Compass One Healthcare and Monument Health invited hospital staff to West Auditorium in Rapid City Hospital for the New Patient Menu Expo. Various dishes were made available for sampling, including Sweet Heat Buffalo Chicken Salad, Pressed Cuban Sandwich, Butter Chicken Bowl, Chicken Tortilla Soup and Chocolate Mug Cake dessert.
Peter McQuiston, System Director of Food and Nutrition Services, oversees all the campus food services on behalf of Compass Group. “A lot of thought, research and development went into the menu,” says Peter. “Our goal is to create a restaurant experience with restaurant quality food while still adhering to all the metrics and guidelines for our patients’ prescribed diets.”
Years of work went into the new menu. A lot of focus was placed on elevating the food and creating flavors without increasing sodium and fat. Compass Group has around 1,200 accounts around the country and Monument Health was one of the pilot hospitals chosen to roll it out.
“The most important thing that we accomplish with this menu is to nourish patients and reduce their stays, get them healthy and back home,” Peter says. “We’ve focused a lot in years past on retail (Nourish Cafe) and we still have that passion and drive for the Monument Health staff. However, it was really time to give the patient menu some attention and innovation.”
The expo highlighted some of the likely more popular items from the menu. Although the new dishes aren’t necessarily for Monument Health workers, Peter says that there will be elements of them available across the organization. “We’ll have limited-time offerings at one point or another throughout the year, especially if we’re trying to highlight a special occasion. The Pumpkin Cheesecake Parfait, for instance—that’s a limited time offering that will only be available in October.”
The new patient menu will debut in full on June 17.
Story and Photos by Kory Lanphear