Posted: 1/17/2017
Nutrition Services team feeds thousands every day
It’s 4:30 a.m. in Parkland Memorial Hospital’s massive 17,128 square-foot kitchen. Cook Sheryl Doxey, a member of Executive Chef Andrea Piper’s cook brigade, arrives 30 minutes before her colleagues to power up the equipment and perform what in essence is a “pre-flight” check in preparation for the more than 7,000 meals that will be served this day.
Wednesdays are especially busy for the 200-plus employees of Parkland’s Nutrition Services department. That’s the day their two top selling items hit the menu – fried chicken and peach cobbler.
With the lunch meal service beginning at 11 a.m. and knowing there will be lines of hungry customers waiting, frying the hundreds of pieces of chicken begins promptly at 9:30 a.m. “We need to make sure we have eight pans of chicken ready when we open for lunch,” said Tony Davidson, Parkland’s Retail Services Manager. “It takes 20 minutes to thoroughly cook the chicken so we have three fryers going and we’ve commandeered a fourth.”
While the chicken is frying, heart-healthy meatloaf is baking, potatoes are boiling, green beans are steaming, cheese is melting on the macaroni and 120 individual peach pot pies are bubbling in the oven. And that’s just for the comfort food at the Chef’s Table. Diners can also choose from a variety of options including heart-healthy salads, Tex-Mex, hamburgers, deli sandwiches and a special of the day, which ranges from specialty “dawgs” to loaded baked potatoes, a pasta bar or Asian noodles.
“We can’t risk getting behind because if we do, we’re going to stay that way for the entire shift and our customers depend on us to order, receive and enjoy their lunch within their limited break time,” Davidson noted.
Getting behind is not an option for the Nutrition Services staff who manage the food services for hospitalized patients, the cafeteria, a retail market and a Park Coffee location which exclusively sells Starbucks™ products.
Although visitors and staff partake in the meal options, patients are the priority. Three times daily, hot meals are transported via Parkland’s off-stage elevators to hundreds of inpatients. But not every tray is the same. On any given day, meals for as many as 30 different diets are prepared for patients with specific dietary and nutritional needs. Just like medications, diets are geared toward individual patients’ needs and may range from a diabetic meal to clear liquids to gluten-free options.
Regardless of the dietary requirement, topping the list of essential ingredients is customer service. At precisely 10:45 a.m. each day, team members gather to talk about customer service, quality and safety or other issues that may arise. It’s a rallying cry with a goal of keeping the customer happy and the food service line moving.
It’s not always easy, considering the sheer volume of food that is boiled, baked, chopped, shredded, stuffed, sautéed and pickled, pruned or pureed. In fiscal year 2016, the grocery list was staggering:
• 433 40-pound bags of chicken quarters and breast white meat
• 2,331 cases containing 40 packages of beef patties
• 10,521 5-pound bags of green leaf, iceberg and red cabbage salad mix
• 418,557 individual half pints of 2 percent milk
• 161,810 8-ounce cartons of skim/non-fat milk
• 25,065 32-ounce loaves of bread
• 1,921 15-pound cases of 22-26 count sliced bacon
Despite a list of staples such as chicken tortilla soup and sautéed vegetables, one item had been noticeably absent from the line-up recently – Parkland’s famous Italian Cream cake. Like the Wednesday fried chicken, Thursday’s were known for Italian Cream cake – that is, until the baker responsible for whipping up the pans full of awesomeness decided to hang up her apron.
Even though a variety of different cake is available at the Park Coffee location, it just wasn’t the same. But fear not, Nutrition Services leadership is in the final stages of hiring a new baker who will once again be crafting delights to please even the most discriminating palate – especially those craving Italian Cream. “The Italian Cream cake will be back,” Davidson promised.
With a recipe that calls for more than 6 pounds of margarine, 19 pounds of granulated sugar, 15 pounds of all-purpose flour, 5 pounds of dried, sweetened and shredded coconut meat and a host of ingredients including eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and nuts, Parkland’s Italian Cream cake is not for the novice baker.
“I always say that baking is a science and cooking is an art,” Davidson noted. “It’s amazing that bakers can adjust a recipe based on humidity and even the outside temperature. They can’t tell you how much of one ingredient they’re adding or reducing, but it always tastes great.”
Regardless of what’s on the menu, it’s the staff who make the dining experience enjoyable.
“It truly is a team effort to ensure that patients, visitors and staff receive high quality, tasty food,” said Solomon Melesse, Parkland’s Senior Director of Food and Nutrition. “We have several employees who have been here 25-plus years and love what they do. They are an inspiration and their dedication shines through.”
It’s now 2 a.m. and the hum of a busy kitchen has come to an end. The grills have been turned off, the giant mixers stand idle and the sanitation team has cleaned the last pot and mopped the last kitchen corner. It’s then that Mustafa Brgulja, sanitation supervisor, turns out the lights in some parts of the dining room and kitchen, says goodnight to the overnight shift team who will prepare the next day’s food, and heads home. Then, in a little over two hours, Doxey will be back again to flip the switch on a new day.
To learn more about Parkland services, visit www.parklandhospital.com.