Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Mass General’s massive foodservice program continues to grow with success.
By Amelia Levin, Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 12/15/2006 12:00:00 AM
 Photos courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital |
Mass General, or so the nickname has become, is one of the largest and most highly recognized hospitals in the country, and even in the world. So it comes as no surprise that the hospital’s multi-million dollar foodservice program is also large and elaborate, serving more than 17,000 customers daily, according to Susan Barraclough, the hospital’s foodservice director. Mass General also delivers about 2,300 patient meals during scheduled mealtimes, plus another 350 meals outside of those times. And the foodservice operations continue to grow. Barraclough says the hospital plans to meet early next year to assess current retail foodservice offerings and come up with new ideas for improvement and expansion. “We’re going to be focused on what our foodservice of the future is going to be, and we want to provide the best possible service,” she says.
This year, FE&S chose Mass General as a Healthcare All-Star, not just because its foodservice program is so large, but because its facilities, particularly the main employee-visitor cafeteria, Eat Street Café, stand out as aesthetically and nutritionally pleasing, high-volume concepts. Eat Street Café and the hospital’s coffee shop concept, Coffee Central, are so popular among staff, visitors and even outside patrons that they’ve essentially become brands in themselves, says Ron Kooser, consultant with Cini-Little and a head consultant for all of Mass General’s facilities. Some companies have even contacted Mass General wanting to franchise Coffee Central and its coffee beanery coffee, according to Kooser.
 Mass General employees and visitors head to Eat Street Café’s Grille for grilled sandwiches and french fries, while others can choose among daily entrée specials at the Chef’s Stage. |
At the moment, Mass General operates eight foodservice facilities, including Eat Street, four smaller cafés and three coffee shops. That doesn’t include Mass General’s multi-million dollar catering program and new For Food program, a system whereby patients place orders to a call center and get food delivered to their room. Barraclough, however, is quick to distinguish this service from traditional room service. For Food really is only for patients looking for something not included in the meals delivered to them three times a day. In addition, only 14 of the 38 total hospital floors have the program — those that house patients needing the most variation in foodservice such as the pediatric and surgical units as well as areas with high turnover rates.
Mass General’s catering area backs up to the main production kitchen and contains coffee brewers, prep tables and lots of refrigeration, Kooser says. During fundraisers or other special events in the hospital’s ballrooms, staff assemble trays in the area after the meals have been prepared in the main kitchen. The exclusively in-house catering program also involves supplying employees with boxed lunches, baked goods, coffee and other items during meetings.
All patients receive three tray meals daily between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., noon and 1 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The meals are prepared in a cook-chill restaurant style, meaning foods are cooked in bulk in the production kitchen and then chilled and rethermed at mealtime. The production kitchen serves as the hub and not only provides food for the tray meal service, but also for the eight retail facilities. Preparation of all of the soups, roasts, sandwiches, baked goods, and other foods takes place in the kitchen. Staff then deliver them via trucks to the various locations.
 A staff member prepares a batch of food using a steam kettle in the back of Mass General’s main production kitchen. |
Kooser says the blast chiller and circular tray assembly are perhaps the most key pieces of equipment. The hospital serves more than 25,000 meals a day, so cooks need to rely on the blast chiller to prepare high volumes of food in bulk to keep up with the demand.
The main employee-visitor cafeteria, Eat Street Café, backs up to the production kitchen since it is a much larger facility with seats for 400 and serving about 15,500 customers a day. Located in a central area of campus, the café stays open seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. The café features a scattered, servery design with manned stations including a grill, salad bar, chef ’s stage for sautéed entrées and daily specials, and pizza station. Equipped with double-deck pizza ovens, this station sells roughly 350 whole pies a day, including breakfast pizzas with eggs, cheese, vegetables and bacon. A carvery features a traditional steam counter as well as a slicer. Staff roast most meats in the back production kitchen. The Market Place station offers fresh fruit and vegetables and some baked goods.
 A marble inlaid display counter holds fresh vegetables and other ingredients for salads at Mass General’s main employee/visitor cafeteria, Eat Street Café. |
Mass General plans to expand upon the café by renovating the chef ’s stage and serving area. Stainless steel will accommodate higher temperatures, and a more open design will allow cooks and patrons to communicate more freely. In addition, the soup kettles currently in place at the salad bar will move to a separate soup station so that the heat they generate does not destroy the coldfood equipment. The new design will also feature more undercounter refrigeration. Barraclough says the reason for these changes is that the salad bar is one of the most popular stations at Eat Street, generating more than $4,000 in sales a day. This is partially because of the hospital’s Be Fit program — an initiative put forth by a consortium of dieticians, physicians and foodservice managers who partnered with a health club to highlight healthier items in the hospital cafeterias. The renovations are also part of an effort to improve upon the 10-year-old café, and redesign the stations in case of any other necessary changes in the future.
