‘let’s Be Different’: How Discovery, Lcs, Atria Elevate Senior Living Culinary Programs

Last year, Taco Bell launched an “early retirement experience.” The senior living industry can learn a thing or two from the national fast-food chain.

Taco Bell’s event – “a senior-inspired, sun-soaked” daytime getaway full of “retail and dining” – was certainly outside of its typical wheelhouse. By that token, the senior living industry has a similar opportunity to think outside the box.

Senior living operators know the trend so well they almost need not be stated: the boomers are poised to arrive and disrupt every facet of senior living operations, from amenities and unit design to programming and especially culinary services.

Operators are preparing for their arrival in part by designing new menus that go beyond traditional dining offerings of the past. Fitting in with that theme, companies including Atria Senior Living, LCS and Discovery Senior Living are operating under the belief that no matter what, senior living operators must approach the current era with an attitude of change.

Pushing that change is the fact that senior living dining spaces aren’t just competing with one another, they are also competing with all of the restaurants in a community’s wider area.

“We need to do a better job of being progressive. We need to push the envelope. We need to be creative,” Matt Garnett, regional food and beverage director for LCS, said during a panel discussion at the 2025 Senior Housing News DISHED conference in Atlanta. “The big thing is, let’s be different.”

Getting past the ‘scoop-and-serve’ stigma

Batch cooking. Long lines. Buffet-style. Not long ago, one might have used these words to describe the typical senior living dining experience.

While many senior living operators have pivoted from those days to more restaurant experiences, today’s prospects might not know that.

“Senior living has traditionally had a stigma where it is … scoop-and-serve,” Garnett said.

Photo by TBAR Productions for WTWH Media Photo by TBAR Productions for WTWH Media

Beating that stigma is why senior living operators spend a good amount of time and effort showing prospective residents that their dining experiences can stack up against any local restaurant. Senior living residents typically come from an area about seven to 15 miles surrounding the community, and expect the same level of service and quality as their favorite restaurants and coffee shops.

The challenge for senior living operators is matching that level of service and quality while contending with all of their other operational pressures. LCS is responding to that challenge by elevating its menus with plant-based, vegan and gluten-free fare.

“The residents are asking for these things,” said John Vogelmeier, vice president of culinary services at Discovery Senior Living. “It’s our job to not only provide that, but also be at the forefront.”

Discovery trains its executive chefs to think outside the box whenever possible, and the operator has at some communities arranged events including outdoor barbecues and food truck fiestas. Such events are so popular that the operator has been able to sell tickets to residents and their families to help offset the costs of organizing them.

Atria’s leaders have the philosophy that engaging residents and creating memorable events are “super important,” according to John Hetzel, the company’s vice president of culinary services. The company holds fun events in certain communities, like a Chopped-style cooking competition at its Hudson Yards property in New York City that pit the community’s chefs against those of local restaurants.

“The residents loved it and they got to taste a lot of amazing food,” Hetzel said during the DISHED panel. “We were able to get some great press, too.”

Meeting expectations of the ‘food revolution’ generation

The baby boomers have internalized decades of food trends as they’ve aged, including the “food revolution” of the 1990s. Their hunger for fresh fare, new cuisine and upscale experiences won’t cease just because they move into a senior living community.

In 2025, senior living dining is “more about the experience now that it ever has been,” Garnett said. Small-plates, pop-ups and other trendy meal formats are gaining popularity with every passing year.

“It’s not just the food and beverages … it’s integration with your health and wellness team, your nursing team, your marketing team, your activities team – all of things create a well rounded dining program,” he added.

But it can be hard to cater to all of those different tastes in one venue, Garnett added. That is why LCS creates unique dining venues and experiences that have their own menus and identities.

LCS similarly styles communities with varied dining venues that cater to local tastes due to the fact that “someone in Kansas City wants to eat a different meal than someone in New York City,” Hetzel said.

“We want chefs to be in touch with their local community, in touch with what their residents want,” Hetzel said.

Staffing is one of the great limiting factors for senior living, and dining is no exception.

Senior living operators have millions of potential residents to feed in the years to come, but that is amid general challenges operators have hiring workers and keeping them.

Operators like LCS might have a hard time hiring culinary workers given that restaurants – including those with tipped positions – are already vying for them. But senior living operators can offer something many restaurants can’t: a sense of purpose and commitment to the greater good.

“If we can make sure that our mission, vision and value statements are clearly articulated and intertwined with what our employees do, then we’re more likely to retain them, to keep them, to have them be engaged and be thoughtful contributors to our team,” Garnett said.

To Vogelmeier, senior living communities were once places where chefs and other culinarians went seeking nights and weekends, and a generally easier schedule. But “we need to change that mindset,” he said.

“This younger generation, they want purpose,” Vogelmeier added.

Bottom-line, “the days of the 150-seat main dining room are behind us,” Garnett said.

“We can create unique venues that senior living hasn’t seen before,” he said.

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