, creamers, milks, yogurts. And I provided a list of smartphone apps to assist with finding allergy friendly restaurants and food items at grocery stores!
I also created pamphlets based on the tri-fold board; that way, customers would be able to bring it home and read it thoroughly. The pamphlets were such a hit I had to rush out during my break to print more copies. To my surprise and great satisfaction, the clinical RD’s use these pamphlets for their patients on the floors, and for their outpatients.
The event had two tables with the recipe cards and soup on the warmer to distribute samples prior to purchasing soup in the cafeteria. This lunchtime event was a great way to kick off fall and got the staff and customers excited to see a new menu item that was completely different from what they’ve seen in the past. The day after the event I went over the results of the event with my Operations Manager: Dairy Free Sweet Potato Pumpkin Soup sold more than their most popular soup of all time, French onion! The soup did so well that employees, staff and customers requested it to be put on the menu. No surprise that the guys working in the kitchen who gave me a hard time saying “Who wants to have cream soup without cream?” were the same guys taking seconds! So the Executive Chef added it to the fall cycle menu. I was truly gratified by all the positive feedback and very appreciative of the amount of help the operations manager and staff put in to help with the success of the event. The icing (or should I say dairy-free icing) on the cake was I was able to share my passion for nutrition education and personal experience with lactose intolerance to a larger audience, not just patients. Click below for the recipe!
kirstin_hybsch_recipe_cards.pdf