Mass General’s newest project was completed in November, when 149 Eat Street opened in an off-campus research building in Charlestown, Mass. The concept for the new café came about at a Christmas party in the winter of 2005 when Mass General’s CEO, Dr. Peter Slavin, talked with researchers from the building who wished they could have access to a café similar to Eat Street on the main campus. At the time, there was a foodservice facility on the premises, but it was run by another company and not fully satisfying the 2,000 Mass General employees in the building. The “149” name comes from the building’s address.
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The pizza and build-your-own pasta station spans the length of a wall at Mass General’s main employee-visitor cafeteria, Eat Street Café. |
In record speed — one month to be exact — Barraclough worked with consultants from Cini-Little International to come up with the design and quickly rehab the place. Due to the smaller space at 149, the café takes more of a self-service food-court approach with a “good to go” section of prepared foods, a small chef ’s table, a “pizza, panini and more” station, a large salad bar and a beverage and frozen dessert section.
Kooser says the goal for the project was to give the space a quick makeover, and then in perhaps two to three years, gut the inside, completely redesign the space, and install all new equipment. In order to create a “fresher” look than the essentially drab cafeteria that previously occupied the space, Kooser’s team covered up the old steam tables with slabs of granite and installed hot shelves to hold prepared entrées. Since there is no room for exhaust hoods, panini grills, cheesemelters and a conveyor oven for pizza are the only pieces of cooking equipment at the site.
Employees and visitors purchase the coffee beanery coffee from the two Coffee Central shops, located in high-traffic areas in the center of the campus, and its offshoot, Coffee South, located in the Yawkey outpatient building. The coffee shops offer specialty coffees, hot, cold, and blended as well as smoothies and fresh-baked muffins, scones, cookies, brownies and bagels. There is no seating at Coffee Central, and only a few chairs at Coffee South. Kooser says another Coffee Central will eventually make its way over to 149 Eat Street.
 Mass General’s coffee bar, Coffee Central, offers brewed and specialty coffees, smoothies and other frozen drinks plus fresh-baked goods like scones, bagels and muffins. |
Mass General operates another eatery similar in size to 149 Eat Street called Riverside Café, also located in the Yawkey building. The café rakes in about $6,500 a day in sales, and features a grab ’n go design like 149 because Riverside is located on the basement level of the building so there is no exhaust system. Instead of equipment that requires hoods, staff use salamanders and panini grills to prepare pizzas and hot sandwiches since Boston law does not require vent hoods for that equipment.
The other challenge, Kooser says, was designing within the space constraints. In order to keep in line with the architect’s design of the two-story space, consultants could not extend the foodservice area beyond the balcony. “Space is an issue with a lot of these projects,” Kooser says, referring to Mass General’s foodservice facilities in general.
The Blossom Café is one example of this space issue. Kooser describes the small café as basically a converted office, despite its high sales of more than $1,500. “The sales per square foot are unbelievable,” he says. As a result of the very compact space — roughly 12 feet by 12 feet — again, there is no room for kitchen equipment, so all foods are cold except for soup. In addition, because of its location in an area where there are many cancer patients, the menu caters specifically to the patients’ sensitive food needs, especially to those undergoing chemotherapy. Many drinks contain enhanced nutrition, while some muffins and soups contain extra protein.
At the Plaza Café in the CRP building, there is also little ventilation, so staff use a ventless grill and fryers to prepare entrées, and grilled sandwiches. Because of its location in a building with a lot of researchers, there are many healthier items available such as vegetable quesadillas, grilled chicken and other lower-fat deli sandwiches, panini sandwiches, and a salad bar.
Tea Leaves and Coffee Beans is the oldest facility on campus, built in the mid-1970s. Located in the lobby of the Wang building at the south end of campus, the windows overlook a beautiful green area at the center of the hospital. However, due to its older design, Barraclough says the hospital will consider it for renovations as part of the overall hospital foodservice program assessment in December or January. This presents yet another example of how Mass General continues to improve and expand upon its foodservice programs to maintain its reputation of excellence.
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