HEALTHCARE TODAY: News and views from the Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare Ltd

IHHC steps up ties with IFMA via representation on Healthcare/Foodservice Council

This issue we talk to Mater Health Services Brisbane Food Services Manager and IHHC Queensland/NSW Branch Vice-Chair LIAM O’TOOLE, who is also one of the inaugural members of the Healthcare/Foodservice Council for IFMA – the International Foodservice Manufacturers’ Association.

LIAM’S PRESENCE ON THE COUNCIL enables the predominantly US-based association to benefit from the Australian perspective he brings to the table, while also providing him with reciprocal insights and learnings which can be applied to our local market.

As Liam explains, his involvement began around a year and a half ago. “Healthcare is a relatively recent addition to IFMA’s councils – they also have one for schools, universities and QSR chains. Jim McGrody, who is the Director of Food and Nutrition Services at Rex Healthcare, University of North Carolina, came out to Australia and did some work for us here at the Mater. Jim had won the IFMA Silver Plate award for Healthcare in 2018 and he was charged with putting together the healthcare council, and asked if I’d be interested in participating.”

The council is made up of volunteers and began with 10 to 15 members, which has since grown to 25. “One of our key points of focus is around staff retention,” Liam says. “I was in the US just before COVID-19 happened and skilled labour was getting very hard to find – so a big question is, how do we attract tertiary students to our industry and build good personnel? Another objective is to secure more capital investment for renovations or operational expansions. And of course we’re keen to identify what we need from manufacturers to help make our business better.”

Liam says that “as an Aussie, I’m bringing in a fresh perspective – I have a few colleagues in the US that I bounce ideas off regularly. Our salaries and wages here are generally much higher than in the US, but in California they have a highly unionised healthcare workforce, so we are able to do some benchmarking with them. I’m getting insights from them around the room service delivery model, which they have been doing a lot longer than we have here, and in return I can give them learnings around menu development, as we probably have a higher level of skilled labour in Australia. The US is probably ahead of the curve in terms of marketing and engaging with end-users – IFMA does that extremely well, but in Australia we’re probably working with a small fraction of their budget.”

Liam’s recent trip to the US was to attend the Chain Operators Exchange (COEX) conference, held over three days in New Orleans in March  - “IFMA wanted to have more healthcare representation there, so I went along, as did Jim McGrody and Dave Reeves the current IFMA committee chair. The focus was on small and large food chains – obviously the US is the king of chain restaurants and QSRs, and even in healthcare terms most of the providers are multisite operators, so it gave me some real insights into how these businesses streamline their processes to ensure customer satisfaction while meeting their requirements in terms of budgeting and economies of scale, while working across different states and different parts of the country. The costs are different from one state to the next due to local taxes and supply chain issues, so it’s interesting to see how these businesses meet those challenges and see what we can learn from that.”

Liam says he is excited to be part of a dynamic international organisation which gives greater insight into the industry. “The guys involved in the healthcare and foodservice council are from some of the market leading organisations in the states – so they are leading the way and really perfecting their foodservice delivery models. Jim McGrody is very much at the forefront – he’s been involved with teaching kitchens within hospitals; when he was working in the hospital at Raleigh in North Carolina they set up a stadium style tertiary teaching kitchen for university staff, and his students set up restaurants in their hospitals to cater for local events within towns and were even catering for weddings. People would go to the hospital to eat dinner, with the food based on the Mediterranean diet to give them a healthier option. He’s also set up a Black Hat forum for chefs to network and work together, so he’s extremely engaged and very active in the community.

“Not only Jim, but all the members of the council have been massively helpful – every time I’ve contacted them for information or advice they’ve been more than willing to share it. That’s definitely something I want to bring back and share with Australia and hopefully we can continue to have a close affiliation with IFMA into the future.”

IHHC CONFERENCE POSTPONEMENT NOTIFICATION

Last issue’s column focused on the IHHC National Conference which had been scheduled to take place from 12 – 14 October 2020. This has now been postponed until next year.

This has been a challenging decision, made by the IHHC Board and local organising committee after reviewing all available information from Governments and health authorities, in response to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 virus situation and recognises the evolving global medical crisis and the potential risk to the wider community stemming from the virus.

We’ve also taken into account the concerns of speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, stakeholders and potential attendees to commit to the conference. We feel taking a proactive approach to postpone the conference until the following year  is a responsible and appropriate response to this crisis.

The conference will now be held from 18 – 20 October 2021 at Crown Perth. We thank you for your support and patience at this time and look forward to welcoming you to Perth in 2021.

Carey Bray
IHHC Conference Chair
For more information on the IHHC please visit www.ihhc.org.au